Established in 2004 by its artistic director Karmina Šilec, the ¡Kebataola! Ensemble is noted for its compelling interpretations and an innovative approach to contemporary as well as medieval music. The ensemble’s music theatre projects, most notably Vertical Thoughts, Ursonate, Miracles, Who’d Have Thought That Snow Falls, Stripsody 1, Stripsody 2, Spixody, etc., have blazed a trail for a new kind of vocal performance and presented Slovenian audiences with contemporary music works not yet performed in Slovenia. In 2009 Spixody received the Special Jury Prize for Most Experimental Performance at the 12th Teatarfest International Theatre Festival in Sarajevo. Between 2010 and 2012 ¡Kebataola! was ensemble in residence at the Choregie aka Choregie International Festival, presenting as many as six productions and leaving an important mark on the new music-theatre practice in Slovenia. The ensemble works with national and international artists in developing its music-theatre projects. Incorporating visual arts, drama, movement and literature, ¡Kebataola! is dedicated to exploring new sounds, new vocal techniques, and new forms of articulation. The ¡Kebataola! Ensemble consists of experienced artists working in various fields of opera, choral, ethno and jazz music and different types of performing arts. Depending on the repertoire, the ¡Kebataola! Ensemble adjusts its size to perform projects that range from solo voice to chamber music.

Nina Strnad, a recognised singer and jazz vocalist, regularly performs at local festivals, concert series and other events, which focus on reviving the golden years of the Slovenian pop song. She often collaborates with the RTV Slovenia Big Band. She has shared the stage with Danny Grisset, Howard T. Curtis, Jure Pukl, Renato Chicco, Uroš Perić, as well as with the film score jazz composer Michael Legrand and others.

The four-member group Sober Assault from Grosuplje, established in 2013, performs thrash and death metal.

Initially as the String quartet of the Slovenian Philharmonic in 1983, the Tartini String Quartet has managed to create a convincing and fresh approach to performance and bold programming. It complements its “standard” concert programme with the creative opus of lesser-known composers and performs string quartets by local composers of chamber music.

The Maribor-based quartet is a boy band for the new generation. Their strain of emotive, pop-infused trap draws inspiration from Scandinavian emo trap trailblazers, such as the Drain Gang, contemporary boy bands like Brockhampton as well as early 2000s pop punk. A fine example of regional urban creativity addressing both more and less demanding audiences, .travnik is here to stay.

Two brothers, Gašper and Primož Mihelič, compose the 2B duo, which has already performed at large festival venues of Schengenfest and Urbano Dejanje as well as Cankarjev dom and the Slovene Philharmonic.

3:rma is a singer-songwriter project of guitarist Urška Supej and vocalist Maša But. The project bridges the gap between music and poetry, swims the waters of standard jazz, pop, and folk, and touches upon themes such as feminism, deadlocked relationships, religion … The band members seek inspiration with musicians such as Bob Dylan, Laura Marling, Leonard Cohen, poets, such as Edna Saint Vincent, and in writings such as The Second Sex. The project stands as a juxtaposition between tuneful melodies and hard topics, and so parallels life’s contrast between the ideal and reality. The authors are utilising beautiful light music to provoke thinking about those themes and issues that often go unheard and unnoticed.

In the past year and a half, this tireless trio has played more than 70 shows all over Europe. Their DIY ethos is encapsulated in the motto “to do it, not to wait for it” and manifested through their busy touring schedule. Luckily for us, 7AM is one of those bands that are most striking in a live environment.

The Academic Choir France Prešeren Kranj was founded in 1969. Since its very beginning, the choir has been highly ambitious. The choir frequently participates in both domestic and international festivals and competitions, where usually achieves the highest awards and prizes. It has performed in the large majority of the European countries, as well as in Israel, Mexico, the United States of America, Argentina, Chile and Russia. Choir performs songs of all musical genres: classical, folk, popular, gospel, musicals, and more. Since the foundation the choir performed almost 1000 different musical pieces. In the last years, the choir has performed two great, wonderful vocal-instrumental projects, first presented to the Slovenian audience: Requiem for the Living by Dan Forrest in 2016 and Misa Tango by Martin Palmieri in 2017. Throughout the choir’s fruitful period of existence, several world-famous names have cooperated with the choir, including Uros Lajovic, Fabio Luisi, Eric Ericson, John Rutter, Ariel Ramirez, Gary Graden, Riccardo Muti, Valerij Gergiev and Matthias Bamert. Since 2013 the choir has been lead and conducted by Fernando Pablo Mejias.

The Academic Choir Maribor has been creating music within the cultural society KUD Študent, which also includes the Student Folklore Group Študent, since 1964. It is one of the main bearers of student, youth and amateur culture in Maribor; at the same time, APZ Maribor is the ambassador of our country on many international gatherings, competitions and festivals. The singers, mostly students of various faculties, have been creating high-quality music for many years. The first conductor of the choir was Stane Jurgec, who successfully led the choir from the very beginning until 1991. The choir, which was first named the Academic Choir Boris Kraigher, was founded under the patronage of the University of Maribor. In accordance with the new period that was yet to come, the choir changed its name to the Academic Choir Maribor in 1991 and has retained its name until today. The choir also performed under the baton of Ivan Vrbančič, Alenka Korpar, Simon Robinson, Jože Fürst, Jasmina Dobaj and Zsuzsa Budavari Novak. The excellent composer and choir director Tadeja Vulc has been their conductor and artistic leader since 2012. The 50-member choir is very successful at international competitions and festivals at home and abroad, at organizing individual concerts and participating in various projects every season.