Having established herself as a versatile multi-percussionist and marimba artist Aleksandra Šuklar´s playing is characterised by her excellent musicality, technique, temperament and sensitivity to any musical style; skills which all come together to form her own unique artistic approach. Her diverse musical language and genre-crossing performances range from classical works and contemporary compositions, all the way to film music and crossover projects.
Aleksandra’s engagements as soloist include performances in renowned concert halls such as the Wiener Musikverein, ORF- Radiokulturhaus , Deutsches Theater Berlin and at festivals like Rolex Arts Weekend, Wien Modern, Gustav Mahler Musikwochen, NOMUS Festival and Vienna Saxfest, to name a few.
Aleksandra Šuklar is a prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions across Europe (Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Austria,…) and was a laureate of the Fidelio Competition in the “ORF-Radiokulturhaus” Vienna in two consecutive years. She has been recognised by the Federal Chancellery of Austria as one of the most outstanding young artists living in Vienna and was consequently awarded with their scholarship.
She cooperates regularly with various ensembles and orchestras including the Symphony Orchestra of Vienna State Opera, ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, Synchron Stage Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, RTV-Slovenian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, Zagreb Soloists and Vienna Chamber Orchestra.
Born in a family of musicians, Aleksandra’s musical education began at the age of 5 when she started her violin lessons in Novi Sad, Serbia. After moving to Slovenia, she began her percussion lessons at the age of 11 and later on continued her studies in Vienna, Austria. In 2016 she graduated from the Music and Arts University of the city of Vienna in the class of prof. Nebojša Jovan Živković receiving a Bachelor and Master of Arts degree.
In recent years Aleksandra has been touring arenas worldwide and collaborating with the internationally celebrated film music composer Hans Zimmer as part of his band of soloists in “Hans Zimmer Live” and “The World of Hans Zimmer”.
Her curiosity and creativity has enabled her to lead a fulfilling musical life: from regular recordings from her studio for Hollywood Productions including companies such as “Netflix”, “DreamWorks” and ” Warner Bros”, where she has recently recorded Soundtracks for Movies “Sponge Bob”, “Dune” and “The Creator”, to Solo-Performances, Masterclasses and collaborations with some of the most inspiring musicians of our time.
Aleksandra Šuklar plays Yamaha and is artist at Pearl drums, Meinl Percussion, Meinl Cymbals, and Schlagkraft mallets.
Ivana Bilić is an international marimba virtuoso and percussion artist. Known for her versatility, she regularly appears as soloist with European orchestras (Danish Radio Symphony, W. Lutoslawski Philharmonic, Pannon Philharmonic, Slovenian Philharmonic, Dohnany Symphony, Presidential Symphony Orchestra Ankara, Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian Radiotv…) Her concert activities include recitals, crossover projects, stage productions, cd recording…
Simon Klavžar is Associate professor for percussion and head of Winds, Brass and Percussion Department at the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. As performer, he is currently mostly active in the contemporary music field, performing with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Neofonia Ljubljana, Schallfeld Ensemble Graz, Konzerthausorchester Berlin and others. Since the formation in 2006, he has been performing with Jože Bogolin as percussion duo Drumartica in the USA, Japan and across Europe at venues such as the Carnegie Hall (New York), Hermitage Theater (St. Petersbourg), Berlin Philharmonie (Berlin), Auditorio de Tenerife (Spain), Kennedy Center (Washington DC) and Luxembourg Philharmonic Hall. The duo received first prizes at the International Percussion Competition Luxembourg, Salieri-Zinetti chamber music competition in Verona and numerous other prizes. Simon Klavžar recorded CD’s Drumartica I and Saxala with new music for percussion and saxophone.
In 2015, Simon Klavžar apeared as a soloist at the World Music Days with Radio Symphony Orchestra of Ljubljana and performed a world premiere of a double concerto by Matej Bonin for percussion and saxophone in season 2022/23 with the same orchestra. In the 2023/24 season, he performed Bonin’s concerto with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Agata Zubel’s percussion concerto ‘Flash’ at the New Music Forum festival. He was a member of the World Percussion Group touring Northern Europe in 2017 and has held masterclasses at the music academies and universities of Furman, Western Washington, Gdańsk, Liszt Ferenc Budapest and Salerno, as well as at numerous percussion festivals.