Corina Kuhs was born into a musical family from Carinthia, Austria. She began learning the flute and guitar as a child, later adding the Alpine folk harp to her musical repertoire.

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Her early passion for Irish and medieval music eventually led her to the bagpipes (Hümmelchen), further expanding her interest in traditional and historical musical traditions.

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Since 2012, she has worked as a freelance musician, earning her living through private teaching, performances, theatre productions, and educational projects.

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In addition to her solo concerts, she performs in various ensembles and collaborations, including projects with accordionist Jovica Ivanovic, guitarist Peter Balint, and Maximilian Liebich.

 

The focus of her artistic work lies in world music, improvisation, and ethno-improvisation.

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Furthermore, Corina is an avid collector of musical instruments from around the world. Her collection includes instruments such as the Khaen mouth organ from Laos and Thailand, the Chinese Hulusi flute, the Vietnamese Dan Moi jaw harp, the Indian Shruti Box, as well as historical instruments including the Hümmelchen, string tambourine, mountain dulcimer, shawm, and many others.

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A deeper insight into her work and artistic journey can be found in this portrait film.

Sebastian Haidutschek (1991) is an Austrian percussionist, tabla player, educator, and interdisciplinary musician whose artistic path has been shaped by deep cultural immersion, traditional study, and a lifelong exploration of rhythm as both musical expression and human experience.

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Born in Villach, Carinthia, he began studying percussion at the age of five. His early fascination with rhythm led him to explore a wide range of percussion traditions, studying African percussion with Hans Walluschnig and later training intensively with the Peruvian percussionist Ray Cesar. These formative years laid the foundation for his understanding of improvisation, musical dialogue, and rhythmic sensitivity.

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His artistic journey has taken him across Europe and Asia. Following an extended period of travel and personal exploration in Italy, he toured China as part of a concert collaboration with Jiang Liang and Sa Dingding, performing in cities including Beijing, Yangshuo, and Shenzhen. These experiences further deepened his interest in intercultural artistic exchange and the role of music as a bridge between traditions.

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A decisive turning point came through his encounter with classical Indian music. After moving to Vienna, he was introduced by Alokesh Chandra to Pandit Shyamal Chatterjee and subsequently became a disciple of the renowned tabla maestro Pandit Gobinda Bose in Kolkata.

 

Sebastian spent many years immersed in the traditional Guru-Shishya Parampara and Gurukul system, dedicating himself to the study of North Indian tala and the rich rhythmic heritage of Indian classical music. This period profoundly shaped his artistic identity and established the foundation of his work as a performer and educator.

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During his years in India, Haidutschek received several distinctions, including recognition in local tabla competitions in Kolkata and a nomination for the Gironcoli Prize in Carinthia. Following his return to Austria, he continued developing his artistic practice through collaborations with musicians across diverse musical traditions, while also expanding his work beyond tabla to include a broader range of percussion instruments and approaches.

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Alongside his performance career, Haidutschek has developed a pedagogical approach that translates the traditional rhythmic knowledge of Indian music into forms accessible within contemporary European cultural contexts.

 

His teaching extends beyond the tabla itself, focusing on rhythmic awareness, creativity, musical communication, and the application of rhythmic principles across a wide range of instruments and disciplines.

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Today, he lives and works in Carinthia, Austria, as a performer, educator, workshop facilitator, and researcher of rhythm. His work seeks to build authentic bridges between Indian rhythmic traditions and contemporary European musical culture, preserving the depth of traditional knowledge while making it accessible to new generations of musicians.

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Throughout his career, he has performed and collaborated with internationally recognised artists and institutions including Sa Dingding, Taj Junaid, Satyaki Banerjee, Pandit Gobinda Bose, Resmi Sateesh, Jiang Liang, the Srinjay Banerjee Trio, Karrar Alsaadi, the Satyajit Ray Film Academy, and the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music. His artistic work has brought him to stages and collaborative projects across Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, India, and China.

Primož Gnidovec (2001) is an accordionist, educator, composer, and arranger whose early musical journey was marked by success at competitions across Slovenia and Europe, where he received numerous top awards and recognitions.

