SARA HARTMAN, horn & MANCA FEKONJA, jazz solo (5th Concert of International Music Cycle Young Virtuosi)

Sara Hartman, born into a musical family in 2001, began playing the horn at the age of seven. She began under the tutelage of Boris Dvoršak at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where she also continued her secondary-level music training. She won first prize at the Woodwind & Brass International Competition in 2019. A year later she successfully auditioned for a place at the Ljubljana Academy of Music under Boštjan Lipovšek, graduating with distinction in June 2023. She is currently in her first year as a master’s student. She regularly attends classes given by renowned horn players such as Christian-Friedrich Dallmann, Szabolcs Zempléni, Andrej Žust, Mahir Kalmik, Viktor Kirčenkov, Zoltán Szőke and Johannes Hinterholzer. She has performed as a soloist with Leibnitz International Rotary Orchestra and the KUD Pošta Maribor Wind Orchestra. In October 2022 she auditioned successfully for the position of honorary second horn with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. In March this year she was awarded first prize and a gold plaque at the TEMSIG Competition.

After completing general gimnazija studies, Manca Fekonja, who was born in 2001 in Ljubljana, enrolled in the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Work, where she is currently in her third year. Alongside her studies at the faculty, she also attends the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where she is studying jazz singing. Between the ages of six and sixteen she was a member of the RTV Slovenia Children’s Choir. Her love of singing led her to join the Youth Choir after that. Inspired by her grandfather’s love of jazz, she began singing lessons with Lea Bartha Pesek while a Year Nine primary school pupil. She has worked as a backing vocalist for Gal and Severa Gjurin, and contributed her own compositions to concerts. She performed her song Zvezda at the 2021 edition of the Melodies of the Sea and the Sun Festival. She has performed at Cankarjev Dom’s Club and at Kavarna Slamič with pianist Manca Udovič and her Romanca ensemble. The two musicians released their song Včasih this year. Manca is a member of the jazz quartet Petnajst čez, which performs at jazz clubs around the capital. The other members of the quartet accompanied her at the 2022/23 TEMSIG Competition, where she came first.

Programme:
T. Madsen: Sonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 24
F. Strauss: Empfindungen am Meere, Op. 12
J. Francaix: Divertimento for Horn and Piano
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V. Swift: I want to get happy
C. Amiee: Well you needn’t
V. Swift: A little taste
S. Joy: Sweet Pumpkin
N. Wilson: Guess who I saw today
S. Vaughan: Poor Butterfly