Irena Grafenauer is a Slovenian flute player and soloist, a pupil of Boris Čampa, Karlheinz Zöller and Aurèle Nicolet.
Irena Grafenauer born to father Stanko Grafenauer, a geologist, and to mother Magdalena Grafenauer. She started her musical education at the age of 8. After graduating from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in 1974, she continued her studies with Karlheinz Zöller and Aurèle Nicolet. She won First Prize in three international competitions: in Belgrade, Geneva and Munich. From 1977 to 1987 she was principal flautist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Rafael Kubelik and Colin Davis. In October 1987 she was appointed Professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum. She has successfully toured most European countries, the United States, Japan, and Australia as a soloist. She has performed regularly at Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Festival since 1981 and toured extensively with ”Kremer & Friends”.
Irena Grafenauer formed a duo with the harpist Maria Graf. She has also worked regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic Duo Jörg Baumann and Klaus Stoll, pianists Oleg Maisenberg, Robert Levin, and Helmut Deutsch, guitarist Eliot Fisk, and the Cherubini String Quartet.