Betka Bizjak Kotnik
Betka Bizjak Kotnik graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of Matjaž Drevenšek, where she completed postgraduate specialist studies, and studied at the Conservatory of Music in Lyon with Jean-Denis Michat. She performed in a duo with pianist Milanka Črešnik in Slovenia and abroad, recorded for Radio Slovenia and in 2008 released an independent sound carrier, Replica. She performed in chamber ensembles for contemporary music, including the Neophonia Ensemble and the Forum Ensemble for Modern Music.
Since 2013, the focus of her musical activity has been music making, socializing, concerts and recordings in the ROYA quartet, with which she has given recitals in Croatia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Argentina. New works by composers Nina Šenk, Margareta Ferek-Petrič, Ana-Marie Huszcza, Oliwia Abravesh and singer-composer Zvezdana Novaković were presented by the quartet at the World Congresses of Saxophonists in Strasbourg, France and Zagreb. In 2019, the quartet performed in the Atelier concert cycle of the Society of Slovenian Composers with compositions by Vinko Globokar and premieres of works by Nina Šenk, Leon Firšt and Carlos Castellarneau. In the fall of 2020, they performed at the Contemporary Music Forum in the Slovenian Philharmonic with the premiere of Larisa Vrhunc’s Fragment of Time and Fabien Levy’s composition Durh. In 2021, they recorded the Chamber Studio concert for Radio Slovenia and started recording compositions for the sound carrier.
Since 2018, Betka Bizjak Kotnik has been the director of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet music school, and in the 2023/2024 school year. acts as the director of the Conservatory. She teaches saxophone at the Conservatory, and is also active as a lecturer at saxophone summer schools and seminars, and as a member of the jury of international and national competitions. With her students, she participated in numerous concerts, guest appearances, domestic and international competitions, and some of her students are now established musicians and professors.