KARMEN PEČAR KORITNIK, EVA-NINA KOZMUS & MOJCA ZLOBKO VAJGL

A trio of distinguished and multi-awarded female musical artists of different generations is distinguished by their delicate musicianship and expressive performance of a diverse repertoire of music. Flutist Eva-Nina Kozmus, cellist Karmen Pečar Koritnik, and harpist Mojca Zlobka Vajgl present chamber compositions from the 19th and 20th centuries. A large part of the programme is characterised by sonically colourful compositions by French composers Claude Debussy, Jacques Ibert, and Maurice Ravel, which are complemented by moody miniatures from the Russian, Czech, and Austrian musical environments of Mihail Glinka, Alfred Oelschlegel, and Nikolaus Moritz Mostler. The musicians combined three musical stories into one—a trio. They share a passion for discovering new dimensions and messages. Their curiosity is alive.

Karmen Pečar Koritnik is a renowned Slovenian cellist and teacher. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in the class of Prof. Valter Dešpalj at the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb and further training with Prof. Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Visual Arts in Vienna. In 2001, she won the prestigious cello competition of Dr. Luisa Sigalla in Chile (Vina del Mar). In 2002, she won third prize at the Eurovision Song Contest in Berlin, and in 2004, she won second prize at the international Antonio Janigra competition in Zagreb. As a soloist, she has already performed with many Slovenian and foreign orchestras under the baton of well-known conductors. She collaborated with renowned artists such as Boris Pergamenščikov, Misha Maisky, Giovanni Sollima, Gottlieb Wallisch, Melina Mandozzi, Dmitri Ferstman, Božo Paradžik, Monika Leskovar, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Rudolf Leopold, and others. For several years, she was employed at the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb as an assistant to Prof. Valter Dešpalj. She is currently a professor of cello at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, and for five years she also taught as a part-time associate at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. For many years, Karmen Pečar Koritnik has been leading masterclasses as part of the Music Summer at Podsreda Castle and the Amadeo Festival in Škofja Loka, and every year under the auspices of the Bled Festival, she conducts a seminar for an ensemble of cellos. She is also the artistic director of the Cellofest Ljubljana festival.

Eva-Nina Kozmus is the only Slovenian winner of the Eurovision Young Musician international competition, having won the first prize in 2010 in Vienna. Under the mentorship of Prof. Milena Lipovšek, she graduated from the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana. In 2015, she received her master's degree at the Conservatoririe National Supérior Musique et Danse in Lyon in the class of professors Philippe Bernold, Julien Beaudiment, Claude Lefebvre, and Gilles Cottin. Eva-Nina is a regular guest at international festivals and concert halls in Europe, Russia, Japan, and America. She was also part of Stars von Morgen with Rolando Villazón. Among others, she records for RTV Slovenia, France Music, Arte, ZDF, 3Sat, etc. As a soloist, she works with many orchestras, such as the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the RTV Slovenia Orchestra, the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Romanian Radio Orchestra, etc. Eva-Nina is a tutor for master's courses in Slovenia and abroad. She regularly works on projects for children and strives for the musical education of young people. Among other things, she regularly collaborates with the Parisian orchestra Les Frivolités parisiennes, in the Appassionato ensemble, and in projects for young people at the Philharmonic in Luxembourg, where in 2022 she launched the theatre and music project Luan by Wolfgang Nägele and Thomas Dorsch. As a solo flutist, she regularly collaborates with orchestras such as the Lyon Opera Orchestra, Lyon Symphony Orchestra, Bordeaux Symphony Orchestra, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Paris Chamber Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Köln, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra, and Paris Philharmonic Radio Orchestra. Eva-Nina is currently the solo flutist of the Limoges Opera Orchestra in France.

Mojca Zlobko Vajgl, harpist and pedagogue, full professor at the Ljubljana Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana, has been one of the leading Slovenian harpists and performers for many years and is an internationally recognised artist. She has a rich solo career with performances in most European countries. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in 1991. For three years, she was employed in the orchestra of the SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, after which she worked as a freelance artist for many years.  Mojca completed her postgraduate studies in harp at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg. As a soloist, she performed with many prominent ensembles, among them the Berlin and Vienna symphonies (Wiener Concert Verein). In the period 2000–2004, when she lived and worked in the German and Austrian capitals, she collaborated with the Chamber Orchestra of the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Leipzig String Quartet, the Orpheus Quartet from Finland, the Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, the Ars Amata Zuerich Ensemble, the Orchester di Padova e del Veneto, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra from Zagreb, the Kyiv Philharmonic, the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic, and the Belgrade, Skopje, and Sarajevo Philharmonics. Mojca Zlobko Vajgl loves chamber music. She performed with the harp on prominent foreign concert stages and international festivals with a large number of brilliant foreign and Slovenian musicians and ensembles. Music critics recognised in Mojca Zlobka Vajgl's musicianship above all her musicality, perfection, and refinement of technique, a wide colour spectrum, distinct articulation in harp pronunciation, the constant search for appropriate elements in conceptual illustrations of her harp playing, as well as the ever-present depth and transparency in the design of compositions. The cooperation with Slovenian composers resulted in some original works for the harp written by Primož Ramovš, Ivo Petrić, Uroš Krek, Jani Golob, Aleš Strajnar, and Milko Lazar. Mojca Z. Vajgl has a rich opus of recorded musical literature for harp solo and chamber ensembles. So far, she has released nine CDs, seven with the ZKP RTV SLO label, one with the Slovenian Philharmonic, and one with the Camerata Tokyo label.

Photo: Andrej Grilc