Violist Maja Rome first studied with Prof. Svava Bernhardsdottir, and continued her graduate and postgraduate studies with Prof. Mile Kosi at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where she now holds the position of Assistant professor for viola. She has received several prizes and awards at competitions for young musicians, including the 2006 Ljubljana Music Academy Prešeren Award. She regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician. Until 2019 she was the head of viola section in the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Accordionist and composer Luka Juhart is this year’s recipient of the Prešeren Fund Award, Slovenia’s national award for artistic achievements. After finishing from music school in Maribor with Prof. Andrej Lorber, he enrolled at the Trossingen University of Music (Germany), in the class of Prof. Hugo Noth. He then continued his postgraduate studies in the class of Prof. Stefan Hussong at the Würzburg University of Music (Germany). He regularly records for various radio stations and performs as a soloist and in chamber ensembles throughout Europe. Besides regular collaborations with contemporary composers, he has been working as a composer himself: his piece “Unleashed”, written for his duo, in which he performs with clarinetist (and composer) Uroš Rojko, was included in the selection of recommended works by the prestigious Rostrum tribune.

Composer Dušan Bavdek works as a Professor at the Department of Composition and Music Theory at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he himself graduated in 1994 in the class of Prof. Alojz Srebotnjak. He completed his postgraduate studies in composition under the mentorship of Prof. Marijan Gabrijelčič and Prof. Dane Škerl. He has received a number of national and international awards for his work, and his compositions have been performed all over the world. He is the president of Society of Slovene Composers.

Nenad Firšt studied composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of Prof. Dane Škerl and violin in the class of Prof. Rok Klopčič. He was a member of Sebastian String Quartet, and since 1988 he has been the artistic director and conductor of Celje String Orchestra. Firšt’s opus is extensive, more than half of his 200 compositions are written for strings. He works as the Secretary General of Jeunesses Musicales Slovenia. Among the many awards and recognitions, the Prešeren Fund Award (2009) and the Kozina Award (2019) stand out.