Tobija

Tobija Hrastnik was born in 1997, the sixth child in a family of nine. He grew up in a small village near Laško, where he started playing trumpet at the Music School Laško- Radeče.  He continued his musical career in Celje with professor Miran Majcen, where he also graduated from high school. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana(Slovenia) with Professor Jure Gradišnik and spent the next four years in Hannover (Germany) where he studied to get master degree diploma with amazing Professor Jeroen Berwaerts.

In year 2022, Tobija won audition for 2nd trumpet in Bundespolizei Orchestra in Hannover(Germany) where he was working for only one year because he soon after won an audition for solo trumpet position in Symphony orchestra Ljubljana where he is currently working full time.

Since his high school years he has regularly participated in competitions, where he has won prizes such as:

-in 2014 first prize at the International Davorin Jenko Competition in Belgrade, a gold plaque and second prize at the TESMSIG competition and a special prize for the best played obligatory composition,

-in 2015 first prize and laureate at the International Davorin Jenko Competition in Belgrade, and

-in 2016 he also won first prize in the academic category at the International Competition in Varaždin. In the same year, he was awarded a gold plaque and 2nd prize at the TEMSIG competition with his chamber ensemble Trumpet Quartet.

-In 2017 he won 1st prize at the Svirel International Competition and the best trumpet prize in the form of a sponsored trumpet by Robert Buttus. In the same year, he also won: a gold plaque, 2nd prize and the award for the best obligatory piece at the TEMSIG competition.

-In 2018 he was awarded a solo recital in the concerts of the Ljubljana Music Youth.

-In 2017, 2018 and 2019, he auditioned and became a regular member of the European Youth Orchestra.

Here he has worked with great conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, Stéphane
Denéve, Manfred Honeck and others. He has played in great halls such as the Royal Albert Hall in
London for the BBC Proms, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the
Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Royal Opera House in Muscat and many more. He has also played in
orchestras such as RTV Slovenia, Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra Wernigerode, Orchestre National de
Lorraine, Opera Braunschweig, Geräuschkulisse Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Slovenes in Vienna,
Slovenian Police Orchestra, Orchestra Nova and others.

Tobija is also committed to playing in chamber ensembles and has been successful in this field. In 2019,
he won first prize and a gold plaque at the TEMSIG competition with his brass quintet. He was also a
member of the brass ensemble that was part of the before mentioned EUYO orchestra. He has participated
in two successful tours with them, in China for the opening of the tourist link between China and the
European Union, and in a project in Brussels, where he played in the European Parliament.
He auditioned and won Yamaha Prize Scholarship, which was open to all trumpeters from the Academy of
Music in Ljubljana.

During his studies he was a regular member of the chamber and orchestral ensembles at the Academies.
He regularly participates in many seminars, summer schools and studies individually with well-known
Slovenian and foreign professors such as Reinhold Friedrich, Jeroen Berwaerts, Matthias Höfs, Kristian
Steenstrup, Ottaviano Cristofoli, Anton Grčar, Stanko Arnold, Franc Kosem, Aleš Klančar, etc.