Jurij Jenko

Clarinettist Jurij Jenko graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in 1986, having studied with professors Slavko Goričar, Igor Karlin and Mihael Gunzek. He then furthered his studies in Paris with Prof. Jean-Marc Volta, gaining the Premier Prix à l’unanimité de la Ville de Paris in 1988. In addition to the Student Prešeren Prize (1984), he was also a prizewinner at the Competition of Musical Artists in Zagreb (as a soloist in 1986, and as a member of a wind trio in 1987).
For many years, he was active as a member of the Slavko Osterc Ensemble and the Slovenian Clarinet Orchestra, while also serving as a teacher at the Ljubljana Music and Ballet High School. He is the first clarinettist of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and a founding member of the Slowind Wind Quintet.
During his artistic career both as a soloist and with Slowind, he has performed a rich variety of compositions from the world music repertoire and premiered numerous works by Slovenian and foreign composers. Among them, particular mention should be made of Uroš Rojko’s composition Koncertant(n)i K(O-J)U-JE-JO for two clarinets and orchestra, which was performed at two subscription concert of the Slovenian Philharmonic as well as at the Slovenian Music Days.
Jurij Jenko’s creative work has been documented on a number of radio recordings and compact discs, including a release with the Slovenian Philharmonic featuring the two clarinet concertos and the Concertino for clarinet and orchestra by Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber.
As a member of the Slowind Wind Quintet, he was awarded the Župančič Prize for successful activities in the field of culture in 1999, the Prešeren Fund Prize in 2003, and the Betteto Prize in 2013.
Jurij Jenko plays a Wurlitzer Reform-Böhm clarinet.