Primož Parovel Primož Parovel
Born in Celje, Slovenia, in 1975, Primož Parovel began learning the accordion at the age of nine under Professor Zdenka Šindič, and went on to refine his playing with Professor Ernö Sebastian at the Akademija za glasbo (music conservatory) in Ljubljana, the capital. At 19 he moved to the Liszt School of Music in Germany to study with Professor Ivan Koval, then studied with Professor Matti Rantanen at the Sibelius-Akatemia in Finland and with Professor Stefan Hussong at a German conservatory, ultimately earning his doctorate with outstanding results.
As a student he was active in numerous master classes, seeking guidance from many internationally renowned masters such as Hugo Noth, Friedrich Lips, Teodoro Anzellotti, Mie Miki, Oleg Scharow, Egbert and Spelde, and he received scholarships from many prestigious institutions, including the German D.A.A.D. foundation, the Slovenian Ministry of Culture, the Gallus Foundation in Slovenia and the City of Ljubljana Foundation. He was also regularly supported by Jeunesses Musicales Slovenia in the classical music field.
In 1999 he won third prize at the 36th Klingenthal International Accordion Competition in Germany. In 2004 he took first place in Arrasate, Spain, winning the top prize at the 12th “Arrasate Hiria” International Accordion Competition.
He performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, Asia and Canada, and has appeared with internationally renowned orchestras including the MDR Sinfonie Orchester, Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Pro Arte Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), Taiwan Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. To bring compelling chamber music to audiences, he has worked with musicians from many countries: Taiwanese cellist 呂超倫, violinists 林淑敏 and 蔡明儀, violists 陳必昭 and 葉哲睿 and soprano 陳心瑩; Slovenian violinist Tomaz Lorenz and guitarists Nejc Kuhar and Jerko Novak; German saxophonist Christoph Kirschke; Swiss cellist Imke Frank; French cellist Joel Schatzmann; Austrian pianist Roland Batik; and Japanese pianists Satoko Uchida and Satoko Inoue. He was a member of two German chamber ensembles, Trio Ecco (sax, acc, vc) and Trio Viribus Unitis (vl, git, acc).
A musician of wide-ranging talent, Primož Parovel commands a repertoire spanning the early Baroque to the contemporary, equally at ease as a soloist and in chamber music. He has premiered more than 30 new works, collaborating with composers including Hwang Long Pan, Xing-Kui Zeng, Tzyy Sheng Lee, 蘇凡凌 and 黃志方 of Taiwan; Chantale Laplante of Canada; Mike Vaughan of the United Kingdom; Volker Heyn, Mattias Ockert and H. Muenz of Germany; R. Kelteborn of Switzerland; Uroš Rojko, Tadeja Vulc, Vitja Avsec and Urška Pompe of Slovenia; Hyunkyung Lim of Korea; Noriko Kawakami of Japan; and Chaya Czernowin of Israel.
He has recorded numerous works for Slovenian radio and television, and released the solo album “Obcutja/Feelings”, a superb showcase of the accordion's distinctive 20th-century repertoire. Another album, “Amore, amore…”, pairs the accordion with soprano voice in a moving, endlessly listenable program.
In 2004 he was invited to the Ljubljana conservatory as assistant professor of accordion, and from 2009 to 2012 taught accordion majors there. He taught at National Hsinchu University of Education from 2008 to 2017, was a visiting professor at National Taiwan Normal University in 2014–2015 and at National Hsinchu University of Education in 2016, and currently teaches at National Tsing Hua University.
Widely respected, he has served on the juries of many prestigious international accordion competitions, including the “Città di Castelfidardo” competition in Italy and the “Zvezdane Staze” competition in Serbia in 2011, the Australian International Accordion Competition in 2012, and the Harbin International Competition in China in 2016. His students have won top prizes at many major international competitions and gone on to become noted soloists.