Vivijana Rogina and Krajnc Lužnik Piano Duo

Vivijana Rogina began her musical journey at the age of five at Velenje Music School under Danica Koren, after which she moved on to the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet under Tatjana Špragar. In the 2020/21 academic year, she graduated from the Academy of Music under Vasilij Meljnikov, with whom she is currently pursuing her master’s degree in violin. Most recently she was awarded the title of overall winner at the 2018 Antonio Salieri International Competition in Legnano. In 2020 she was awarded the Prešeren Prize for Students of the Academy of Music for her performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto  and for other outstanding concert work, and the Berneker Plaque for artistic creativity in Koroška. She made her first appearance as an orchestra soloist at the age of eight with the Velenje Music School String Orchestra. She has since made many such appearances, most notably in 2017 with the Cantabile Symphony Orchestra and a performance of Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen. She performed Wieniawski’s Concerto Polonaise  with the same orchestra in the Gallus Hall of Cankarjev Dom in 2019, with a repeat performance in Logatec. In 2019 she auditioned as a soloist with professional orchestras, and performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto  with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Caterina Larsen-Maguire at the Slovenian Philharmonic Hall in March 2020. She has also attended master classes and seminars given by Christophe Poiget, Igor Ozim, Wonji Kim, Vesna Stanković, Nadezhda Tokareva, Sihana Badivuku, Martyn Vink, Naaman Sluchin and Lana Trotovšek. From this season she has been employed by the SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra, where she will work as a violin understudy.

Sae Lee is one of the most sought-after collaborative pianists of her generation. According to Japanese newspaper Mainichi, she is able to captivate audiences “with her ability to interact subtly with musicians, her exceptional proficiency on the piano and her outstanding artistry.”  After studying at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Sae Lee graduated with distinction in piano and chamber music at the Paris Conservatory with Michel Beroff and Eric Le Sage. She has won first prize at several competitions, including the Città di Padova and Albert Roussel international piano competitions, and the Fnapec, Carlo Soliva and Cidade de Alcobaça chamber music competitions. She has appeared at the prestigious Piano Enghien Festival in Paris, at the Nevada-Semipalatinsk International Conference sponsored by the Kazakhstan government and UNESCO, and on the Japanese national television programme NHK Classic Club. She has performed as a soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic, the Pleven Philharmonic, the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra and the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, with which she performed Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie.  She has worked with world-renowned ballet dancers such as Aurélie Dupont (director of the Paris Opera Ballet) and Kevin O’Hare (director of The Royal Ballet, London). She is currently employed at the Ljubljana Academy of Music.

Pianists Ina Krajnc and Klara Lužnik first met in 2016 at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where they graduated under Andreja Kepeski and Planinka Atić, respectively. After passing their entrance exams, they continued their musical training in October 2020 at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (Klara under Zuzana Niederdorfer and Ina under Ayami Ikeba). Both pianists perform regularly at home and abroad, and have received numerous national and international competition prizes. During their first year in Graz, they came up with the idea of forming a piano duo, which led to them studying together in the piano duo class given by Sivan Silver in Gil Garburg. They have already given recitals around Slovenia (Maribor, Ptuj, Slovenj Gradec) and were awarded outright first prize and a special prize for interpretation at the national TEMSIG Competition in March 2023. They are planning concerts in Slovenia and Austria in the 2023/24 season, as well as appearances at various upcoming international competitions.