TRIO ČRNČEC–UGRIN–SAJKO (Slovenia)

The unusual trio brings together musicians who push the boundaries of classical music. They perform rarely performed works originating in Western classical music, but don’t sound quite like that. The leitmotif of the program is the music of the recently deceased Russian-Ukrainian composer and pianist Nikolai Kapustin, who said of himself and his music: “I have never been a jazz musician. I never tried to be a jazz pianist, but I had to become one because of composing. I’m not interested in improvisation – and what is a jazz musician without improvisation? All my improvisations are written down and that has improved my music.”

Pianist Marko Črnčec is known on the international stage as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer, especially in jazz and popular music. He completed his studies of classical piano at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet and graduated with special honors from the jazz department at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. In 2014, his album Devotion was ranked among the world’s top 20 jazz albums of the year by the largest jazz publication All About Jazz. Following that, Črnčec found himself in the company of jazz crème de la crème: Brian Blade, Tigran Hamasyan, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jason Moran and others. Črnčec, together with Dutch bassist Joris Teepe and jazz music legend Billy Hart, forms the collaborative trio CTH, which released their first album The Brooklyn Sessions in 2019 under the Dutch label Jazz Tribes. They’ve had two successful European tours, culminating in a concert at the prestigious Amsterdam jazz temple Bimhuis. For the past two years, he has been a member of the band of the excellent American jazz guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg, with whom they give concerts all over the world.

Peter Ugrin completed jazz violin studies at the New School of Jazz in New York and his viola studies at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, where he was also the recipient of the Prešeren Student Award. He works in the field of improvisation as a soloist and as a member of various jazz ensembles. He is also a professor of jazz violin at the Ljubljana Academy of Music and a professor of viola at KGBL Ljubljana. He leads the band Artbeaters, with which he won all three awards at the Jazzinty Festival in 2013, including the Slovenian Composers’ Association Award for Best Jazz Composition, and the first prize at the International Jazz Competition in Bucharest. He also released two albums of original compositions with them. He has also released two albums with the acoustic band Swingatan. As conductor, he leads the Big Band Gverillaz, with which he won the 2018 IBBC Big Band Competition. Ugrin regularly gives concerts on Slovenian and international stages and regularly collaborates with solo musicians, as well as small and large ensembles.

Nikolaj Sajko graduated in cello in the class of Ciril Škerjanc at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he also completed a master’s degree. He pursued postgraduate studies in solo playing at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz and the University of Arts in Graz. He is the winner of the Klasinc diploma and the Antonia Tarsia award, and he achieved important results at national and international competitions for young musicians in Gorizia, Lienz, Zagreb and Ljubljana. He was a member of the Gustav Mahler International Youth Orchestra and a member of the World Youth Music Orchestra. Since 2006, he has been the deputy solo cellist in the Maribor SNG Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet. Since 2012, he has been the programme leader of the eminent cycle of chamber music concerts Carpe artem, which takes place in the Kazina Hall of the SNG Maribor, organized by the Amadeus Chamber Music Society and co-produced by the SNG Maribor.