Barbara Jernejčič Fürst graduated with honours in choral conducting and performing arts and gained her master´s degree at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. She was a member of the Flemish Operastudio of the Belgian city of Ghent and received scholarship from the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, Chicago. Additionally, she took master classes by M. Lipovšek, C. Ludwig, D. Fischer-Diskau, M. Martinu, R. Piernay, and, on baroque singing, by B. Schlick and C. Rousset.

Barbara Jernejčič Fürst has appeared on celebrated opera stages, including that of the Theater im Palais in Graz, the Flemish Opera in Ghent and Antwerp, the Vienna Chamber Opera, the Theater an der Wien, and in Ljubljana´s and Maribor´s National Theaters, performing the roles of Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, the Second Lady in The Magic Flute and Dorabella in Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as Ruggiero in Händel´s Alcina, the Third Lady at the premiere of Mia Schimdt´s opera Fanny Goldmann, Lucretia in Britten´s The Rape of Lucretia, Siebel in Gounod´s Faust, Lisinga in Gluck´s Le cinesi, the Trommler in Ullmann´s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and Arianna and Una Ingrata in Monteverdi´s Ballo.mortale …

As concert vocalist, Barbara Jernejčič Fürst has appeared on the following occasions: the Ljubljana Musical Youth, the Ljubljana Festival, the Kogoj´s Days Festival, the Slovenian Music Days, the Radovljica Festival, as well as the Steirischer Herbst, the Zagreb Music Biennale, the Hamburg Klangwerktage, the Wien Modern, the Bregenzer Festspiele, the Styriarte, the International Weeks of Early Music in Krieglach, the Echi Lontani, the Retz Festival, the Frühling Festival in the Musikverein. She has collaborated with numerous conductors, such as A. Nanut, U. Lajovic, M. Munih, D. de Villiers, G. Pehlivanian, S. Kuijken, M. Haselböck, P. Rossi, D. Masson, D. Runnicles, S. Camberlin, and J. Kalitzky, as well as several orchestras and ensembles, such as the Slovene Philharmonics, the Slovene Radio and Television Symphonic Orchestra, the Armonico Tributo Austria, La Petite Bande, Solamente naturali, Musica Aeterna, Slowind, Mosaik, the Tonkünstlerorchester, and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In her rich concert career, she has performed some of the most important musical works: Pergolesi´s Stabat Mater, Bach´s Magnificat, St Matthew Passion, St John Passion and a number of his cantatas, Mozart´s Requiem, Händel´s Massiah, Vivaldi´s Gloria, Bruckner´s Te Deum, Donizetti´s Messa di Gloria e Credo, Duruflè´s Requiem, Haydn´s masses, Honneger´s Le Roi David, Monteverdi´s Vespro della beata Vergine, Saint-Saëns´s Christmas Oratorio, Verèse´s Offrandes, Lebič´s Zgodba – Fable, and Globokar´s Sternbild der Grenze … One of her most celebrated performances has so far been Aradne´s monologue from Monteverdi´s Lament of Ariadne in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein.

Barbara Jernejčič Fürst is one of the few artists focused on contemporary works by Slovenian composers – she has premiered more than 50 works by such composers as J. Jež, L. Jebič, M. Lipovšek, P. Šivic, M. Kogoj, I. Petrić, V. Globokar, U. Rojko, T. Habe, J. Golob, P. Mihelčič, A. Srebotnjak, Č. Sojar-Voglar, A. Čopi, U. Pompe, L. Vrhunc, and B. Jež-Brezavšček …

Recording for record labels from Slovenia and abroad, Barbara Jernejčič Fürst has appeared on more than 10 CDs. She has released a recording of the complete art songs by M. Kogoj together with the pianist Gaiva Bandzinaitè.

In october 2010 her new record was released, featuring works by C. Monteverdi, L. Berio, L. Vrhunc, V. Globokar, U. Pompe, B. Jež Brezavšček, and A. Bauld.

Photo: Tone Stojko