Snowdrops and Primroses

The festival celebrates its 10th anniversary as a two-day showcase, as the surge in national jazz artists calls for a two-day event and attendance of international promoters. Cankarjev dom was successful in its bid for the implementation of AEP (Artist Exchange Platform), a EJN programme (Europe Jazz Network) that will bring to Ljubljana close to 40 EJN members curating jazz programmes all over Europe. After the European Jazz Conference, organised by Cankarjev dom in 2017, this is another great opportunity for many local jazz artists to showcase their new projects. The programme will take place over a space of two days, featuring altogether 8 bands, including an Austrian project within the context of a bilateral partnership with Music Export Austria and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Ljubljana. In December 2024, a Slovenian artist was thus selected for the Austrian Kickjazz showcase for the second time. 

Programme:
13 Feb
20.00 LILAMORS (SI/DE)
Ana Čop, vocals; Jaka Arh, sound processing, live electronics; Thilo Seevers, piano
21.00 Miha Gantar Trio (SI/US)
Miha Gantar, piano; William Barrett, double bass; Tristan Renfrow, drums
22.00 Mladi Raziskovalci VII. (Young Reserachers VII) — Gaj Bostič — Mrk (SI/AT/ES/SK)
Gaj Bostič, drums, effects; Jošt Lampret, bass; Mark Žakelj, guitar; Maximilian Gerstbach, keyboards; Jordi Roviró, trumpet; Matej Novák, alto saxophone
In cooperation with Inštitut .abeceda.

14 Feb
18.30 Vollmaier: Kind of Laibach (Extended) (SI)
Sašo Vollmaier, piano
19.20 Drago Ivanuša MAGNETIK (SI)
Drago Ivanuša, piano; Urška Supej, guitar; Vita Kobal, violin; Žiga Golob, double bass; Lola Mlačnik, percussion
20.10 Duo Valčić Preuschl (HR/AT)
Asja Valčić, violoncello; Raphael Preuschl, bass ukulele
In cooperation with MICA Vienna and Austrian Cultural Forum Ljubljana)
21.20 Luka Zabric & The Gatherers (SI/HR/SR/BR)
Luka Zabric, alto saxophone; Nikola Vuković, trumpet; Tin Džaferović, double bass; Luís Oliveira, drums
22.10 Krajnčan Brothers (SI)
Žigan Krajnčan, vocals; Kristijan Krajnčan, violoncello, drums
 

LILAMORS
Led by vocalist Ana Čop, LILAMORS plays contemporary electroacoustic music. Their debut album, When I Am Dead, My Dearest, has received enthusiastic response from the media, as well as global reviews and radio station premieres. Creating an interplay between contrasting musical elements and influences, the three award-winning artists explore the boundaries of sound and address often disregarded themes in their lyrics. Featuring Čop’s crystal-clear lyrical voice, piano and subtle electronics, the trio provide a unique and stylistically varied musical experience, while creating a mystical atmosphere that blurs the boundaries between reality and irreality.
https://www.ana-cop.com/lilamors

MIHA GANTAR TRIO
Stemming from the tradition of the great twentieth-century creative musical minds, the Miha Gantar Trio constitutes the next step in the development of the jazz trio format. The band, defined by an adventurous take on music-making, internalizes progressive ideals derived from the history of jazz and modernism, persistently developing them and seeking to create new sonic realities with each performance. With a deeply personal approach to composition and sound, Gantar presents his vision for the future of the trio. Over the past two years (2022 and 2023) Miha Gantar released two five-CD boxes, Introducing and Amsterdam, on Clean Feed. The liner notes for Amsterdam were written by the legendary Reggie Workman. 
https://www.mihagantar.com/

