Maja Cerar, violinist

Critics have consistently praised Maja Cerar as a "magnificent violinist" with "breathtaking technique" and "a completely natural musicality," an artist who "listens to her inner self." International media enthusiastically cover her concerts, Compact Disk releases, television appearances and radio recordings. Maja Cerar has premiered and recorded numerous works written for and dedicated to her. Since her debut in the Zürich Tonhalle in 1991 she has played as a soloist with orchestras in Europe, given recitals with distinguished artists on international tours (Paris, Rome, Washington, Chicago, New York) as well as at festivals such as the Davos "Young Artist in Concert," Gidon Kremer's Lockenhaus Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the ISCM World Music Days in Ljubljana, and the ICMC festival in Barcelona and in Singapore, the "Viva Vivaldi" festival in Mexcio City, and numerous others. Her collaborative works have been featured at the "Re:New Frontiers of Creativity" symposium celebrating the 250th anniversary of Columbia Universtiy, "LITSK" festival at Princeton University, and the SIGGRAPH 2007 multimedia conference/festival in San Diego.

Ms. Cerar's repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the present and her stage experience, besides solo and chamber music, includes performances with live electronics as well as theater and dance productions. After her Matura from Literary Gymnasium in Zürich, Maja Cerar graduated with honors from the Zürich-Wintertur Conservatory where she studied under Aida Stucki-Piraccini. She also took master classes with Zakhar Bron, Franco Gulli, Igor Oistrakh, and Igor Ozim. From 1995 to 2001 she polished her performance further with Dorothy DeLay and Kurt Nikkanen in New York. Ms. Cerar has worked with composers Sebastian Currier, Beat Furrer, György Kurtág, Alvin Lucier, Morton Subotnick, and John Zorn, as well as many emerging New York composers. She received her Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees in Historical Musicology at Columbia University where she is now a candidate for the Ph.D (Dissertation on Schubert's late string quartets). During her studies, Ms. Cerar has received fellowships from Columbia University and scholarships from the Swiss Study Foundation, the Migros Foundation, the Swiss government, and has been the recipient of other numerous grants and awards. Beginning in 1999, she has taught musicology courses at Columbia University, Rutgers University, and Fordham University, and has given violin master classes and coached chamber music in Skofja Loka, Slovenia.