 

During his teenage years, in addition to folk-pop music, he was also exposed to folk, jazz, and classical music, which significantly shaped his musical expression and creative direction. 

 

As a musician, he is actively engaged in concert performances both as a soloist and as a member of various musical ensembles (Potopisci, [Re]Shape, Ajda Vardjan).

 

He also dedicates a significant amount of time to composing original works and creating arrangements, which are performed in some of the largest concert halls in Slovenia and internationally.

Born into a musical family in Rojava, Kurdistan, Aref developed a deep connection to music from an early age. The saz, in particular, captivated him throughout his childhood. Its distinctive sound became a lifelong companion and an important means of expressing emotion, memory, and cultural identity.

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Alongside his musical interests, he built a successful career as a business owner in his homeland, taking on significant responsibility while remaining closely connected to music.

 

Throughout these years, he continued to play the saz, immerse himself in Kurdish musical traditions, and share his passion with others.

 

In 2011, he participated in the production of a music video dedicated to a free Kurdistan, a project that meant a lot to him and reflected his strong connection to his culture, heritage, and hopes for the future.

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In 2015, he moved to Austria to begin a new chapter in his life. Like many newcomers, he faced the challenges of adapting to a new environment while building a future from the ground up. During this period, he worked at street food festivals alongside a close friend and gradually established himself in his new home—without ever losing his connection to music.

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In Austria, music remained a great passion. He collaborated with musicians from diverse backgrounds and performed with artists including pianist Karen Asatrian, as well as fellow Kurdish musicians.

 

Over time, he founded his own musical groups and began teaching the saz to both children and adults.

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For him, music is far more than an art form. It is a way of connecting people, preserving stories, and keeping memories alive across generations and cultures.

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Today, he works as a truck driver while remaining actively involved in the music scene through various duo and trio formations. His musical practice brings together traditional Kurdish sounds and contemporary influences, creating performances that speak of heritage, change, hope, and human connection.

Ajda Cvek is a Slovenian violinist whose work bridges folk traditions, world music, and jazz. Specialising in Serbian, Bulgarian, and Romanian musical traditions, she combines these influences with jazz, contemporary styles, and improvisation to create a distinctive musical voice. She is currently studying Jazz Violin at the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music.

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For Ajda, music is a universal language with the power to connect, heal, and bring people together across cultures. Her approach to violin playing has been shaped by a wide range of musical traditions, resulting in a style that blends Balkan music, world music, jazz, disco, and other influences.

 

She believes that some of the most important aspects of music cannot be captured in notation alone and places particular value on learning by ear, a practice that has been central to her development as a musician for many years.

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Although she began her musical education in a classical music school, it was an experience outside the traditional curriculum that profoundly shaped her artistic path. At the age of thirteen, she attended her first Ethno camp, an international gathering where musicians from around the world come together to share songs, learn from one another, create new arrangements, and perform collaboratively.

 

Immersed in an environment where professional musicians and passionate amateurs played side by side without competition, she discovered a vision of music rooted in openness, cultural exchange, and collective creativity. The experience inspired her to pursue music professionally and continues to influence her artistic outlook today.

Luka Mucavele is an artist, musician, instrument maker, and music scholar whose work emerges from African musical traditions and extends into the field of African Musicology.

 

Grounded in the study and practice of mbira, musical bows, and string instruments, his artistic and academic research culminated in the PhD dissertation "African Musical Instruments from a Contemporary Global Perspective: Mbira and Xizandi".

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His work brings together performance, research, and pedagogy to explore transcultural sound worlds, decolonial artistic practices, and community engagement.

 

Through concerts, exhibitions, educational initiatives, and scholarly work, he creates bridges between African knowledge systems, contemporary artistic expression, and academic discourse.

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At the heart of his practice lies the belief that an artist is a pathfinder, someone who does not have to follow established routes or fit within predefined categories.

 

This unconventional and off-road approach shapes both his artistic philosophy and musical language. In recent years, he has performed exclusively on self-made instruments, viewing them not merely as tools but as the bodies of the music, while sound itself becomes its soul.

