Biography
Kristijan Krajnčan (1986) is a Slovenian multi-instrumentalist, composer, director and screenwriter. Born in a family of musicians he started playing classical cello at the age of five and jazz drums at the age of ten. After he finished Music High School on both instruments, he moved to The Netherlands, where he graduated jazz drums at the Prince Claus Conservatory (Groningen, 2009) and obtained his Masters degree in Composing for Film at the Amsterdam Conservatory (2013).
His ability to play various music styles in groups that range from trio to big band gave him the opportunity to work with several internationally acclaimed artists, such as The Ploctones, Aynur Dogan, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jimmy Greene, Alex Simu Quintet, Franz von Chossy Trio, Dimitar Bodurov, Kaja Draksler “Acropolis Quintet”, DUMItRIO, Tarek Yamani, Big Band RTV Slovenia.
He is featured on 42 albums and has performed in 25 countries in Europe, USA, Asia, Indonesia, Middle-East and Africa.
“DrummingCellist” is his solo project, in which he performs both drums and cello; classical music and jazz. Krajnčan has always been interested in connecting opposing ideas, because for him "in its inner core, there is no difference between Bach and African music". With this project he released three albums: self titled DrummingCellist (2017), in which he arranged Bach’s second cello suite and Arvo Part’s Fratres for classical cello and solo drums; Abraxas (2019), in which he wrote original music inspired by different mythologies and work of C. G. Jung; and Floating Sand (2021) in which he collaborated with Big Band RTV Slovenia, conducted by his father Lojze Krajnčan.
His debut album as a leader “Kristijan Krajnčan Ensemble: Siberian Bear” was released in June 2012 on Edict Records, featuring Ambrose Akinmusire and Jimmy Greene.
He is a founder of interdisciplinary project “Hidden Myth”, a collaboration of several international artists, in which they connect music, dance, poetry, visuals, film, and the world of mythology into a united story.
He has received several international awards in all fields of his work. Most notable include: Special Award at Seifert Competition for Jazz Strings (Poland, 2020) for “artistic merits and highly original style of playing”, Best Screenplay Award at Arab Film Festival (Rotterdam, 2016), Semi-finalist of Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition for Drums (Washington, 2012), Selected for “Dave Douglas Workshop: Creative Composition and Improvisation” at Carnegie Hall (New York, 2010), Finalist of the Dutch Jazz Competition (Netherlands, 2008), 1st Prize jury award “Jazzon” for best Slovenian jazz composition (Slovenia, 2006), Best Director Award at Festival of Slovenian Independent Film (Slovenia, 2006), 1st Prize of National Competition for classical musicians of Slovenia (1997 and 2003),
He scored three features and nine short films. As a composer and improviser he is constantly involved with theatre and dance projects.
He has directed several short films and music videos of classical, jazz, chanson and rock genres. His latest short film “Potop” (The Flood) was shown at numerous film festivals, including the prestigious international competition program of Clermont-Ferrand ISFF (2020).
Selected performances:
Carnegie Hall (New York, USA), Bimhuis (The Netherlands), Salihara Theater (Indonesia), Flagey Winter Jazz Festival (Belgium), Palace of Culture Minsk (Belarus), DRM: Democratic Republic od Music (Lebanon), Concertgebouw De Vereeniging Nijmegen (The Netherlands), VPRO ToneJazz Festival (The Netherlands), JazzCastle Festival Wolfsburg (Germany), ArCub Live Open Air Festival (Romania), “Jazz Is Back! – B.P.” (Croatia), Oct-Loft Jazz Festival (China), Java Jazz Festival (Indonesia), Vossa Jazz Festival (Norway), Jazzkaar Festival (Estonia), Ljubljana Jazz Festival (Slovenia), Grahamstown Standard Bank Jazz Festival (South Africa), Tokyo Jazz Festival (Japan), Bohemian Jazz Festival (Czech), 12 Points! Festival (Ireland), Skopje Jazz Festival (Macedonia), GreenHours 22 Jazz Club (Romania), Borusan Music House (Turkey), Jazz Festival Cerkno (Slovenia), Festival Lent (Slovenia), Amersfoort Jazz Festival (The Netherlands).