Igor Kudeljnjak

Igor Kudeljnjak (1979) graduated from the Music Academy in Zagreb with the title of Professor of Music Culture.
Since 2003, he has been employed at the Croatian Radiotelevision in the Tambura Orchestra, and since 2005, he has been working at the Albert Štriga Music School in Križevci as an external collaborator - a tambura teacher and conductor of the school's tambura orchestra, as well as a mentor for chamber tambura ensembles.
With his students, he has won high awards in solo categories at national competitions.
In 2010, he became the conductor of the school's tambura orchestra and mentor for chamber tambura ensembles, with whom he has won ten first prizes and two second prizes at the State Competitions for Music and Dance Students and nine Gold Plaques "Tambura Paje Kolarića" at the Festival in Osijek. Among his international successes, it is worth mentioning the Grand Prix and the award for excellence in conducting at the Young2014Prague Festival in Prague, the 1st prize in Bratislava at the International Youth Music Festival. In 2019, at the 67th Youth Festival in Neerpelt, Belgium, he won the 1st prize "Summa cum laude" with his orchestra. At the World Open Online Music Competition, he won two 1st prizes with his chamber ensemble. At the 12th World Tamburica Fest in Novi Sad, he won the 2nd prize and the award for the best conductor of the Festival. He has been awarded four Oscars of Knowledge for achieving excellent results in working with students. For these achievements, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Mayor for the promotion and reputation of the city of Križevci and he is the recipient of the City of Križevci Award for the year 2020.
He collaborates with many tambura orchestras and cultural-artistic societies. From 2006 to 2009, he led the Tambura Orchestra of the Cultural and Artistic Society "Petar Zrinski" Vrbovec, with whom he won two Gold Plaques "Tambura Paje Kolarića" at the International Festival of Artistic Tambura Music in Osijek. He has been the conductor of the City Tambura Orchestra Križevci since its founding in 2021, with which he won the Grand Prix at the International Youth Music Festival in Bratislava, a gold plaque, the award of the Croatian Composers' Society for the best performance of a Croatian composition, and the Grand Prix at the 28th State Meeting of Croatian Tambura Orchestras and Ensembles in 2021, as well as a gold plaque with great praise and the award of the Croatian Composers' Society for the best premiere performance at the 45th International Festival of Artistic Tambura Music. At the same festival, he won the award for the most successful conductor.
Since January 2024, he has taken over the artistic leadership of the Dobreč Tambura Orchestra from Dragatuš, Republic of Slovenia.