Grgic & Chalifour Duo

Mak Grgic

The expansiveness of Mak’s repertoire winds its way through a dizzying array of approaches, from music of the baroque and renaissance to music of a cinematic nature, ethnic music of his native Balkan Peninsula, to extreme avant-garde and microtonal music. Grgic spent two years as a Young Artist in Residence at The Da Camera Society of Los Angeles, where he co-founded contemporary octet DC8. As a soloist, both with orchestra and in recitals he has performed at numerous venues worldwide. Mak has held directorship roles at various festivals and concert series, also serving as director of the Elemental Guitar Program in Santa Monica and as adjunct factually at Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles.

Born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, he studied guitar at the Elly Basic Conservatory of Music and obtained his Bachelor’s Degree at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He finished his Doctoral Degree at the USC Thornton School of Music.

Martin Chalifour

Martin Chalifour has been principal concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1995. A native of Québec, Canada, Chalifour received many grants and awards in his native land from an early age, but came to wide prominence upon receiving a Certificate of Honor at Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986, with a laureate at the Montréal International Musical Competition the following year. He has maintained the career of a much sought after orchestral violinist, soloist, and chamber musician ever since.

Martin Chalifour graduated with honors from the Montréal Conservatory when just 18, and advanced his studies to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He returns to Canada regularly, including appearances at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, and also in Québec, where he maintains a teaching schedule and solos with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.