Radovan Tariska & Ondrej Krajnak

Radovan Tariska (alto saxophone) and Ondrej Krajnak (piano) belong to the best musicians of the strong young jazz generation in Slovakia. Both have many experiences with playing in various bands (Tariska also with Big band). As duo they recorded album Elements.

Radovan Tariska (alto saxophone):
Born in 1979 in Tlmače, Slovakia. He study classical saxophone at Conservatory in Zilina (Slovakia), where he also was the member of the Big Band. He performed at the bigest jazz festival in Slovakia (Bratislava Jazz Days) in 1997. From 1999 he cooperate with the best Slovak jazz musicians (Gabo Jonas, Peter Lipa, Matus Jakabčic, Dodo Sosoka, Berco Balogh, Silvia Josifoska, Juraj Bartos, Juraj Griglak, Martin Valihora, etc.). From 2001 he it the member of be-bop act Hot House, with whom he appeared at the Bratislava Jazz Days in 2001. At 2003 he was the member of Ida Kelarova´s band in Prague. He play in duo with Ondrej Krajnak (piano), he has this own quartet and he is the member of Jakabcic CZ-SK Big Band. Tariska play numerous concerts in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and abroad.

Ondrej Krajnak (piano):
The young virtuoso pianist, composer and interpret Ondrej Krajnak was born in 1978 in Levice, Slovakia. He gained love to music in his family, as his father was a professional pianist.
At the age of six, Ondrej started to learn playing piano at a Music School in Levice. Since then he concerned himself with classical music and took part at competitions, where he gained several special awards.
His first experience with jazz dates back to the moment, when he first heard Oscar Peterson Trio on radio at the age of ten. He found the music fascinating and consequently his father helped him to prepare for the Jazz Festival (young interprets) in Zilina (Slovakia). Being accompanied by two other musicians, (he introduced the new trio on this occasion), he won the Discovery of the festival award. Afterwards he started to play classical, as well as jazz music.
After finishing the Music School in Levice, Ondrej was accepted to the Erkel Ferenc Music School in Budapest (HUN). He started to study jazz piano in the class of professor Robert Ratnoyi and gained another special award at a jazz competition in Poland. At the age of eighteen he represented his school at a Jazz Piano competition in Budapest, where he was awarded The solo play award. After graduating, he was offered a scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. However, he never accepted the offer.
Ondrej Krajnak is considered to be one of the best pianists in Slovak Republic. His play has been influenced by music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Bela Bartok, Fryderyk Chopin and Sergei Prokofiev on one hand, and by the play of Oscar Peterson, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chick Corea and Adam Makovic on the other hand. He has cooperated with many famous musicians at home, as well as abroad.