ABOUT
Born 2.6.1981 in Slovenia. Musician, puppeteer, actor and director as well as puppetry proffesor, festival organiser and activist, Matija Solce, finished doctour studies on Alternative Theatre and Puppetry at the Prague theatre academy (DAMU), on the theme of “The musical perspective of puppet theatre”. In his works he closely connects music and theatre, and therefore his concerts often turn into interactive theatre performances, or his puppet shows become musical compositions. With his accordion and suitcase full of puppets he travelled the globe, experiencing venues as extreme as prisons, ashrams, people's bedrooms or big halls of international festivals. So far he was awarded over 20 times.
MUSIC
THEATRE
He established Teatro Matita in 2002 after completing his studies at Bruno Leone’s traditional Italian hand puppet school in Naples (Italy). His first shows E Beh? (2002) and Little Night Tales (2003) proved to be great successes and were subsequently presented at a range of international festivals around the globe. In his latest performances, Matija is experimenting with basing object theatre shows on musical principles.
Apart from his solo shows, he also directs in theatres. He teaches puppet students on Theatre academies (DAMU in Prague) and gives workshops on this theme and on puppet animation for adults and children.
THEATRE PROJECTS
After 10 years of learning and playing piano in music school, Matija began playing accordion in several music groups, and in doing so learnt different folk music styles. His repertoire includes many Balkan, Klezmer, Irish, Breton, Scandinavian, Gypsy, Slovenian and other folk music. He participated in several international world-music camps and became an organiser and mentor himself. From 2003 has been the mentor of "Etno Histeria World Orchestra" in Slovenia and was also a mentor at other Ethno camps in Sweden, Belgium, Scotland and Australia.
Today he is the leader of music-theatre group "Fekete Seretlek". He performs with many acclaimed musicians in different formations: with Indian singer Mahesh Vinayakram, with swedish fiddler Sofia Hogstadius and percussionist Stefan Hedborg as "trio Katastrofa", with chilean musician Nano Stern as duo "Folkoholics", with Brina Vogelnik in band "Grad Gori!", with Sabiha Khan, Vinayak Netke, Nika Solce in indo-balkan band "Zamee", with 10 acclaimed musicians from different continents as Ethno in Transit.
TEATRO MATITA SHOWS
'E beh?" or "Pulcinella" (2002) - full engagement
"Little Night Tales" (2003) - performer, author, puppets
"The Turtle" (2005) - full engagement
"Joke" (2006) - full engagement
"Attention Moose!" (2010) - full engagement
"Happy Bones" (2011) - performer, author, stage design
"Pavliha Revival" (2014) - full engagement
"Dog's life" (2016) - full engagement
"Being Don Quichotte" - full engagement
GROUP "FEKETE SERETLEK"
"Woland's Band" (2009) - full engagement
"Kar" or "Funeral feast" (2016) - director, author, music, performer
"RAT" (2018) - full engagement
DIRECTOR, AUTHOR AND COMPOSER IN OTHER SHOWS
"Nos" or "The Nose"", Puppet studio Koper 2009
"Legends of Prague", Puppet Studio Koper, 2010
"The Hole"", LG Ljubljana 2008
"Štirje muzikanti", LG Ljubljana 2010
"GIrl with Matches", DRAK, Hradec Kralove 2011
"Proces", LG Maribor 2012
"Luknja Kabaret", LG Ljubljana 2012
"Močeradek gre čez cesto", LG Ljubljana 2013
"Časoskop", LG Maribor 2014
"Turlututu", LG Ljubljana 2014
"Beckettomotive", DISK, Prague 2015
"The Dead Souls", DAMU and Teatro Matita, Prague 2013
"Enimal farm", Lutke Mladje, Austria 2016
"Grandfather", Bratislava Puppet Theatre 2018
"Mister and Margharita", Ljubljana Puppet Theatre 2018
"Being Don Quichotte", Teatro Matita, 2019
”Tjulenj”, Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, 2019
”Klovna ne bo”, Mestno Gledališče Ptuj, 2021
”Mesarica”, Teatro Matita, 2021
”Raut”, Geisslers Hoffcommedianten, 2021
”Hans”, DAMUZA, 2021
”EXIT”, DAMUZA & Palac Akropolis, 2022
“Darkroom”, Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, 2022
MASTERCLASS PRODUCTIONS
'Osel Vili", PUF Festival 2007
"Problem", DAMU, Prague 2009
"Puppetonic Orchestra", DAMU, Prague 2010
"Štorje na kilo", LG Maribor 2011
"Gastronomia dell'arte", DAMU, Prague 2011
"Strassenkunst kaffe", GIessen Academy, 2012
"Trash", DAMU, Prague 2012
"Life of Mary", DAMU, Prague 2014
"The Bottles", DAMU, Prague 2015
”BeatBox”, DAMU, Prague 2019
”Demask”, DAMU, Prague 2021
FESTIVAL ORGANISATION
AWARDS
2003 – award for Inventive Transformation of Tradition (Biennial of Puppetry Artists of Slovenija)
2004 – Second place at the Festival Mittelfest in Italy (Marionetta D’oro award) show "E beh?"
