Filip Aleksander Peršolja began his guitar career at Franc Šturm Music School in Ljubljana with Professor Mario Babojelić. He participated in competitions such as the Slovenian national competition “TEMSIG” and “Krško Guitar Days”, where he achieved outstanding results.
He continues his musical journey at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana in the class of Professor Anton Črnugelj. In 2022 he won 1st prize at the International Music Competition "Citta di Cervignano" in category D and the 1st absolute prize at the 19th International Classical Guitar Competition "Enrico Mercatali" in Gorizia, Italy. In 2023 he won the 1st prize and a gold plaque, as well as a special award for his outstanding interpretation of a piece by Leo Brouwer: Micropiezas, at the 52nd Slovenian national competition TEMSIG, performing in a duo with Eva Pišek. In the same year, he won the 2nd prize at "Sarajevo International Guitar Festival Competition 2023" and performed as a duo with Eva Pišek at the Summer Guitar School in Črnomelj. In August 2023 he won the 1st prize at the 25th competition "Forum Gitarre Wien", which led to his nomination as Person of the Week on Val 202 Radio Slovenia. In the same year, he also won the 1st prize at the "14th World Open Music Competition" and at the "2nd International Classical Guitar Competition VelEspana". In 2024 he won the 2nd prize and a gold plaque at the 53rd Slovenian national competition TEMSIG.
In recent years, he has also attended master classes with world renowned professors such as Anders Miolin, Marco Diaz Tamayo, Paolo Pegoraro, Judicaël Perroy, Natalia Lipnitskaya, Darko Bageski, Mak Grgić, Jure Cerkovnik, Nejc Kuhar and Tomaž Rajterič.
Recently, Filip Aleksander Peršolja presented himself with selected recordings of his competition pieces in the show “Mladi virtuozi” (Young Virtuosos) on Radio ARS. In 2024 he performed as a guest at the Festival "Forum Gitarre Wien", the Summer School of Guitar in Črnomelj and at the “12th Guitar Week” in Postojna.
Duo Chameleon: Leon Ravnikar & Kamil Anioł
Kamil Anioł started his journey with a guitar when he was 7 years old. His first teacher was his father. In 2012 he started education in music school in Bielsko-Biala, his hometown. His teacher there was Mgr Marcin Szermanski. While he was attending to music school he took masterclasses with guitar Masters from all around the world: Thomas Kirchhoff, Andrea de Vitis, David Pavlovits and many others. Since 2021 he is a student at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna where he studies guitar in Prof. Margarita Garcia Escarpa's class.
Some of his recent achievements/prizes:
1st place - International Guitar Competition in Sarajevo (2024),
1st place - National Guitar Competition in Wadowice (2024),
1st place - 2nd International Guitar Competition "Baltic Guitar Days" in Szczecin (Poland 2023),
Grand Prix (in duo) - 1st International Guitar Competition "Baltic Guitar Days" in Szczecin (Poland 2023),
1st place - XXIX International Guitar Competition in Brno (2020).
Leon Ravnikar from Škofja Loka is a promising young musician. His love is classical guitar, which he started playing at the age of seven at the Škofja Loka Music School under guidance of professor Denis Kokalj. After eight years, he continued his education at the Ljubljana Conservatory for Music and Ballet. In his musical journey so far, he has already won many awards and recognitions from competitions and festivals. The young artist belongs to the very top of musicians, which is also proven by the fact that he scored the most points of all applicants in the entrance exams at the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Numerous international and national awards testify to the fact that he is an exceptional musician with great potential. His mentors are convinced that he can stand alongside world renowned music artists already - and he is only at the beginning of his musical journey. For example, he is a five-time award winner of the TEMSIG national competition. He also received the Škerjanec Award for special artistic creation and promotion within the school, which is awarded by the Conservatory.
Some of his achievements:
- 2nd prize and gold plaque at the TEMSIG national competition (2018),
- 1st prize at the international Rust Rust competition in Austria (2018),
- 2nd prize at the international guitar festival Cithara Ignea in Poland (2018),
- 2nd prize and gold plaque at the Enrico Marcetali international competition in Italy (2019)
- 2nd prize and gold award at the national competition TEMSIG 2021 + Special prize for the best performance of the set piece and a composition by a Slovenian composer
- 1st prize at the international Danubia Talents Liszt online competition (2021)
- 3rd prize at the Alirio Diaz International Guitar Festival, Rust, Austria (2022)
- 2nd prize and gold award at the guitar competition in Krško (2022)
- 1st prize at the international competition of young musicians Harmonia Cordis, Romania (2022)
- 1st prize at the Alirio Diaz International Guitar Competition in Rust, Austria (2023)
- 3rd prize at the international guitar competition in Montenegro (2022)
- 3rd prize at the prestigious competition of the University of Music and Visual Arts Vienna, Great talent award 2023, where he also competed with other instruments and chamber ensembles
- 1st prize at the 5th Franz Cibulka International Guitar Competition in Graz 2023
- 1st prize at the 2nd international competition of the Spanish Embassy in Velenje, VelEspaña 2023
- 1st prize + special prize for the best performance of the set piece at the 53rd national competition TEMSIG 2024, Vrhnika
- 2nd prize at the 13th International Guitar Festival in Sarajevo 2024
He is also active in a guitar duo together with his friend and an excellent Polish guitarist Kamil Aniol. Under the name Duo Chameleon, they already achieved two resounding results in international competitions in the first year of cooperation:
- 2nd prize at the 20th Altamira guitar competition in Gorica 2023
- 1st prize and Grand prix at the guitar festival Baltic guitar days 2023 in Szczecin, Poland
Numerous international and national awards prove that Leon is distinguished by an "exceptional musicality and technical skill that only a few of his peers have," says Eva Hren, a guitar professor at the Ljubljana Conservatory and Leon's former mentor. "There are a few students who are so independent that they only need a good guidance during the beginning of their musical career, because they have so much of a story in them that it is enough just to listen to it. In his work, Leon Ravnikar is proactive and resourceful, and we actually worked as a team," says his former mentor. "On stage, he presents compositions as his own, with great stage presence.”
He also performed as a soloist in various renowned halls in Slovenia (e.g. Slovenian Philharmonic, Ljubljana Opera, Gallus Hall in Cankarjev dom ...) and abroad (Vienna Musikverein, Sevilla …). He also works as a chamber musician in many different ensembles, even as a soloist with an orchestra, as he likes to meet other music lovers and new instruments.
He is now a student at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he began a new chapter of his artistic creation as a classical guitarist in the class of professor Nejc Kuhar, a renowned composer and guitarist. "I have been following Leon for quite a few years, and in my opinion, he is not only among the top talents of his generation in Slovenia but undoubtedly stands out on the international stage as well. At a very young age, he excelled in guitar competitions, achieving top placements and prestigious awards at both national and international levels," says his mentor Kuhar. As he points out, such a large number of awards and activities is a rarity even for a successful, already established musician, let alone for a young guitarist in his student years. He notes that Leon is not only hard-working, diligent and persistent, but also very intellectual and maturely reacts to the teachers' suggestions. It was for this reason that he invited him to study guitar in his class at the Vienna University of Music and Visual Arts.
His immense desire for even greater knowledge led him to participate in various master classes and festivals with renowned professors such as Paolo Pegoraro, Augustin Wiedemann, Aleksandar Hadži-Djordjević, Zoran Krajišnik, Alvaro Pierri, Hubert Käppel, Jorgos Panetsos, David Pavlovits, Judicael Perroy …