The violin player Igor Grasselli was born in Kranj, in 1965.  He received his first musical education at the Secondary Music School in Belgrade, Serbia. When he was still a student, he attended a number of music competitions, which brought him some important awards. He continued his studies of violin at the Academy of Music in Novi Sad, with Professor P. Vernik. In 1988 he graduated from the same Academy in the class of Professor I. Grubert. The same year he came to Slovenia, where he became a member of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1989, he became a member of the Slovenia Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra and the next year joined the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra again.

In 1994, he was engaged as a Leader by the Orchestra of the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, where he remained until today. He has collaborated as a Soloist with many different chamber ensembles. He has played in a chamber orchestra, mostly dedicating itself to the Slovenian musical heritage and laying special stress on the Baroque music. He performed with them both in Slovenia (Ljubljana – Ljubljana Festival, Kranj …) and abroad (Italy – The Asiago Baroque Music Festival, Great Britain – Oxford, Austria). The chamber orchestra has also recorded a number of Baroque music CDs. He has also created quite a number of audio recordings for the Radio Stations in Novi Sad and Belgrade.  

Our theatre’s Principal First Violinist has also collaborated as a Soloist with the horn player Boštjan Lipovšek, with whom he was on tour in Austria.  In 1998, he accepted the invitation from the Udine Philharmonic Orchestra and performed with it as a Guest Leader twice. Since 1994, when he joined the Orchestra of the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, he has played as a Leader many pieces from the opera, ballet and concert repertoire. During all these years, Igor Gracelli has received a number of excellent reviews for his work.