Conductors
Marko HRIBERNIK
studied the piano at the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the class of Prof. Aci Bertoncelj, graduating with distinction in 1998. In parallel, he also studied conducting for one year with Prof. Anton Nanut. After graduating from the Ljubljana Academy, he continued his studies of orchestral conducting at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, in the class of Prof. Uroš Lajovic. After gaining his first degree, he furthered his studies in choral conducting in the class of Prof. Günther Theuring. He graduated with a Master’s degree with the highest grade in June 2004, conducting the Austrian Radio Orchestra at a concert in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein. Marko Hribernik is active as a pianist, accompanist and chamber musician. While studying in Ljubljana, he was awarded a Student Prešeren Prize for his achievements in the area of piano performance. He has collaborated with all of the Slovene orchestras: the Slovenian Philharmonic, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Maribor Philharmonic, etc. As a conductor, he is also active beyond the Slovene borders (England, Italy, Kazakhstan, Austria, The Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia). In 2004, he accepted the position of resident conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic for one year. Recently, he has focused particular attention on new music, serving as a conductor with the Chamber Orchestra of Soloists of the Society of Slovene Composers and with the Academy of Music Ensemble for New Music. He has given the premiere performance of numerous works by Slovene composers. His most recent project was the establishment of the society Claves musicae, under the auspices of which the chamber orchestra Academia Sancti Petri operates, an orchestra that has already performed several very successful concerts and also records for RTV Slovenia.
David DeVILLIERS
was born in Cape Town, South Africa. After successfully completing his piano studies, he gained a scholarship to continue studying conducting in Germany, where he has remained until the present day. On graduating, he initially worked as an accompanist, and then became the permanent conductor of the opera in Frankfurt am Main. He was subsequently chief conductor of the chamber orchestra Ad artem de Metz in the French city of Metz, conductor and acting general director of City Stages in Bielefeld and director of the opera house in Giessen. He has conducted symphony orchestras in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Korea and South Africa, with a repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary compositions. He is also known as a conductor who likes to supplement the orchestral repertoire with other musical genres. He has collaborated with the Cologne Radio Orchestra, for instance, as a conductor of symphonic jazz and film music, while the Slovene audience will recall his concert with the rock group Siddharta and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. In September 2003, he was appointed as the chief conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra.
Anton NANUT
was born in Kanal ob Soči. He studied conducting at the Ljubljana Academy of Music and commenced his career as the permanent conductor of the Dubrovnik City Orchestra, with whom he appeared in London, Prague and Warsaw, as well as touring in Hungary, Italy and Austria. After leaving Dubrovnik, he continued his career as the chief conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and as a professor of conducting at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. His commitments with the Slovenian Philharmonic led him to Italy, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union and the USA. From 1981 to 1998, he was the chief conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, with whom he recorded more than 150 compact discs and appeared on celebrated stages such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, as well as in numerous European countries. He has conducted orchestras, including the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra and many others. Anton Nanut has received numerous prizes for his artistic achievements, including the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence, the Bedřich Smetana Medal and the Medal of the Milan Concert Society. For many years, he was the director of the Slovene Octet.
Marko MUNIH
graduated from the conducting class of Prof. Danilo Švara at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, after which he furthered his studies for one year with Maestro Lovro Matačić in Frankfurt, Germany. He first worked as an accompanist at the Slovenian Philharmonic, and then conducted the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1963 to 1971. Between 1965 and 1975, he was also the artistic director and conductor of the Tone Tomšič Academic Choir, with whom he achieved extraordinary artistic success and toured throughout Europe, America and Canada. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious prizes: in 1960, he received the Student Prešeren Prize for conducting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony; in 1969, he was awarded the Prešeren Fund Prize for his artistic direction of the Tone Tomšič Academic Choir; in 1983, he received the Betetto Award for performance; and in 1985, he was awarded the Prešeren Fund Prize for the second time for his performance of Slovene compositions with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1971 to 1979, he was the artistic director and conductor of the RTV Ljubljana Chamber Choir. He created his artistic personality almost simultaneously in the fields of both orchestral and choral performance. The extensive experience that Marko Munih acquired working with two superb choral ensembles in Slovenia formed him into a sensitive and musically profoundly aware performer of foreign and domestic vocal-instrumental repertoire. His work as a conductor is pervaded with refined taste supported by superb technical knowledge and an enduring musical freshness. Marko Munih has made a highly visible and weighty contribution to musical life in Slovenia as a conductor, including a series of recordings of choral and orchestral works released on record and compact disc and preserved in the archives of RTV Slovenia. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with the RTV Symphony Orchestra as well as with other orchestras both in Slovenia and abroad.
