Saxophonist Jan Gričar belongs to the young prosperous Slovenian saxophone generation. He works with various composers, with whom he tries to explore and enrich saxophone repertoire in different musical styles.
He received his first saxophone lessons in music school Trebnje from professor David Kocijan and continued his musical education at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana with professor Dejan Prešiček. He graduated with the highest grade ‘summa cum laude’ from Academy of music in Ljubljana in the classes of professors Matjaž Drevenšek and Miha Rogina. Simultaneously he was also a student at the Regional Conservatory in Versailles, where his professor was world-known saxophonist Vincent David. He finished his education there with the highest title ‘Prix de Perfectionnement à l’unanimité avec félicitations du jury’. In February 2015 he passed the entrance exam for the master studies at the famous Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse Paris where he is currently receiving his musical education in the class of professor Claude Delangle.
He regularly performs on concerts. So far he has performed for audiences all over Slovenia, as well as in Germany, Austria, France, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Andorra and Italy.. As a soloist he has so far performed with the RTV Slovenia Symphonic Orchestra (Miro Paškvan: Concert for saxophone and orchestra – premiere), Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music Ljubljana, Wind Orchestra Trieste, Veteran Brass band Ljubljana, Woodwind Quintet Ariart and Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. In October 2014 he was a soloist at a concert that is part of the concert season Kromatika (organized by RTV Slovenia Symphonic orchestra) where he successfully performed Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra with aforementioned orchestra and maestro En Shao.
He takes part in various music competitions. In 2008 he was a finalist at the competition Eurovision young musicians in Vienna, where he performed with the Vienna Symphonic orchestra and conductor Aleksandar Marković. In 2009 he was awarded 1st prize and the title “Laureate of the Competition” for achieving maximum points at the International competition for woodwind instruments in Požarevac (Serbia). He also won 1st prize at the International saxophone competition Saksistra in Koper (Slovenia) in 2010. In 2011 he was awarded with 1st prize at the International competition Marco Fiorindo (Nichelino, Italy), which made him the youngest winner of this competition so far. He placed second and won 2nd place award at the ISSAC competition (International saxophone symposium&competition) in Columbus (Georgia, USA) in 2012. In 2009 and 2013 he was awarded with 2nd prizes at the Nova Gorica International Saxophone Competition (Slovenia). He took 1st prize with maximum points and became the absolute winner of the international competition ‘SVIREL 2014’ (Slovenia) of the discipline woodwinds, percussion and brass instruments. He is also two times winner of the Slovenian national competition for young musicians TEMSIG (2007, 2010) and was a semi-finalist of a very important saxophone competition ‘Adolphe Sax 2014’ which is held in Dinant (Belguim) every four years. He was chosen as a Slovenian representative at the international Euroradio – EBU competition New talent 2015. As one of the three finalists he performed at the gala concert in the Bratislava Philharmonie together with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra under Boian Videnoff.
In February 2010 he was presented with Lucijan Marija Škerjanc Award for exceptional artistic achievements, which Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana awards to its best students. In 2012 he received the Prešeren award of University in Ljubljana (awarded to one student per year for his or her significant artistic achievement) and received a scholarship from Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe. In 2013 he received the Prešeren award of Academy of music Ljubljana as a member of the saxophone quartet ColorFour. He is also a scholarship holder of the Ministry of culture Slovenia.