Lara Mršnik Čemažar (2006) began her violin studies at the age of 5 at the Edgar Willems center of music (GCEW) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and later continued her schooling at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana. In 2025 she graduated from the UNCSA High school program, where she is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Violin performance as a Kenan Excellence Scholar in the class of prof. Ida Bieler.
Lara has participated in solo masterclasses in Slovenia, Italy, Germany, and the United States with prof. Ida Bieler, Žiga Brank, Emilio Percan, Axel Strauss, Dmitri Berlinsky; in 2024-2026 she attended the International Chamber Music Academy of Ochsenhausen, Germany. In 2026 she was part of the Bled Contemporary Music festival, where she premiered nine newly composed chamber works by composers from all over the world.
She is the recipient of top prizes at many national and international music competitions, such as TEMSIG, Svirel, and Concorso Musicale Palmanova, and more. In 2019 and 2020, Lara placed first in the junior division of the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competitions in Vienna, Austria, and Bonn, Germany, and was invited to perform as a soloist at the Musikverein in Vienna, and Beethoven House in Bonn. In 2025, she placed first at the Petter Perret Young Talent Search and performed as a soloist with the Winston Salem Symphony. She has also been selected as one of the winners of Mladi upi (Young Talents) sponsorship - a nationally recognized Slovenian initiative that supports exceptionally promising young artists, athletes, and scientists. Lara’s education is also supported by the scholarship from the Slovenian Ministry of Culture.
Among all, Lara is working on her independent scientific and artistic project, “Project Memory”, which focuses on helping people with dementia through music.