MARUŠA BREZAVŠČEK
"Maruša Brezavšček is an exceptional virtuoso [...] Her phrasing was speech-like, in a murmuring dialogue with the ensemble. Her performance revealed rhetorical confidence, charisma, and wit in solo passages."
Lovrenc Rogelj, Radio Ars RTV Slovenia, 2021
"Multi-award-winning young Slovenian musician Maruša Brezavšček has obviously mastered the recorder. Her technical skill was convincing, as was the distinct musical phrasing and dynamic nuance in her performance of all three virtuosic movements of Vivaldi's Concerto for Recorder in D Major, RV 428. Accompanied by the baroque orchestra Musica Cubicularis, the young artist presented an extremely impressive interpretation."
Zdenka Veber, Klasika.hr, 2021
Maruša Brezavšček is a Slovenian recorder player, specialising in early and contemporary music, and is also active as a performer on the baroque bassoon and dulcian. She teaches recorder at the Ljubljana Academy of Music in Slovenia and is based in Basel, Switzerland.
She has been the recipient of numerous prestigious accolades, including first prizes at the TARF 3 (Tel Aviv Recorder Competition) in 2020 in two distinct categories and first prize at the ERPS (European Recorder Players Society) Competition in Graz (2016). In September 2021, she received the Ivan Werner Award for artistic achievement for her performance as a soloist with the ensemble Musica Cubicularis at the Varaždinske Barokne Većeri festival. She has also been awarded grants from the Slovenian Ministry of Culture, Fundacija Viktoria, the Municipality of Ljubljana and the Lyra Foundation in Switzerland.
Maruša is active as a soloist and chamber musician and is a founding member of ensembles Ensemble Bastion (baroque music), Duo Decima (contemporary music), and Ensemble Pampinea (medieval music). The latter received the first prize at the London International Festival of Early Music competition in 2022.
She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras/ensembles including Capricornus Consort Basel, Musica Cubicularis, and the Chamber Ensemble of the Slovenska Filharmonija. As a soloist with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, she has performed in prestigious venues in Israel, including Zucker Hall in Tel Aviv and the YMCA in Jerusalem.
Maruša studied with distinct musicians, such as recorder players Dorothee Oberlinger, Pedro Memelsdorff, Antonio Politano, Han Tol, Andreas Böhlen, as well as bassoon players Donna Agrell, Josep Borras, and Carles Cristobal. Maruša obtained diplomas with distinction from Schola Cantorum Basiliensis/Musikakademie Basel and Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, took part in an Erasmus exchange at Escuela Superior de Musica de Catalunya, and underwent a Corso libero Flauto dolce at Conservatorio di Musica Luca Marenzio di Brescia.
She has presented recitals in the Silver Abonement of Cankarjev Dom, the Komorni cikel Maribor, the Erasmus Klingt! Festival Lab in Basel and performed at festivals such as Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, London International Festival of Early Music, Festival Seviqc Brežice, Festival Radovljica, Varaždinske barokne većeri, Sozvočje svetov (Ljubljana), Barockfest (Salzburg), Tel Aviv Recorder Festival, Tartini Festival (Koper), Imago Sloveniae Festival (Ljubljana) and Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik. She has premiered works for recorder at the Scelsi Festival in Basel, the Koncertni Atelje in Ljubljana, at the 30th anniversary of the Slovenian association for avant-garde music Muzina with the ensemble Duo Decima, and in duo with Antonio Politano at concerts honouring the 90th birthday of Slovene composer Jakob Jež.
Maruša has appeared on recordings produced by Slovenian National RTV, on several CDs and has premiered new works by distinguished Slovene and international composers.