Jürgen BRUNS
studied the violin and conducting at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin from 1983 to 1988, and even as a student became a member of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. After completing his studies of conducting with Rolf Reuter in Berlin, he furthered his studies with Gilbert Varga in Florence and Charles Bruck in Paris, as well as at the “Pierre Monteux School” in Maine (USA) from 1991 to 1992. While studying, he was appointed as chief conductor of the Berlin Comic Opera. In order to devote more time to conducting, he resigned as a violinist of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in 1991, and in the following years participated in international conducting masterclasses and competitions, gaining numerous prizes. There followed invitations from various orchestras and opera houses, enabling Jürgen Bruns to pursue an active conducting career both in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Today, he is a regular guest of festivals such as the International Music Festival of Sion, the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, the Dresden Music Festival and the Ravello Festival. As a musical director, he collaborates with recognised theatre directors, including the director of the Deutsches Theater Berlin Peter Zadek, with whom he has most recently collaborated in the production of Brecht’s “Mother Courage”, presently on the programme of the Deutsches Theater Berlin. In past years, the reawakening of the rich musical tradition of pre-war Berlin became an important part of the artistic activities of conductor Jürgen Bruns, and in his work today it is still possible to sense the influence of this charming, refined musical scene, which included many composers of Jewish descent such as Franz Schreker, Ernst Toch, Karol Rathaus, Berthold Goldschmidt and Kurt Weill, all of whom were exiled by the Nazis. In 1991, Jürgen Bruns founded the Kammersymphonie Berlin, and remains their artistic director to the present day. In his work with the orchestra he focuses on contemporary classical music and the works of composers exiled during the time of Nazism. In 2001, the orchestra and its conductor received the prestigious “Siemens-Förderpreis” of the Ernst-von-Siemens Music Foundation for their activities. Conductor Jürgen Bruns is also a recipient of the “Förderpreis Musik” scholarship, which is awarded by the Rheinsberg Music Academy and the federal state of Brandenburg. With the Kammersymphonie Berlin and other orchestras he has recorded various compact discs (for labels such as EDA, Signum, Quadriga, Lynor, Sony, Capriccio and Deutsche Grammophon) as well as making film and radio recordings. Many of the works, particularly those by exiled composers such as Goldschmidt, Rathaus and Schreker, were recorded for the first time. His conceptual planning of concert programmes, in which he combines classical music with other artistic genres, frequently represents a challenge to the established forms of traditional state theatres and concert agencies, while at the same time successfully opening the door to new listeners.
studied the piano at the Ljubljana Academy of Music in the class of Prof. Aci Bertoncelj, graduating with distinction in 1998. In parallel, he also studied conducting for one year with Prof. Anton Nanut. After graduating from the Ljubljana Academy, he continued his studies of orchestral conducting at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, in the class of Prof. Uroš Lajovic. After gaining his first degree, he furthered his studies in choral conducting in the class of Prof. Günther Theuring. He graduated with a Master’s degree with the highest grade in June 2004, conducting the Austrian Radio Orchestra at a concert in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein. Marko Hribernik is active as a pianist, accompanist and chamber musician. While studying in Ljubljana, he was awarded a Student Prešeren Prize for his achievements in the area of piano performance. He has collaborated with all of the Slovene orchestras: the Slovenian Philharmonic, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Maribor Philharmonic, etc. As a conductor, he is also active beyond the Slovene borders (England, Italy, Kazakhstan, Austria, The Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia). In 2004, he accepted the position of resident conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic for one year. Recently, he has focused particular attention on new music, serving as a conductor with the Chamber Orchestra of Soloists of the Society of Slovene Composers and with the Academy of Music Ensemble for New Music. He has given the premiere performance of numerous works by Slovene composers. His most recent project was the establishment of the society Claves musicae, under the auspices of which the chamber orchestra Academia Sancti Petri operates, an orchestra that has already performed several very successful concerts and also records for RTV Slovenia.
David DeVILLIERS
was born in Cape Town, South Africa. After successfully completing his piano studies, he gained a scholarship to continue studying conducting in Germany, where he has remained until the present day. On graduating, he initially worked as an accompanist, and then became the permanent conductor of the opera in Frankfurt am Main. He was subsequently chief conductor of the chamber orchestra Ad artem de Metz in the French city of Metz, conductor and acting general director of City Stages in Bielefeld and director of the opera house in Giessen. He has conducted symphony orchestras in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Korea and South Africa, with a repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary compositions. He is also known as a conductor who likes to supplement the orchestral repertoire with other musical genres. He has collaborated with the Cologne Radio Orchestra, for instance, as a conductor of symphonic jazz and film music, while the Slovene audience will recall his concert with the rock group Siddharta and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. In September 2003, he was appointed as the chief conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra.
