Duo Novum

Duo Novum consists of two young and talented Slovenian musicians, saxophonist Jan Gricar and accordionist Nejc Grm. They met whilst attending the Conservatoire of music and ballet Ljubljana and continued their studies at the Academy of music in Ljubljana. During their studies, they attended many competitions and both received numerous prizes as solo artists. For their hard work, umpteen concerts and successful competitions they were both awarded with the highest and most prestigious student award, the Prešeren award of University in Ljubljana.

After graduating with the highest grade “summa cum laude” they decided to continue their studies abroad. Jan finished his studies at the Regional conservatory in Versailles and CNSM de Paris, whereas Nejc went to Switzerland, Hochschule für Musik Basel and Germany, Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.

Despite working in different countries, their passion for chamber music, the pursuit of new challenges and the discovering of new sounds brought them together. With an idea of developing the lack of repertoire for this interesting instrumental combination, the duo works with composers such as Nina Šenk, Matej Bonin, Tadeja Vulc, Olli Virtaperko as well as with professors Claude Delangle and Miha Rogina.

Duo Novum has appeared internationally on major concert series in Slovenia, France, Belgium and Germany. Their concert in Brussels, where they have performed in honour of the Slovenian Cultural Day, the 25th anniversary of Slovenia’s independence and 70 years of the Society of Slovene Composers was a very big success.

Duo Novum sestavljata saksofonist Jan Gričar in harmonikar Nejc Grm, ki sta se spoznala v času šolanja na Konservatoriju za glasbo in balet v Ljubljani. Oba sta za svoje umetniške dosežke prejela najvišjo študentsko nagrado – Prešernovo nagrado Univerze v Ljubljani.

Z najvišju odliko "summa cum laude" sta zaključila študij na Akademiji za glasbo v Ljubljani, po končanem študiju v Ljubljani pa sta oba svojo pot nadaljevala v tujini. Jan je uspešno opravil magistrski študij na Pariškem nacionalnem konservatoriju (CNSM de Paris), Nejc pa specializiran magistrski študij sodobne glasbe na Visoki šoli za glasbo v Baslu in podiplomski študij na Visoki šoli za glasbo v Freiburgu.

Kljub temu, da se njune poti venomer križajo in delujeta na različnem koncu, uspešno vzdržujeta sodelovanje neprestano. Že v času študija v Ljubljani sta začela resneje sodelovati in razširjati program za ta komorni sestav. Priredbe si pišeta sama, prav tako za duo nastajajo nove skladbe priznanih skladateljev, kot so: Nina Šenk, Matej Bonin, Tadeja Vulc, Olli Virtaperko in drugih.

Nastopata na koncertih po Sloveniji in Evropi – v Franciji, Belgiji in Nemčiji. Izreden uspeh je požel njun koncert v Bruslju, kjer sta nastopila ob slovenskem kulturnem prazniku, 25. obletnici samostojnosti in enotnosti ter 70. obletnici Društva slovenskih skladateljev.