The Awakening CD project was inspired by the creative and contemporary music of Blaz Pucihar, Crt Sojar Voglar and Peter Kopac. I met Blaz and Crt in 2009 during a professional trip to Croatia. The title for the disc was inspired by the English translation of Voglar's piece, Prebujanje Narave (Awakening of Nature), which I commissioned for this project in 2010. For the past 20 years, Slovenia has been slowly awakening from its days as part of former Yugoslavia. Their rich musical tradition and rigorous musical training are now being expressed in a fresh, uplifting and beautiful way, finding new audiences on the world's concert stages, and to a great degree through the music of Kopac, Pucihar and Voglar. Gained through this musical collaboration has been my own awakening and greater understanding of the many similarities shared between my formerly Yugoslavian friends and myself. Although we grew up on opposite sides of the world in the 1970s and 1980s, our childhood experiences, musical training, professional successes and challenges have taken parallel paths in the global community. Ultimately, my wish is for the listener to experience their own awakening, and to find new love for the music of these innovative, talented and creative composers. Although the music was written in Slovenia, it exists in a creative world without boarders or cultural expectations. [Nicole Molumby] American flautist Nicole Molumby maintains an active performing and teaching career. Performance engagements have included the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra (2008-present), National Flute Association conventions (2010-present) and College Music Society conferences (2005-2012). Internationally, she has appeared in Norway, Austria, Croatia, Great Britain and as Principal Flute at the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria (2002-2009). In 2011, she received the College Music Society's Technology Award for her innovative teaching strategies using iPads and in 2012 an Idaho Commission on the Arts Fellowship in Performing Arts. She also received a Boise State University Arts and Humanities Fellowship for her contributions and performances of newly commissioned flute music by Slovenian composers Blaz Pucihar and Crt Sojar Voglar. Since 2011, Molumby has been on faculty at Passion Flute Summer Course with flautists Angeleita Floyd, Jill Felber and Claudia Anderson.
