Tobija Hrastnik was born in 1997 as the sixth child in a family of nine. He grew up in a small village near Laško, where he began playing the trumpet at the Music School Laško-Radeče under the guidance of Professor Marko Razboršek.
He continued his musical education in Celje with Professor Miran Majcen, graduating from high school there. He then pursued his studies at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he graduated under Professor Jure Gradišnik. His education was further enriched by two years of Master’s studies in Hannover, Germany, under Professor Jeroen Berwaerts.
Throughout his secondary school years, Tobija regularly participated in competitions, earning several gold plaques and awards. From 2017 to 2019, he was a regular member of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO). In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Yamaha Prize Scholarship.
After completing his studies, Tobija was employed for a year as a trumpet player in the Bundespolizei Orchestra in Hannover, Germany. He is currently serving as the solo trumpet player in the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra.
Sašo Vollmaier is a Slovenian composer, pianist, performer and pedagogue. He works with the Panteatre (Paris) and the Roy Hart International Art Centre, the Atelier of Performing Arts in Düsseldorf, and since 2014 he has been teaching at the Academy of Arts in Arezzo, Italy. In recent years, he has also intensified his own solo projects, among the most notable of which are “Vollmaier: Kind of Laibach”, “Vollmaier:Nietzsche” and “Vollmaier:Ligeti (How to Explain Ligeti to a Dead Audience)”.
He seeks his expression in darker sonic spaces, between the classical and improvisational worlds. This sonic quality has been recognised by Yamaha, which has awarded him the title of Yamaha artist (April 2023). In recent years he has been active in the field of performance and theatre, creating music for dance and theatre performances. His passion for the human voice has led him to the “Centre Artistique International Roy Hart (Malérargues, France) and the Accademia dell’Arte (Arezzo, Italy).
Jure Gradišnik is principal trumpet player of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and an assistant professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. He completed his trumpet studies with Professor Stanko Arnold at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and with Professor Hans Gansch at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.