 

Each instrument possesses its own temperament, character, and personality, expressed through its visual form, tone colour, and sonic possibilities, often challenging conventional expectations.

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With each of the instruments he creates and performs, he feels like he is carrying identity, resilience, and a shimmering, ancestral voice across continents, weaving memory, research, and performance into a living journey that resonates between past, present and future.

 

Although he only plays his own compositions, he considers them as cultural heritage and his work as innovating and renovating that cultural heritage.

Magdalena Pedarnig is a musician and teaches zither and Austrian folk music at the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music. She plays both the zither and the clarinet, though the zither has been at the heart of her musical journey since childhood.

 

Growing up in a family of musicians in a rural environment, folk music was a constant presence in her life and became a natural part of her musical identity. Her connection to the zither began at the age of five, when she encountered the instrument at a weekend course organised by her parents. Captivated by its sound and presence, she spent the entire weekend beside the teacher and the instrument she immediately knew would become her own. One year later, she began lessons with her first zither.

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While deeply rooted in Austrian folk music traditions, Magdalena's repertoire extends beyond them to include (amongst others) contemporary music, pop music, and baroque music. She enjoys exploring the versatility of the zither and the"wow-effect", when people realise that the zither can be used to play almost anything.

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The zither's character resonates strongly with her own artistic personality. She describes it as a gentle instrument. It's not loud or extroverted, yet fully capable of being heard. Its quiet strength reflects her belief that not everything needs to be loud to make an impact.​

 

As an educator, she considers music mediation an essential part of her work. Her aim is to share the beauty of music and the zither with new audiences and future generations.

Katja Zupan, born in Maribor, Slovenia, is a versatile flutist and passionate music educator trained in both classical and jazz performance. She holds a Master's degree in Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy from the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music.

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Her artistic work ranges from solo and orchestral performance to studio recordings featuring both flute and a variety of ethnic wind instruments.

 

Katja has gained international experience as a recording musician, contributing flute and traditional wind instrument recordings for numerous composers as well as for Bleeding Fingers Music, a company co-founded by Hans Zimmer.

 

In addition to her performance work, she offers remote recording services and collaborates on projects worldwide.

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For Katja, music should not be defined by anything or anyone. She sees it as a way to express oneself, reveal a unique personality, and as an extension of who she is as a person. Rather than defining herself through a single style or genre, she embraces every opportunity to make music, viewing it as a way to learn about people and cultures and to continually expand her horizons.

 

She approaches every musical encounter with the belief that there is something to learn from everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do.

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Although the flute has always been her primary instrument, she has never closed herself off to other opportunities. This curiosity led her to explore ethnic wind instruments, drawn by the history and culture they carry. For Katja, every instrument has its own sound and story, and discovering those stories remains an important part of her artistic journey.

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She considers her mindset to be one of the qualities that distinguishes her from many classically trained musicians. For a long time, she believed that her wide range of interests prevented her from reaching her full potential. Over time, she came to recognise that this diversity of interests is what makes her unique.

 

Embracing that realization allowed her to grow both as a person and as a musician. Rather than fitting into an existing mould, she chose to create one that fits her.

Ronin Şahin is a Kurdish theatre actor and musician specializing in traditional wind instruments, including the bilur, mey (duduk), and kaval.

 

Born in Elbistan, Maraş, he first  expressed his passion for the arts through theatre, first in Trabzon before continuing his work with a theatre company in Istanbul.

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At the age of twenty, he discovered his musical talent under the guidance of bilur master Sinan Çelik. Largely self-taught, he dedicated himself to learning and exploring the expressive possibilities of Kurdish and regional musical traditions, eventually becoming a member of the Dengaheng Ensemble, where he performed repertoire from Kurdish, Armenian, and Ottoman musical cultures.

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Today, he lives near Spittal and works as a car mechanic, balancing the demands of everyday life with his continued commitment to music. Although opportunities for music-making are limited by time, it remains an essential part of his life. Reflecting on its importance, he says: “I can find myself in music. I can breathe a little.”