piano

NIKA
TKALEC

The Pianist Nika Tkalec finished her lower music school with prof. Branimir Bilišk in Krško and continued her education at the Central Music and Ballet School in Ljubljana, where she graduated with honors in the class of prof. Janez Lovše.

In 2011 she graduated with a special praise of the summa cum laude in the class of Professor Tomaž Petrač. She also studied at the Conservatory of Music in Madrid with Professor Pilar Bilbao. As a soloist, she played with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ljubljana Opera Opera Orchestra, the Krško Music Symphony Orchestra, the Krško Wind Orchestra and the Brass Band of Slovenia. Nika is the winner of the Student Prešeren Prize for the Academy of Music. She regularly performs at Slovenian stages as a piano companion and chamber musician. He participates in festivals (Lent, Samobor Music Autumn, EPTA, AS, Euritmia), in the cycles of the Music Youth of Ljubljana, at seminars, summer schools (Celje, Radenci, Kranjska Gora, Dobrna, Podsreda). With the trombone Žan Tkalcem, a CD was shot in Berlin. She is currently working as a piano teacher at the Vrhnika Music School and as a professional assistant at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana.

piano

ANDREJA
KOSMAČ

Pianist Andreja Kosmač graduated from the Music Academy of Ljubljana University in the class of Professor Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. She broadened her horizons at the Vienna Music Conservatoire with Professor Martyn van den Hoek and attended many piano master courses with famous pianists.

As a student, she took part in several competitions and held concerts. She won many awards (1991- the Mozart Piano Competition in Ljubljana, 1992, 1995- the National Young Piano Players Competition in Celje and Ljubljana, 1995- International Piano Competition Konzerteum in Greece). In 1996 she received The Music Academy prize »Presernova nagrada« for the recital staged in Zemono mansion. She also perfomed with The Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and RTV Slovenian Orchestra as a soloist. In 2004 she gave the concert in Moscow with Moscow Chamber Orchestra Kremlin. Currently she plays mostly as a chamber musician, with renowned Slovenian and foreign artists, mainly singers and flutists. Often she cooperates at masterclasses lead by esteemed artists. As a teacher she is engaged at the Conservatorium for music and ballet in Ljubljana. She is also active as an accompanist at Academy of music University in Ljubljana.

piano

HERMINA
HUDNIK

Hermina Hudnik is a renowned Slovenian pianist, whose extensive experience and wide repertoire in the string literature have led her to be frequently invited to perform both at home and abroad. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of Prof. Andrej Jarc. She studied at the summer schools of Arbo Valdma. She has won numerous prizes at competitions for young musicians.

She has collaborated with the RTV Slovenia Youth Choir and with renowned Slovenian musicians such as Janez Podlesek, Karmen Pečar, Boris Rener, Marcos Bajuk and Milan Hudnik. She works as an accompanist at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and as an artistic collaborator at violin and viola seminars.

piano

DANIJEL
BRECELJ

Born in 1988 in Slovenia, Danijel Brecelj studies piano at the Conservatory of Music of Ljubljana with prof. Siavush Gadjiev. Since 2006 he studies at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris with prof. Roger Muraro, where he obtains his master degree in 2011.

He continues to study piano with prof. Rolf Plagge at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg where in 2016 he graduates with a concert master degree. He takes part in masterclasses and receives advice of J. Rouvier, P. L. Aimard, L. Howard, L. Margarius, R. Pröll, E. Le Sage, N. Goerner, H.K. Kammerling and others. In 2012 he also studies composition at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris with prof. Yves Henry and obtains a diploma of harmony. Winner of several international competitions, including the Yamaha Foundation in France in 2011 and the Piano à Mayenne competition in 2012 (2nd prize), he is invited to numerous festivals and performs regularly with several orchestras such as the Slovenian philharmonic orchestra, the Radio and Television of Slovenia orchestra and the Mitteleuropa orchestra of Friuli-Venezia Giulia as well as in recitals in France, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Being also the composer, he performed at the age of 16 with his 1st Concerto for piano and orchestra.

In 2021 he created the Dijon Piano Festival and recorded the complete variations of Brahms for the Slovenian national Radio. Recently he presented himself in recitals in Tegny and Clamecy (France).

piano

PETER
KATALIN

Katalin Peter was born in Vojvodina. She developed a passion for music at an early age and has pursued it ever since. She attended secondary music school in Subotica, studying under Professor Marija Sekelj, who refined and developed her technical skills and prepared her for further musical education. After a very successful period of studying, she was accepted early into the Academy of Music in Novi Sad, where she studied under the renowned pedagogue Professor Arbo Valdma.

