Wind is the natural movement of air caused by an imbalanced
relationship between the air pressure above a cold and a
warm/heated part of the surface. Thus the "role" of wind is
to equalise an imbalanced relationship.

Somewhere on the path of growing up they were brought together by wind, wood and metal. Aleš, Matej, Jurij, Paolo and Metod. Adrenaline sportsmen, sworn lovers of beauty, gourmets, often extravagant, gentle, playful... but above all first-rate musicians.
Ten years ago, in 1999, they were seized by the idea of their own concert series, a concert series that would enable them to perform extraordinary compositions that had long been absent from, or perhaps had never been performed on, the Slovene concert stage.

Slowind is made up of soloists of the Slovene Philharmonic, an orchestra with a rich musical tradition since its beginnings more than 300 years ago in 1701, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In its long history, the orchestra's conductors have included Gustav Mahler, Vaclav Talich, Fritz Reiner and Carlos Kleiber.
The quintet's repertoire includes the (rare) good compositions from the classical and romantic periods, but most of the ensemble's attention is focused on works of the 20th century and new works, which it presents at important festivals at home and abroad. A number of prominent Slovene composers have dedicated works to Slowind, including Larisa Vrhunc, Urška Pompe and others. New works have recently been created for wind quintet by Slovenian composers: Vinko Globokar, Lojze Lebiè, Božidar Kos, Igor Majcen, Bor Turel, Uroš Rojko; and international composers: Volker Staub, Ivo Nilsson, Martin Smolka and others.
The achievements of Slovene composers are given particular attention when Slowind travels abroad. At least one Slovene work was performed at each concert of their two American tours (New York, Swarthmore, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Chicago), in Toronto (New Music Series), at the "Roaring Hoofs" Festival in Mongolia, "Ars Musica" in Brussels, "Biennale" in Bern, "Klangspuren" in Schwaz, as well as at concerts in Berlin, Munich, Rome, Florence, Vienna and elsewhere.
For many years, the quintet has organised its own series of chamber concerts in Ljubljana. At these concerts, the musicians present seldom heard works from the chamber literature, in which the wind instruments have a leading role. In various chamber configurations, the quintet is joined by distinguished musical artists: Aleksandar Madžar, Andrea Marchiol, Arvid Engegard, James Avery, Bernhard Wulff, Vinko Globokar, Heinz Holliger, Steven Davislim, Christiane Iven, Robert Aitken and others.
For their work to date, Slowind have received the Županèiè Prize, in 1999, and the Prešeren Prize, in 2003.
In the future, the Slowind Ensemble is planning further common projects with Heinz Holliger, Alexander Lonquich, Muriel Cantoreggi, Ensemble SurPlus (Freiburg i. Br.), Accroche Note (Strasbourg), Salvatore Sciarrino, Pascal Dusapin and others.