ANŽE PALKA – LEARNING THE GUITAR AND OTHER MUMBLES

Anže Palka is a top professor with a refined sense of musicianship and imparting musical knowledge to new generations. He has an extraordinary sense of teaching music, which is proven by the success and satisfaction and fulfillment of his students. He is dedicated to his work and a master of explanation, he has also designed his own creative learning program where students learn quickly and love to learn.

He began his musical career at the junior music school Ljubljana Moste - Polje under the guidance of professors Milena Turk and Petar Lagudin, and even then performed on radio and television. After three years of lower music school, he continued his education at the secondary music and ballet school in Ljubljana (now KGBL) under the mentorship of the top pedagogue and father of the Slovenian guitar, Tomaž Šegula. Already in the first year, he took part in the all-Slovenian national competition Young Musicians of Slovenia and took first place in the solo guitar category and received a gold award. He received the Škerjančev Award for exceptional success in promoting the school and performed as an excellent musical virtuoso in the Slovenian Philharmonic accompanied by an orchestra. Later, the guitar duo (with guitarist Eva Jelenc) held several concerts in Slovenia, together they also took part in the Young Musicians of Slovenia competition and won the first prize in the guitar duo category twice in a row.

After finishing high school, Anže was admitted to the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he studied under the excellent professor (later dean) Andrej Grafenauer. This encouraged his creativity, which is why, in addition to studying the guitar, he devoted himself to composition. During this time, he created the first music group that performed exclusively original original music, held several concerts and released a CD. Among other things, he received the student Prešeren award and took part in an international competition in Germany for performers and composers, and as a composer and guitarist in the finals he was ranked among the nine best of the European guitar competition in Dresden. He was the first student to finish his diploma with a concert performance of his own composition Fantasia Flamenca accompanied by an orchestra, he also took a professional exam and completed postgraduate studies, earning the title of specialist guitarist. He always liked to help others when learning music, so he began to pass on his knowledge - already during his studies he taught guitar playing to students of the music school in Škofja loka, and later also in Ljubljana and elsewhere.

After finishing his studies, he gained professional knowledge mainly at a flamenco school in Spain, where he was taught by the masters of this musical genre, in which the guitar plays a major role. In this way, Anže expanded his musical knowledge, which enables him to skilfully combine musical genres both when performing and writing compositions.

He founded the New Flamenco Orchestra, with which, under his leadership, they performed several successful performances in Slovenia and had a tour in Croatia, performing exclusively original newly created works. Anže expanded the project and thus the first Slovenian flamenco festival in our country, SIFF, was born. This lasted for several years, every year he opened it as organizer and artistic director with a concert for guitar and orchestra. The multi-day festival took place in prestigious locations such as Ljubljana Castle, Cankarjev dom and SiTi Teater, and hosted top domestic and foreign artists. The festival is an important contribution to the Slovenian cultural space, as it filled it with a rich and high-quality artistic program, from a full-length concert spectacle, dance events, chamber concerts, music and dance workshops.

photo: Dušan Ambrož

ANŽE PALKA - LEARNING THE GUITAR AND OTHER MUMBLES

During this time, he released two CDs with original music, Just Like Flamenco and Carmina Flamenca , on which he plays accompanied by an orchestra. He has collaborated with many artists and cultural institutions, including Adi Smolar, Vlado Kreslin, Ditka Haberl, Jurij Zrnec, Polona Vetrih, Anja Bukovec, Sanja Mlinar, Hannah Mancini, Ivan Marinović, ballet soloists of SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, Chamber Choir Krog , dance master Ivan Vargas, Jure Longyka ( Izštekani ), Vesna Zornik, and from the institutions of the Slovenian Philharmonic, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, SNG Drama Ljubljana, SiTi Teater, Ljubljana Castle, Hotel Union, Hotel Lev, Cankarjev dom, KUD France Prešeren, Public fund for cultural activities, Škuc and others.

In addition to organizing concerts and creating original compositions for guitar and orchestra, Anže always participated in many other projects. He created an extensive compositional opus of diverse compositions for various instrumental compositions and occasions. He provided music for several theater and puppet shows, such as Dvojčka , Kužek i sonček - the music for this play was also released on CD. Due to the close intertwining of the audio-visual, Anže also became interested in film art and created music for two original feature films by director Dejan Babosko, Izhod and Ksan , which was included in the competition program of the Slovenian Film Festival in Portorož in 2018.

In his extensive oeuvre, we find a variety of music, he also wrote a mass, a symphony, a concerto for guitar and orchestra, opera works and soliloquies, and compositions written for students, for learning, are also of particular importance. Anže embarked on a project - to create a collection of 1001 songs that would serve musicians, especially guitarists, on the path of their musical development. The first two parts of the collection (the first 200 songs) have already been created for the beginner level and have proven to be an excellent learning tool, as learning is faster, easier and more fun. The collection is characterized by mostly original compositions that skilfully combine elements of technical exercises and a pleasant melody, among them are also some folk and arrangements of fake compositions.

Anže started his mission as a music teacher fairly soon and gradually acquired new knowledge in the field of education. He takes a holistic approach to learning, which is why he also created the mentioned manual or a collection of songs for learning. In the past, he successfully prepared students for radio and television appearances and other public performances. He also taught in public music schools and gained many invaluable experiences. He led a guitar orchestra for several years, for which he wrote or arranged compositions and was an excellent mentor and motivator for students in the orchestra. He very successfully prepared his students for competitions at home and abroad and for entrance exams to the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana. As a professor, he earned the highest title in public education - saint.

ANŽE PALKA – LEARNING THE GUITAR AND OTHER MUMBLES

photo : Cyril Zlobec