There, a new world of musical perception, sound, and sensitivity opened up for her. After completing her undergraduate studies, she enrolled in a master’s program and graduated with distinction. During her education, she received numerous awards at national competitions across the former Yugoslavia. She performed as a soloist with orchestras and had concerts in all major cities, including Novi Sad, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Priština, and Ljubljana. Her first employment was at the Music School in Subotica as a piano professor and accompanist. She has been living in Slovenia since 1997, where she first worked at the Trebnje Music School, and later at the Secondary Music School in Ljubljana. Over the years, she has also collaborated with the Academy of Music in Ljubljana as an artistic associate and accompanist.

Throughout her career as an accompanist, she has worked with countless instruments – strings, woodwinds, percussion, brass, and voice. These experiences allow her to provide comprehensive support to young musicians during their studies and even after graduation. This support goes beyond musical guidance. During daily piano rehearsals, performances, competitions, extracurricular concerts, exams, and graduation recitals, young musicians often need emotional support, assistance, and stability—especially when they must express their musical skills and deepest emotions on stage during their most vulnerable moments.

Her performances also include collaborations with Slovenian composers, for whom she has premiered numerous new works both in Slovenia and abroad. With her piano accompaniment, the recognition of helicons (new, innovative instruments) has expanded in Latvia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Russia (Moscow), the United States (Atlanta, Bloomington), and throughout Slovenia. She has recorded as a soloist for RTV Novi Sad and as an accompanist for RTV Slovenia. In nearly thirty years of accompanying, she has performed at numerous competitions in Slovenia and abroad, contributing to the many awards won by young musicians and their establishment in the world of music. Many of her former students are now acclaimed performers, educators, and orchestral musicians both in Slovenia and internationally.

piano

KRISTINA
GOLOB

Kristina Golob began her studies at the Osminka Music Workshop with Mrs. Mira Kelemen, continued her piano studies at the Velenje Art High School with Prof. Katja Žličar Marin, and completed her piano studies with honors at the Academy of Music in the class of Prof. Hinko Haas. As part of her exchange, she received additional education at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Professors Balazs Szokolay and Laszlo Borbely.

She has participated in numerous national and international competitions and has performed at many performances and concerts in Slovenia, Croatia (Makarska, Zagreb), Austria (Weinberg), Italy (Udine, Gradež, Trieste), Hungary (Keszthely, Tapolca, Budapest), Poland (Piotrkow Trybunalsky), etc. She improved her piano skills at master classes, summer schools and seminars with internationally renowned professors such as Ruben Dalibaltayan, Aleksander Serdar, László Baranyay, Oleg Marshev, Julia Gubaidulina, etc.

She has received several silver and gold plaques, first prizes and awards for the best interpretations of the compulsory/free program at national and international competitions (Slovenia, Italy, Serbia) in the disciplines of piano, solfeggio and piano duo. At the Gala Academy on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Fran Korun Koželjski Music School, she performed the first movement of Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto as a soloist with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nikolaj Žličar. She also performed two solo performances with the SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Loris Voltolini in the Great Hall of the SNG Maribor and in the Marjan Kozina Hall of the Slovenian Philharmonic, where she performed Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor. For her performance, she received the Prešeren Student Award of the Academy of Music.

She has performed as a soloist and in chamber music, in the organisation of the Glasbena Mladina Ljubljanska, the Lent Festival, Hugo Wolf za mlade, EPTA projects, etc. She attaches great importance to chamber music. She has also collaborated in the children's opera The Hobbit produced by the Ljubljana Academy of Music, in the opera Tesla by Slavko Avsenik Jr., in the musical play Zvezda in srce by Nana Forte and Jure Ivanušič, and in the ballet Les Noces (The Wedding) by Igor Stravinsky for choir, percussion and four pianos performed by the Maribor SNG.

In 2017, she was the official accompanist of the Oskar Rieding International Violin Competition, and in 2025, of the Bolero International Wind, Brass and Percussion Competition. Since 2023, she has been employed as an accompanist and piano professor at the Fran Korun Koželjski Velenje Music School.