Bojan Cvetrežnik & Barja Drnovšek

Bojan Cvetrežnik is a performer, educator and composer. He has been a soloist in the Slovenian National Opera and in Cirque du Soleil, a teacher at the Conservatory of Music in Maribor and a mentor for jazz improvisation at the Music Academy of Ljubljana. He’s a founding member of international established band Terrafolk, he also founded the Symbolic Orchestra that stresses the variety of expression in string instrument performance. He cooperates with many bowed string instruments experts in certain music styles from all over the Europe.

Bojan is a passionate teacher and wants to share his expertise with a wide audience. In order to do this, he created Godalkanje, an educational platform for traditional violin and improvised music where his students learn to play violin in a variety of styles at a high level. His life goal is to bring together the best aspects violin playing from the classical, folk and jazz traditions, thereby helping to remove the artificial divisions between them.

photo © Bojan Stepančič

Barja Drnovšek is a Slovenian fiddle player raised in classical music, intrigued by folk music later on. 

She graduated at the Carinthian State Conservatorium with Professor Helfried Fister and obtained her Master’s degree from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana with Professor Gorjan Košuta. While pursuing her studies, she found folk music intriguing, which led her to attend various workshops and folk camps. In addition to classical orchestras, she has been increasingly engaged in a number of ensembles that play folk music ( Terrafolk, Symbolic Orchestra, Ida&Other Bears, Grad gori!, a duet with Bojan Cvetrežnik, Kate in the Kettle).

Soon, however, this activity became a profession and she quit her job at a public school and became a freelance musician and a music teacher. She teaches violin and other instruments and holds workshops as part of the educational programs of the ONE Music Society. Together with Bojan Cvetrežnik she’s the motor behind Godalkanje, an educational platform for traditional violin and improvised music where students learn to play violin in a variety of styles at a high level. In addition, she takes part in theater and puppet performances and works as a session musician recording music for films, cartoons and pop musicians.