ANA MIR, horn & OPIFEX STRING QUARTET (12th Concert of International Music Cycle Young Virtuosi)

Ana Mir began her musical journey at Škofja Loka Music School under the tutelage of Igor Maroševič and, later, Alojz Kompan. After six years of elementary music education, she went on to study at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet under Metod Tomac. After completing her second-level education, she enrolled at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, graduating in June 2023 in the class of Boštjan Lipovšek. She took part in an Erasmus exchange in the 2022/23 summer semester at Trossingen University of Music under Saar Berger. In October 2023 she will embark on a master’s degree at the Mozarteum in Salzburg under the joint supervision of Matías Piñera and Boštjan Lipovšek from the Ljubljana Academy of Music. She has received many prizes and awards at national and international competitions, including a silver award at the TEMSIG Competition with the horn quartet Et Cetera in 2019. In 2020 and 2023 she was awarded first prize and a gold plaque at the national TEMSIG Competition. She plays in various chamber ensembles and orchestras in Slovenia and abroad, including the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. In May 2021 she auditioned successfully for the Ljubljana Opera Orchestra. In April 2022 she was one of the soloists for a performance of Helmut Lachenmann’s My Melodies for Eight Horns and Orchestra by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Opifex Wind Quartet comprises violinists Nikola Pajanović and Laura de Wolff, viola player Rebeka Skok and cellist Sara Čano. They also perform as a piano quintet with pianist Peter Bubola. The ensemble’s artistic director is Aleksandra Čano Muharemović. The members are currently part of Emil Cantor’s class at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. Their first concert was held at the hall of Radovljiška graščina, and they have also played at the Portorož Auditorium. They played with Tadej Kenig at Festival Ribnica, performing Dvořák’s American Quartet, Carl Maria von Weber’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings and a Song for String Quartet and Clarinet by Nina Šenk. They were selected for the Jeunesses Musicales Ljubljana concert series Ob klavirju, performing Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major at the Slovenian Philharmonic Hall. In March 2023 they took first prize and a special commendation at the TEMSIG Competition for their interpretation of Krzysztof Penderecki’s String Quartet No. 3. First violinist Nikola Pajanović graduated from Ljubljana in June 2023 and is currently pursuing further studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Sara Čano graduated in cello from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich and continues her studies at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where Rebeka Skok and Laura de Wolff are also pursuing their studies.

Programme:
L. Lebič: In voce cornus
A. Wilder: Sonata No. 3 for Horn and Piano
E. Bozza: Sur les cimes
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C. Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10