Marián Lejava (b. 1976) is a conductor and composer who was trained in both composition and conducting by Vladimir Bokes, Ondrej Lenárd, Klaus Huber, Tristan Murail, Peter Eötvös, Zvonimir Nagy to name few. Since 2003, he was assistant to Zsolt Nagy, Gerd Albrecht and Christian Arming among others. Since 2000, he is the principal conductor of the VENI ensemble, and, since 2014, the principal conductor of the Prague Modern Ensemble. He is a regular guest conductor of many orchestras and theatres at home (the Slovak National Theatre, the State Philharmonic Košice, the Slovak Philharmonic) and abroad (in Germany, France, Switzerland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, China, Japan). As a composer, he received several prizes (from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, USA). He has recorded 13 CDs. From 2007 to 2014, he led the Opera Studio at the AMD in Bratislava. Since 2007m he teaches conducting and composition. He has given lectures in Aveiro (PT) and Prague (CZ). He is a Member of the Board of the Slovak section of ISCM. He was a programme adviser for the ISCM WNMD 2013 festival.