Irena Grafenauer (born 19 June 1957 in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a Slovenian

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

player and soloist, a pupil of Boris Čampa,

Karlheinz Zöller Karlheinz Zöller (24 August 1928 – 29 July 2005) was a German flutist, and solo fluteplayer in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra between 1960–1969 and 1976–1993. Early life and education Karlheinz Zöller was born in Höhr-Grenzhausen (near ...

and

Aurèle Nicolet Aurèle Nicolet (22 January 1926 – 29 January 2016) was a Swiss flautist. He was considered one of the world's best flute players of the late twentieth century. He performed in various international concerts. A number of composers wrote music ...

. Irena Grafenauer was born to father Stanko Grafenauer, a geologist, and to mother Magdalena Grafenauer. She started her formal musical education at the age of 8. After graduating from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in 1974, she continued her studies with

and

. She won First Prize in three international competitions: in Belgrade (1974),

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

(1978) and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

(1979). From 1977 to 1987 she was principal flautist with the

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundf ...

under

Rafael Kubelik Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California Fiction * ''Rafael'' (TV series), a Mexican telenovela * ''Rafaël'' (film), a 2018 Dutch film People * Rafael (footballer, born 1978) ( ...

and

Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom ...

. In October 1987 she was appointed Professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum. She has successfully toured most European countries, the United States, Japan, and Australia as a soloist. She has performed regularly at Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Festival since 1981 and toured extensively with ”Kremer & Friends”. Irena Grafenauer formed a duo with the harpist . She has also worked regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic Duo Jörg Baumann and , pianists Oleg Maisenberg, Robert Levin, and Helmut Deutsch, guitarist

Eliot Fisk Eliot Hamilton Fisk (born August 10, 1954) is an American classical guitarist. Music career Education and teaching Fisk was born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia. He finished high school in DeWitt, New York, and then studied music at Yale Un ...

, and the Cherubini String Quartet. Irena Grafenauer records exclusively for the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

label. She has been contracted to record concertos and quartets by Mozart with members of the

Academy of St Martin in the Fields The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy of St. M ...

and the French album with music by

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

, Ibert and Roussel. She taught in

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg ( German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteu ...

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, for almost 30 years. In 2003, she was bestowed the golden order of freedom by the then President of Slovenia

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (20 ...

for her achievements. At the same time, she also fell ill for

chronic myeloid leukemia Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), also known as chronic myeloid leukemia, is a cancer of the white blood cells. It is a form of leukemia characterized by the increased and unregulated growth of myeloid cells in the bone marrow and the accumula ...

, a type of white blood cell cancer. She contributed significantly to the promotion of

bone marrow transplantation Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood, in order to replicate inside a patient and produce a ...

in Slovenia. Irena Grafenauer was also awarded a number of accolades for her endeavours in Slovenia: in 2004, she became the Slovene Woman of the Year (as selected by readers of the magazine Jana), she was bestowed an honorary doctorate by the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

, she became an honorary citizen of Ljubljana and an honorary member of the

Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra The Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra (''Simfonični orkester Slovenske filharmonije'') is a Slovenian orchestra based in Ljubljana. Its primary concert venues are Marjan Kozina Hall in Philharmonic Hall, Ljubljana, at Congress Square () and Gall ...

, and she was awarded the

Prešeren Award The Prešeren Award (), also called the Grand Prešeren Award (), is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia. It is awarded each year by the Prešeren Fund () to two eminent Slovene art ...

for lifetime achievement in 2005.

References

Slovenian women flautists Classical flautists 1957 births Living people Prešeren Award laureates Musicians from Ljubljana Players of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra {{flautist-stub