SLAVKO KOVAČIČ
Slovenia
finished secondary music school in Maribor and continued with studies of clarinet at the Musical Academy in Ljubljana, first in the class of Professor Mihael Gunzek, and then went on to graduate in 1995 in the class of Professor Alojz Zupan. He perfected his skills in Master’s Studies with Professor Charles Neidich (Juilliard School of Music, New York) and Professor Alois Brandhofer (Mozarteum Salzburg) and in professional seminars with Boris Karaev, Jozsef Balogh, Hedwigh Swimbergh, Fernando Silveira, Robert Riseling, Paolo Beltramini, Robert Spring, Michel Pellegrino and Silvia Hue. He also graduated with honours at the Musical faculty in Salzburg (Mozarteum, prof. Alois Brandhofer).
He played as a soloist with the Musica Camerata Chamber Orchestra, Celje String Orchestra, Maribor Chamber Orchestra, Youth Symphonic Orchestra GŠ Celje, Youth Wind Orchestra GŠ Celje, Big Band ‘’Extra Band’’ GŠ Celje and other orchestras. During his university days he won several awards in different competitions. He cooperated with many different orchestras: the Panononic Orchestra in Graz, the Opera House in Maribor, Academie Ars Musicae Orchestra (Klagenfurt), the Opera House in Ljubljana, the Maribor Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovenia Radio Television Symphonic Orchestra and Slovene Philharmonics, where he was employed. He also collaborated with Slovenia Radio Television "Big Band" and "Totim Big Band" from Maribor. He is also a member of the Slovene clarinet orchestra. As a soloist and with different ensembles he has concerts in his homeland and abroad (Croatia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Luxemburg, Holland and Hungary). He pays a lot of attention to chamber music (Trio Musica Camerata, Trio Onix, Maister Trio, Trio Tanguango, Salon orchestra Musica Camerata...) and attends various festivals (Lent festival, Musical Summer in Rogaška, Brač Summer Festival, European Month of Culture, International Festival Musical September, Summer Games in Dubrovnik, "Spectrum" Festival, "Meeting of European Clarinet Ensembles" and other festivals). Since 2005 he has been running the international music school for clarinet in Pučišći (Brač-Croatia). He is often invited to be a jury member both in his country and abroad. In 2007 he received an award from Univerze in Ljubljana for "significant artistic works for clarinet and chamber music".
He has collaborated with many important musicians, like Irena Grafenauer, Stanko Arnold, Mate Bekavac, Jasminka Stančul, Aloise Brandhofer, Arvid Engegard, Joža Kotar, Doug Jensen, Gustava Nunez, Radovan Vlatković, Clara Dent, Mateja Grahek and others. He is currently working as a Docent for clarinet and chamber music at the Pedagogical Faculty in Maribor, and as a Professor of clarinet at the Musical grammar school in Celje.
