Darko Brlek, the director and artistic leader of the Ljubljana Festival, graduated at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and pursued advanced studies at Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz. During his studies he received many awards, among others the Prešeren Award of the University in Ljubljana, for his creative achievements he later also received the Bettet Prize and the Župančič Award.

He was a director of the Slovenian National Theatre – Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana. He has been the artistic leader of the Ljubljana Festival since 1992, in 1995 he also became the director of this public institute.

From 1997 on he was the vice-president of the European Festival Association, whose seat is in Brussels and whose membership comprises more than a hundred major European festivals; in 2005 he was elected its president. He was among the founders of the Cultural Chamber of Slovenia and its first president. He was a member of the National Council for Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, since 1996 he is a member of ISPA (the International Society for the Performing Arts) seated in New York, he was re-elected as the president of the expert council of the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor and as a member of the Broadcasting Council of the Republic of Slovenia.