VIKTOR ZADNIK

Slovenia

 

a professor of cello and music pedagogy, was born in Ljubljana in 1948. At elementary music school, he was playing the accordion and cello. He continued his music education at the Music High School in Ljubljana. He was playing as the first-chair cellist with the most famous youth string ensembles of that time, led by Prof. Ciril Veronek. He was studying at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he graduated. At his graduation concert he performed, among the other compositions, the "Romance for cello and piano", that the composer Lucijan Marija Škerjanc had dedicated to him as one of the most talented young cellists. In the meantime, he was playing with various ensembles, both as a soloist and chamber orchestra member.

After a heavy injury he had suffered in 1980 and the rehabilitation he went through after that, he started his intensive pedagogical career, endeavouring to introduce some novelties into instrument teaching. For the purpose of further specialization, he enrolled in the Pedagogical Academy in Maribor. Alongside with the specialization, he was occupied with an intense pedagogical activity and won numerous first prizes with his students at competitions both in Slovenia and abroad: in Italy (Siena, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Trieste), Germany (Winnenden, Stuttgart), Serbia (Belgrade), Lithuania (Riga) etc.

As an eminent pedagogical expert, he received, in 1994, an invitation from the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to make new teaching plans, within the national committee, for all string instruments.

Simultaneously, he was occupied with organizational work. In 1992, he became a fulltime member of the professional committee of EMU – European Music School Union. As a reward for his successful activity, he was elected a member of Presidency of that organization in 1999.

Since 1996, he has been a member of numerous juries for solo instruments and chamber music, both in the country and abroad (Slovenia, Lithuania, Germany, Serbia). As a reward for the achieved success, he was elected the president of TEMSIG, Commission for Music and Ballet Competitions of Slovenia, in October 2009.