Kajana Pačko was born in Split, Croatia; at the age of fourteen she entered the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where she studied under Valter Dešpalj. She continued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ Berlin under Troels Svane and Frans Helmerson, and at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg with Clemens Hagen. In addition to performing as a soloist, Kajana is a versatile artist equally dedicated to chamber performances, teaching, collaborating with composers, organising benefit concerts and festivals, video and audio recording and creating new concert programmes. Kajana Pačko has appeared in major European concert halls, such as the Berlin Philharmonic and Konzerthaus Berlin. As a soloist, she has performed with the Cappella Academica, the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Soloists, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Croatian National Theatre Split and the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with prominent musicians such as Danusha Waskiewicz, Diana Tishchenko, Petrit Çeku, Stefan Milenkovich and members of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared at festivals including the George Enescu Festival, the Musique en Cote Basque, the Homburger Kammermusiktage, the Salzburger Kammermusik Festival and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. She participated in seminars and festivals such as the Kronberg Academy, the Pablo Casals Festival and the IMS Prussia Cove. She has won first prizes in national competitions, as well as the Alpe-Adria International Competition in Gorizia, the Boris Pergamenschikow Preis Berlin, the Rector’s Award, the Darko Lukić Award and the Judita Award, and represented Croatia at the Eurovision Young Musicians in Luzern in 2004. Her first albums, Journey through Europe (2014), with works of Grieg, Poulenc and Papandopulo recorded with pianist Danijel Detoni, and Bach+ (2018), with works for cello solo, were released by Croatia Records. Her third CD, with works of Schumann, Brahms, Dohnányi and Maček, recorded with pianist Danijel Detoni, was released by the Belgian label Le Chant de Linos. Since 2015 Kajana Pačko has served as a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater ‘Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’ Leipzig. She has closely collaborated with Croatian composers such as Tomislav Oliver and Frano Đurović, commissioning works for cello solo that saw their world premiere at the BaRoMus Festival in Rovinj. Since 2021 she has been the Artistic Director of the ZAGREBplus International Classical Music Festival of the Croatian Music Institute. She initiated several benefit concerts and festivals, including the E-Concert for the renovation of the Croatian Music Institute building (2020), the BEETHOVENplus Fundraising Festival (2020) and the Concert for the Children of Ukraine (2022). Kajana Pačko plays a L’école de Pique cello made in Paris in 1800.