Karmen Pečar Koritnik is a renowned Slovenian cellist and pedagogue. She completed her undergraduate and master’s studies in the class of professor Valter Dešpalj at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, and continued her training with professor Reinhard Latzko at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

In 2001, she won the prestigious Dr. Luis Sigall Cello Competition in Chile (Viña del Mar). At the Eurovision Young Musicians competition in Berlin in 2002, she received third prize, and in 2004 she was awarded second prize at the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Zagreb.

As a soloist, she has performed with numerous orchestras at home and abroad under the baton of renowned conductors. She has collaborated with esteemed artists such as Boris Pergamenschikow, Misha Maisky, Giovanni Sollima, Gottlieb Wallisch, Melina Mandozzi, Dmitry Ferschtman, Božo Paradžik, Monika Leskovar, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Rudolf Leopold, and others.

She worked for several years at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, as assistant to professor Valter Dešpalj. She is currently a cello professor at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana and taught for five years as a part-time lecturer at the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana.

For many years, she has led masterclasses as part of the Summer Music Festival at Podsreda Castle and the Amadeo Festival in Škofja Loka. Each year, under the auspices of the Bled Festival, she also leads a cello ensemble seminar. She is the artistic director of the CelloFest Ljubljana Festival.