MLADI RAZISKOVALCI VII. (YOUNG RESERACHERS VII)  — GAJ BOSTIČ — MRK
The project Mrk ("Eclipse") is a meeting of diverse musical elements, each genre contributing its own unique hue to the overall palette of sound. The resulting dynamic fusion defies all conventional categorizations. Each song is a reflection of the desire to explore boundaries and unknown territories. "Eclipse" refers to the moment when light and darkness engage in a cosmic dance. Existing simultaneously, light signifies brightness and energy, while darkness denotes depth and mystery. Gaj Bostič's project aims to play with these opposites, just like the planets passing through the shadow of another and momentarily overlapping. The presence of light is reflected in the sound of the trumpet and saxophone, their melodies illuminating the powerful rhythm section that moves in a dark setting, with the keyboards and effects adding depth and creating a contrasting atmosphere.
https://abeceda.io/

VOLLMAIER: KIND OF LAIBACH (EXTENDED)
After graduating from the Ljubljana Academy of Music, Vollmaier worked in different contexts, applying himself to genres that ranged from chamber ensembles to alternative groups. Since 2007, he has been associated with the avant-garde music group Laibach, as a keyboard player, arranger and session musician. Drawing inspiration from the output of Slovenia’s front-runners of industrial music, Sašo's piano solo project includes covers of several Laibach songs. Sašo moves between two worlds, the classical and the industrial, searching for connections between them by synthesising repetition, minimalism and a broad dynamic range. After the outstanding music and visual art project Vollmaier: Ligeti, which premiered at Cankarjev dom in 2023, followed by a performance at the Ligeti Festival in Budapest, Vollmaier is extending his musical exploration featured on the album Kind of Laibach (Nika Records, 2020).
https://www.vollmaier.com/

DRAGO IVANUŠA MAGNETIK
The renowned Slovenian musician and composer Drago Ivanuša’s MAGNETIK project unites unique individuals who, in tackling Ivanuša's compositions that still echo the passion of the La Béte Humaine piano solo, search for attraction and repulsion, affinities and divergences. Their music offers a perspective on interrelationships and conflicts in our rapidly changing world and the position of an individual in the midst of growing chaos. Is utopia still possible? Does society still exist? Is any kind of change possible? Can art be the answer to the world’s vulgarity and perversion? Or at least the answer to a well-formulated question? Mutual attraction, empathy and partnership constitute the magnetism bringing together five musicians from different musical backgrounds.
https://www.dragoivanusa.com/

DUO VALČIĆ PREUSCHL  
Vienna-based artists Asja Valčić and Raphael Preuschl have been thrilling audiences with their profound and uniquely rich acoustic worlds. The duo performs a sequence of cello and bass ukulele compositions, exploring the warm, earthy tones of their instruments in a synthesis of improvisations and wonderfully spun melodies and rhythms. Blending gentle and intimate tunes with pulsing grooves played with bath passion and virtuosity, the two musicians create a fine balance between form and expression. The title of their new album is Velvet. 
https://www.asjavalcic.com/

LUKA ZABRIC & THE GATHERERS
Bringing together international artists, The Gatherers was formed by the Ljubljana-born Copenhagen-based musician Luka Zabric. The band members’ diverse backgrounds blend together to form an eclectic collective expression, informed by their individual personalities and a shared musical vision. The international quartet is seeking new access points to their signature repertoire, blazing a trail of their very own even when following impulses. In 2023, Luka Zabric was selected for the Footprints training programme as a Slovenian representative.

KRAJNČAN BROTHERS
Combining vocals, cello, percussion and dance, Žigan and Kristijan Krajnčan make their fascinating voyage across an ocean of genres and emotions. Both individually and as a duo, the unstoppable brothers aim to create works of art that push back, redraw, or even erase traditional boundaries of musical styles. Guided by the motto “Promoting Openness”, the brothers travel the globe seeking new inspiration. Notable albums: Žigan Krajnčan: Fusion Reactor (Nika Records, 2023) Drummingcellist: Zabučale gore / The Mountains Roared (2022).
https://kristijan-krajncan.com/