Concert Programme and Photos

Concert of the European Joint Theory/Experiment Meeting on Membranes

Julij Betteto Hall, Palace Kazina, January 28, at 20.15

Program

A. von Sultanova: Architecture of the invisible: Membrane. Electric piano: Aleona von Sultanova (First presentation)
D. Kraljič (1920 – 1998)/B. Timotijević (1932 – 2000)/arr. B.Prokić: Devojko mala. Chorus BeJazzy
F. Chopin (1810 – 1849): Mazurka in A-minor, op. 17, No. 4. Piano: Lara Oprešnik
T.W. Waller (1904 – 1943)&H. Brooks (895 – 1970)/A. Razaf (1895 – 1973)/arr. Shaw: Ain’t misbehaving. Chorus BeJazzy
D. Šostakovič (1906 – 1975): Five pieces for violin and flute. Prelude, Gavotte, Elegy, Waltz, Polka. Violin: Branko Brezavšček, flute: Anita Prelovšek, piano: Elena Startseva Somun

Break

A. von Sultanova/Lucretius (99 B.C. – 55 B.C.): Carmen philosophicum ex De rerum natura; On the nature of atoms. Piano and voice: Aleona von Sultanova (First presentation)
C. Velazquez (1916 – 2005)/arr. J. Galvan: Besame mucho. Chorus BeJazzy
M. Ravel (1875 – 1937): Valses nobles st sentimentales (II, IV, V, VI). Piano: Lara Oprešnik
M. Sepe (1930 – 2020)/G. Strniša (1930 – 1987)/arr. B.Dernač & K.Pirc: Zemlja pleše. Chorus BeJazzy
A. Piazzola (1921 – 1992)/arr. D. Zupanič Turković: Oblivion. Violin Vasilij Meljnikov, flute: Veronika Kralj-Iglič, Pianos: Elena Startseva Somun and Yelena Istileulova, Rainsticks: Anna Romolo, Fabrizio Cillo

Social event at the Jazz Club

Yelena Istileulova represented Kazakhstan as a National Bologna Expert between 2010 – 2015 in the field of innovation. During this period, she began writing music about scientists and inventors and composing music, transforming scientific narratives into songs. Since 2012, she has participated in numerous international music competitions and has received more than 20 international awards under the name of Aleona von Sultanova (as a composer, and songmaker). Her musical compositions are dedicated to scientists who devoted their lives to Planetary Health and are created using her original STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts, Mathematics) – based approach, the SMS Method (Stories based on Music about Scientists). She promotes these compositions through Socratic lecture–symposia at the Faculty of Health Sciences. In 2024 she became the Global South Arts and Health Envoy (as a Researcher and Composer, representing CEE region), and in 2025, Yelena became the first prize winner of a global competition in the fields of Science and Arts for European STEAM Educators. The two compositions that will be presented for the first time at the symposium were written specially for the occasion.

Vasilij Meljnikov studied violin at the Music Academy in Minsk with Olga Parkhomenko, a student and assistant of the famous David Oistrakh. He also completed his master’s degree with her, and then he continued his studies with the teachers of the Peter Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He began his teaching career as a professor at the Special Secondary School for Exceptional Musical Talents and as an assistant teacher at the Music Academy in Minsk. He was also a member of the State Chamber Orchestra of Belarus, with whom he gave concerts in the countries of the former Soviet Union and elsewhere in Europe. Since 1990, he has been working as a teacher and artist in Slovenia. He is a professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and as a soloist and chamber musician he has masterfully performed on numerous concert stages. In 1997, he received first prize at the Vienna Modern Masters international competition in Vienna. In recent years, he has also been a mentor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, which has given acclaimed concerts at home and abroad. Between 2004 and 2010, he worked as concertmaster of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra.

Violinist Branko Brezavšček was until recently a long-time member of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he performed all over the world. He was also the concertmaster of the Carnium Orchestra and a member of other prominent ensembles.

Pianist Lara Oprešnik studied at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana with Hinko Haas and Ruben Dalibaltajan and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz with Milana Černjavska. In 2023, she graduated cum laude in Ljubljana and further developed her skills at the University of the Arts in Berlin with Björn Lehmann. As a soloist, she has performed with a number of orchestras at home and abroad, e.g. the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra from Bacău. In January 2025, as the winner of an international competition, she performed at the Vienna Musikverein and performed Alexander Scriabin’s piano concerto. She regularly performs at festivals such as the Young Virtuosi (Festival Ljubljana), Lent, Arsana and Forum nove glasbe, collaborates with the Ljubljana Music Youth and performs as a chamber musician. She is the winner of numerous awards, including the Prešeren Student Award and absolute first prizes at the Agustin Aponte International Music Competition (Tenerife), the Yamaha Music Europe Foundation, TEMSIG, the Valsesia Musica International Competition, and others. As a composer, she has published works for piano and chamber ensembles, such as the compositions V iskanju (2022) and Fuga (2025). She is a pianist and assistant at the Academy of Music  and associate in STEAM-based projects at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, both at University of Ljubljana. She also works as a freelance artist.

Anita Prelovšek graduated from the Giuseppe Tartini Music Conservatory, Flute program. In the academic year 2005/06, she studied in France at the Conservatoire National de Région in Rennes as part of an Erasmus student exchange program in the class of Prof. Gladys Bouchet. In 2006/07, she studied at the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the class of Prof. Karolina Šantl-Zupan and at the “Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali O.Vecchi-A.Tonelli” in Modena, where her professors were Gabriele Betti, Michele Marasco and Andrea Oliva. In 2007, she completed her orchestra internship and obtained the title of “professore d’orchestra” at the International Orchestra School in Spoleto (Umbria, Italy). In 2008, she studied in  Modena and at the Conservatoire National de Région in Rennes. She actively participates in concerts, flute seminars and master classes with renowned flautists in Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Italy and France. She also devotes herself to languages ​​and literature. In 2018, she defended the Ph.D. in the field of  Musicology, University of Ljubljana.

Elena Startseva-Somun graduated from the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory of Music and received her postgraduate studies in chamber music from the Far Eastern Academy of Arts and Music in Vladivostok. She is an active teacher, accompanist and concert pianist who has performed in various countries around the world and inspired many students to play the piano. She taught piano at the Sergei Prokofiev Music School in Vladivostok, Russian Federation and at the Dzilinsky Academy of Music in Changchun, China. In Slovenia, she regularly performs in various chamber ensembles.

The BeJazzy vocal group The BeJazzy Vocal Group from Ljubljana is a dynamic a cappella choir that brings together singers of different generations, united by a love of jazz and pop singing. Their repertoire includes vocal jazz, pop music, film music and original choral arrangements of Slovenian pop songs and foreign evergreens. Since its founding, the artistic direction has been led by Ksenja Pirc, who has shaped the recognizable sound of the BeJazzy group with vision and dedication. Under her leadership, the BeJazzy Vocal Group has become recognizable in eleven years of operation for its jazz orientation and unique approach to vocal jazz singing, thus contributing an important part to the mosaic of Slovenian choral activity.

Veronika Kralj-Iglič (Davorin Zupanič Turković) studied piano with Zorica Šonc, Irma Hladnik and Andrej Jarc and flute with Tomaž Buh in Ljubljana. She creates music in particular in connection with scientific production, integrates music in academic curricula within the STEAM approach and organizes musical events internationally. For the CEJTEMM she prepared transcription of Astor Piazzola’s Oblivion, with  contribution of FarmEVs members Anna Romolo and Fabrizio Cillo on percussion.