Zoran Mitev

Bassoonist Zoran Mitev (born 1962) finished High School of Music in his native country of the Republic of Macedonia under the mentorship of Prof P. Trajkovski in Skopje. He continued his studies at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he graduated with honours in 1987 under the mentorship of Prof Božidar Tumpej. He completed his specialisation at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (1988-91) under the mentorship of Rudolf Frodl and Bella Kovacez. He continued to advance his education by attending summer schools by Prof J. Vajda in Budapest and V. Popov in Moscow.
In September of 2010 Zoran received a certificate of recognition for outstanding contributions to the art of Bassoon by the Chamber of the University of Ljubljana, Academy of Music.
Throughout his education he received several first-place awards at republic and state competitions both as a soloist as well as a member of chamber ensembles (Ljubljana, Priština, Trbovlje and Skoplje) and two awards at the former Yugoslavian competition for music artists in Zagreb. He attended international competitions in bassoon in Toulousu, München and Prague. During his studies he also received two Prešeren Awards by the Academy for Music Ljubljana (1984, 1986).
In 1987 he, as a member of the Mediterranean Orchestra, played on their European tour. As a soloist and member of various chamber music groups he performed with renown musicians including Irena
Grafenauer and Matej Grahek (flute), Jay Haas (piano), Lucca Ferrini (harpsichord), Mate Bekavac, Darko Brlek and Jože Kotar (clarinet), Črt Šiškoviš and Jernej Brnce (violin), Miloš Mejnik (cello) and others. He co-founded The New Ljubljana Trio, was a member and founder of a wind trio that later became the wind quintet SLOWIND, a member of Pro musica nova trio, Slovenian Philharmonic Wind Trio and the OFF trio.
As a soloist he performed with every Slovene orchestra, with some several times, both in Slovenia and abroad; together performing at international festivals including Wien modern, ROMUS in Rovinj, Summer festival Ljubljana, Skopian year (Skopsko leto), Musical September in Maribor, Lubeničke evenings on Cres, Music Festival in Štrip, Festical BLED and others.
His most high-profile performances include the 1994 “Dubrovačke ljetne igre” festival in Dubrovnik, solo concert in August 1997 on Ohrid on the renown summer festival “Ohridsko leto”, solo concert with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and maestro Teodor Guschlbauer in December 2005 in Salzburg’s Great Festival Hall; here he performed the Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf Concert for two bassoons with Paolo Calligaris. In 1998, 2010 and 2016 he performed in Skopje festival “Skopsko leto”, in 2010 he performed Mozart’s Concert for a bassoon and orchestra in B flat minor with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra on the 51st and 62nd Ljubljana festival. He has performed several concerts for Bassoon and Orchestra including:
W. A. Mozart: Concerto in B flat major, KV 191, J. Ch. Bach: Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra, W. A. Mozart: Concerto in e-flat major for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon, J. Stamitz: Concerto for Clarinet, Bassoon and Orchestra, Richard Strauss' Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon.
Thus far, Zoran has premiered over 40 solo and chamber works of Slovene and foreign composers
(Ramovš, Šivic, Firšt, Sojar Voglar, Krivokapič, Mihevc, Bavdek, Svete, Vrhunc, Glavina, Prošev, Mančev, Habe ...). In June of 2013 he recorded five concerts for bassoon and orchestra by Slovene composers in collaboration with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra (T. Habe, N. Firšt, L. M. Škerjanc, Č. Sojer Voglar, I. Petrić). On Slovenian Music Days in 2014 he also premiered the Concert for bassoon and orchestra by Tomaž Habe.

Zoran Mitev has released eight CDs:
Six authorial:
- Wind trio Slowind (1994)
- Zoran Mitev – Bassoon (recital recording of the 51st Ljubljana Summer Festival, 2004)
- Pro musica Nova (2005)
- Slovenian Philharmonic Wind Trio (2006)
- Concerts for Bassoon and Orchestra (Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor A. Nanut)
- Concerts for Bassoon and Orchestra “Slovene composers for bassoon” (Slovene Philharmonic
Orchestra, conductor Loris Voltolini, 2015)

Two co-authorship:
- Slovenian Philharmonic chamber ensembles
- Jubilee CD at the 30th anniversary of GM Ljubljana

Between the years of 1984 and 1992, he was a solo bassoonist in the SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
Orchestra; since 1992 he is a solo bassoonist in the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is also active in a more pedagogic role. Between 2005 and 2010 he was an assistant professor at the distinguished summer school OFF in Izola. He has also taught at the Conservatory for Ballet and Music in Ljubljana and Music School Velenje and has been an assistant professor at the Academy of Music Ljubljana since the 2011/12 academic year. In the period 2006–2016 he and his pupils have received over 30 1st place and 10 other awards at international competitions in Serbia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and at the Competitions of Young Musicians Slovenia.