2004 – Prize for animation and performance at the Loutkářská Chrudim (Czech Rep.)
2004 – Nomination for Erik Award at the National meeting of Czech puppeteers
2005 – Nomination for ‘Talent of the Year’ (Radok prize, Prague) 2005 – Prize at Mateřinka (Czech Republicl
2005 – Best Show at Zlomvaz Festival (Prague)
2005 – Prize for Animation (Biennial of Puppetry Artists of Slovenija)
2006 – Prize at the Festival Mittelfest (Italy)
2006 – Prize for Animation and Puppets at PIF in Zagreb (Croatia) 2007 – Prize for Blessed Gift at the Festival Treff (Estonia)
2008 – Prize for Acting Skills at Subotica Festival in Serbia
2008 – ‘Golden Bird’ Prize (Zlata ptica) for Visual Art in Slovenia 2009 – Prize for best direction of show "Kabaret Luknja"
2009 – Grand Prix for show "Kabaret Luknja" (Biennial of Puppetry Artists of Slovenija)
2010 – Special prize for show ̈Four musicians ̈( festival Lutke-Lutke, Ljubljana)
2011 – Prize for music in interaction with puppet animation in show "4 musicians"
2012 – children prize for "Girl with matches" (festival Divadelna Nitra, SK)
2013 – Prize for show "Salamander" (festival Treff, Estonia) 2013 – Prize for best youth show for "The Hole"
2013 - Prize for innovative authors approach (festival golden stick, Slovenia)
2013 – Prize for directing, show "the Trial" (festival Pierrot, Bulgaria)
2013 – Grand Prix for show "The Trial" (national biennale puppet festival Slovenija)
2014 - International Award Golden Gander for show "Attention Moose" (Kremnicke Gagy, SVK)
2014 - Prize for best direction, show "Little Salamander", festival PIF, Zagreb
2015 - Gran Prix for show "Časoskop" (national biennale puppet festival Slovenija)
2015 - Prize for best direction of show "Časoskop" (national biennale puppet festival Slovenija)
2017 - Prize for inventive inclusion of children in world of art (puppet festival Omsk)
2017 - Prize for alternative approach for show KAR (festival Pierrot, Bulgaria)
2017 - Prize for music and Prize from youth jury, show KAR (festival Pierrot, Bulgaria)
2018 - Prize for show Dedek (festival Mariborski Pristan, Slovenija)
2018 - Prize for new Cabaret for show KAR (festival Amplion, Slovakia)
2018 - Prize for best show, KAR (puppet festival Rijeka)
2019 - Prize "Golden Stick" for best youth show, Seansa Bulgakov (Ljubljana)
2021 - Grand Prix for show "Being Don Quichotte" (national biennale puppet festival Slovenija)
Nominations:
2016 show KAR (Divadelny noviny, Prague)
2017 Dog’s life (Divadelny noviny, Prague)