Anton NANUT
was born in Kanal ob Soči. He studied conducting at the Ljubljana Academy of Music and commenced his career as the permanent conductor of the Dubrovnik City Orchestra, with whom he appeared in London, Prague and Warsaw, as well as touring in Hungary, Italy and Austria. After leaving Dubrovnik, he continued his career as the chief conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and as a professor of conducting at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. His commitments with the Slovenian Philharmonic led him to Italy, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union and the USA. From 1981 to 1998, he was the chief conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, with whom he recorded more than 150 compact discs and appeared on celebrated stages such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, as well as in numerous European countries. He has conducted orchestras, including the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra and many others. Anton Nanut has received numerous prizes for his artistic achievements, including the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence, the Bedřich Smetana Medal and the Medal of the Milan Concert Society. For many years, he was the director of the Slovene Octet.
Marko MUNIH
graduated from the conducting class of Prof. Danilo Švara at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, after which he furthered his studies for one year with Maestro Lovro Matačić in Frankfurt, Germany. He first worked as an accompanist at the Slovenian Philharmonic, and then conducted the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1963 to 1971. Between 1965 and 1975, he was also the artistic director and conductor of the Tone Tomšič Academic Choir, with whom he achieved extraordinary artistic success and toured throughout Europe, America and Canada. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious prizes: in 1960, he received the Student Prešeren Prize for conducting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony; in 1969, he was awarded the Prešeren Fund Prize for his artistic direction of the Tone Tomšič Academic Choir; in 1983, he received the Betetto Award for performance; and in 1985, he was awarded the Prešeren Fund Prize for the second time for his performance of Slovene compositions with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1971 to 1979, he was the artistic director and conductor of the RTV Ljubljana Chamber Choir. He created his artistic personality almost simultaneously in the fields of both orchestral and choral performance. The extensive experience that Marko Munih acquired working with two superb choral ensembles in Slovenia formed him into a sensitive and musically profoundly aware performer of foreign and domestic vocal-instrumental repertoire. His work as a conductor is pervaded with refined taste supported by superb technical knowledge and an enduring musical freshness. Marko Munih has made a highly visible and weighty contribution to musical life in Slovenia as a conductor, including a series of recordings of choral and orchestral works released on record and compact disc and preserved in the archives of RTV Slovenia. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with the RTV Symphony Orchestra as well as with other orchestras both in Slovenia and abroad.
Jürgen BRUNS
studied the violin and conducting at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin from 1983 to 1988, and even as a student became a member of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. After completing his studies of conducting with Rolf Reuter in Berlin, he furthered his studies with Gilbert Varga in Florence and Charles Bruck in Paris, as well as at the “Pierre Monteux School” in Maine (USA) from 1991 to 1992. While studying, he was appointed as chief conductor of the Berlin Comic Opera. In order to devote more time to conducting, he resigned as a violinist of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in 1991, and in the following years participated in international conducting masterclasses and competitions, gaining numerous prizes. There followed invitations from various orchestras and opera houses, enabling Jürgen Bruns to pursue an active conducting career both in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Today, he is a regular guest of festivals such as the International Music Festival of Sion, the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, the Dresden Music Festival and the Ravello Festival. As a musical director, he collaborates with recognised theatre directors, including the director of the Deutsches Theater Berlin Peter Zadek, with whom he has most recently collaborated in the production of Brecht’s “Mother Courage”, presently on the programme of the Deutsches Theater Berlin. In past years, the reawakening of the rich musical tradition of pre-war Berlin became an important part of the artistic activities of conductor Jürgen Bruns, and in his work today it is still possible to sense the influence of this charming, refined musical scene, which included many composers of Jewish descent such as Franz Schreker, Ernst Toch, Karol Rathaus, Berthold Goldschmidt and Kurt Weill, all of whom were exiled by the Nazis. In 1991, Jürgen Bruns founded the Kammersymphonie Berlin, and remains their artistic director to the present day. In his work with the orchestra he focuses on contemporary classical music and the works of composers exiled during the time of Nazism. In 2001, the orchestra and its conductor received the prestigious “Siemens-Förderpreis” of the Ernst-von-Siemens Music Foundation for their activities. Conductor Jürgen Bruns is also a recipient of the “Förderpreis Musik” scholarship, which is awarded by the Rheinsberg Music Academy and the federal state of Brandenburg. With the Kammersymphonie Berlin and other orchestras he has recorded various compact discs (for labels such as EDA, Signum, Quadriga, Lynor, Sony, Capriccio and Deutsche Grammophon) as well as making film and radio recordings. Many of the works, particularly those by exiled composers such as Goldschmidt, Rathaus and Schreker, were recorded for the first time. His conceptual planning of concert programmes, in which he combines classical music with other artistic genres, frequently represents a challenge to the established forms of traditional state theatres and concert agencies, while at the same time successfully opening the door to new listeners.
