Špela Mastnak, PercussionsŠpela Mastnak is a Slovenian percussionist, born in Celje and currently based in Germany. Interested in contemporary music and performing art, her main focus is making new works accessible to different audiences. She began her first percussion lessons at the age of thirteen, graduating from the Music Academy in Zagreb under Ivana Bilić and Igor Lešnik. Her main teacher, with whom she deepened her understanding of music and was always the source of inspiration was Peter Sadlo at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she finished her master study of percussion. Recently she also finished the Masters program of contemporary music in Hochschule für Musikund Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main. In the year 2015/2016 Špela was selected as a percussionist in the International Ensemble Modern Academy that lead to collaboration with various interesting artists and productions. She has worked with Ensemble Modern, Heiner Göbbels and various composers including Helmut Lachenmann, Beat Furrer, Enno Poppe, Unsuk Chin, Hans Zender, Matthias Pintscher and Achim Bornhöft. Her interest in conteporary music has lead to festivals including Salzburg Biennale, Zagreb Biennale, Cresc Biennale Frankfurt, Klangspuren Festival Schwaz, Witten tage für Neue Kammermusik, Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Slowind Festival in Slovenia.. During February and March 2017 she was an Artist in residence in the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, where she presented a project made together with Paul Beckett. She is a member of NAMES Ensemble and Mobile Beats Ensemble, as a free-lancing musician trying to be engaged in various projects and closely works with young composers on creating new works. |