Composer and violinist Vladimir Hrovat is member of the Society of Slovenian Composers. Spanning a broad spectrum of genres, his award-winning music has been published and performed both in Slovenia and abroad. In addition to composing, he devotes his time to playing harmonica and leading Sorarmonica, a leading Slovenian harmonica ensemble, he is engaged in concert performing mainly classical music, with repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the present day.

Born in Pula, he studied in Ljubljana in the class of prof. Z. Novak, with whom he also completed postgraduate studies. He studied in Vienna in the class of L. Brumberg, and at summer seminars with prof. K. Boginu, L. Hallmann Russell and A. Valdmi. He has performed as a soloist or in various chamber ensembles throughout Europe, as well as in the USA, China and Chile. Member of only the Luwigan trio (winners of the Bettet and Župančič awards). He works as a piano professor at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, leads seminars, and is a member of juries at international piano competitions in Russia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, Italy and Croatia.

Vlado Kreslin embarked on his musical career in 1970 as drummer with Apollo. As a vocalist, he performed with the bands Špirit group (1973), Zodiac, Izvir, Horizont (1975–1978), Sanje and Avantura (1979). He won the 1980 Slovenska popevka song contest with the composition “Dan neskončnih sanj”. In 1983, he joined Martin Krpan that served as the opening act for major music artists, including Rory Gallagher, R.E.M, Michael Chapman and Bob Dylan. In 1991, Vlado Kreslin began his musical affiliation with Beltinška banda, a band consisting of elderly musicians from his native village of Beltinci. Devoting himself to folk music, Kreslin stimulated a revival of interest in Slovenian traditional music. He boosted appreciation of the young people for ethno music, and demarginalized and rehabilitated the Prekmurje dialect. With Mali bogovi and Beltinška banda Kreslin began to blend the music of the present and the past, fusing both local and global elements. Today, Beltinška banda includes members of the second and third generations of folk musicians. Kreslin often collaborates with other music artists, both from Slovenia (Siddharta, Gal and Severa Gjurin) and abroad (Allan Taylor, The Walkabouts, Rade Šerbedžija, Parni valjak, Hans Theessink, Vlatko Stefanovski, Chris Eckman, Damir Imamović, The Dubliners, Antonella Ruggiero, Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra, Ferus Mustafov, Les Frères Guissé). “Poj mi pesem” (Sing Me a Song), a documentary biopic by Miran Zupanič featuring Vlado’s development as an artist, received its premiere in November 2018.

Since 2013, the Kreativo Vocal Band has begun exciting their audience with more vocal treats on a more regular basis. It is about that time that the forces centered on their first album with somewhat unoriginal, yet very meaningful title “Kreativo” (“The Creative”). The album represents a tribute to the Slovenian music, featuring only songs in their mother tongue. In nearly a half-decade of their joint musical venture, Jana, Valentina, Aleš, Dominik, Samo, Luka and their sound engineer Miha can pride themselves with quite a few noted achievements. It is worth mentioning a silver award and a special bronze Ward Swingle award presented in the Jazz Ensemble category at the International A Cappella Competition Graz, first place at the Slovenian A Cappella Festival called “Sredi Zvezd” (Among the Stars) in 2016, and to top it all a gold award and a gold Ward Swingle award in the A Cappela Pop Ensamble category at the International A Cappella Competition Graz. In 2017, they also performed at festivals in München and Budapest, and had the honour of performing at the Summer Night Festival in Ljubljana commemorating the 80th anniversary of the birth of Jože Privšek. Last autumn, the band recorded its latest audio/visual album, which was published on a special storage media – the appealing USB stick. It features audio and video recordings from their annual concert held at the Štih Hall in Cankarjev dom. Their song selection for the new album, as well as in general, is very diverse, variegated and captivating. These “creative singers” venture together on a music journey between jazz, pop, rock, folk songs and everything that lies in between.

4Given is a Slovenian vocal group, which represents a fresh wave of gospel music there. The singers are dedicated Christians who express their joy of living with their voices. By example of their parents they cherish the love for music, especially vocal music. They are all musically educated and have gained their musical experiences through being part of various groups and projects. But they find a special passion singing in a typical male quartet. They have been influenced by worldly acknowledged vocal groups and were taught the typical negro spiritual expression by the best gospel artist with which they are so convincing that even experts compare them to the most excellent representatives of this music genre. The interpretation of well-known gospel standards sounds genuine when being performed by the group 4Given, which only few are capable of. The group arranges the music from the very beginning and includes “vocal play” elements to it. They imitate instruments, special sounds and effects using only their voices, so they do not need any electronic devices to build a rich and full sound. Each of four members contributes to a diverse song selection with his taste and musical ability. Besides writing arrangements the group also creates original compositions. The group has spread the joy through music performing in many cities across Slovenia as well as the foreign countries since they are often invited abroad. They toured most of Europe and even Australia. The quartet organizes solo concerts and participates at various occasions, often charity. Members of 4Given are Kristjan Virtic, Kristijan Korat, Simon Virtic and Matej Virtic.

Bassless is a modern internationally renowned and awarded a cappella group from Slovenia. The five singers have been making music together since 2013. They perform covers of various musical genres and original music. Their distinctive musical expression is characterised by the combination of popular, rhythmic electronic and jazzy, traditional a cappella elements. That makes them a perfect choice for a student party, rock concert or more sophisticated venues, such as official, corporate or wedding celebrations. Their performance offers a perfect amount of technical precision, professionalism and relaxed humour that reflects the members’ personality and charisma. Bassless is more.

Jazzva entered the world of vocal music more than a decade ago. Our path is one of discovering the human voice, writing new stories, finding harmonies and playing with different colours and effects. We try to find a special relationship with each song we perform and we aspire to recreate it authentically and vividly for our audience. Jazzva’s repertoire is comprised of a wide range of genres; from pop, rock and jazz to arrangements of folk songs and more. We are not afraid of new challenges, we grow each year and so do our ambitions. We realize them by performing at home and abroad, organising our own a cappella festival, recording and attending festivals.

The birthplace of poet Valentin Vodnik is a multipurpose venue that also houses a music school. The cultural programme is run by the Divja misel Institute and includes live-music events (the hall seats up to 70 people, the garden admits more). Location: Ljubljana

After completing his studies at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, Sašo Vollmaier began to develop his musical style, influenced by the various groups with which he collaborated (from 'chamber' to 'alternative music'). In recent years he has been active in the fields of performance and theater. His performances include stage sound design with the interventions of movement and spoken words. He creates music for dance and theater performances. His passion for the human voice led him to the “Centre Artistique International Roy Hart” in the south of France, where he works as the musical co-director for vocal works and prepares actors and singers for their roles. Vollmaier is also an associate of the Laibach group, with which he actively worked as a keyboard player between 2007-2013, and where he is now engaged as an arranger and studio musician.

Internationally acclaimed violinist Volodja Balžalorsky performs as a soloist and chamber musician both at home and abroad. He regularly appears in venues around Europe and USA, and is regular guest of several international festivals and concert series. He is member of the Amael Piano Trio, works with many notable artists and ensembles and regularly performs in a duo with distinguished Slovenian pianist Hinko Haas. Volodja Balžalorsky’s educational work as a violin teacher importantly complements his artistic career.