[PRESS RELEASE, LJUBLJANA, JUNE 2021]

ANNOUNCING THE 69th LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL

Festival Ljubljana is proud to announce a programme packed with world-renowned international performers and domestic stars for this year’s 69th Ljubljana Festival, which takes place between June and September. Every summer the Ljubljana Festival places Slovenia’s capital firmly on the map of the world’s cultural and artistic venues and makes an important contribution to the cultural life of Ljubljana with a carefully selected programme covering a wide variety of genres, including ballet, opera, theatre, musicals, chamber music and symphonic concerts, the International Fine Arts Colony, masterclasses, children’s and youth workshops, the Ljubljana Festival on the Ljubljanica, and much more. At this year’s 69th Ljubljana Festival, a wealth of outstanding names will conjure up unforgettable summer evenings of cultural delight in the heart of Ljubljana.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SUMMER FESTIVAL
21 June, 8.45 pm, Congress Square

The traditional gala concert Summer Night, dedicated to the start of summer, will this year turn the spotlight on the remarkable Slovene musician, composer and singer Tadej Hrušovar. After beginning his musical career as a member of the popular Celje group The Fellows, he went on to pen more than 400 compositions and his songs have won themselves a permanent place in Slovene musical history. The Summer Night gala concert, co-produced by RTV Slovenia and Festival Ljubljana, is now a traditional annual event that revives some of the choicest pearls from the treasury of Slovene popular music.

OPENING OF THE 69th LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL CONDUCTED BY VALERY GERGIEV
1 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square

St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre is one of the world’s most renowned centres of music and theatre. The Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and maestro Valery Gergiev, who has led the orchestra since 1988, have been treating Slovene audiences to unforgettable performances at the Ljubljana Festival for several years. For the opening concert of this year’s Ljubljana Festival, Gergiev will conduct the orchestra in a performance of the symphonic poem White Carniola by Marjan Kozina, a legend of Slovene classical music. The programme also includes Berlioz’s tragic masterpiece Symphonie fantastique.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 69th LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL

• ELĪNA GARANČA AS THE HOT-BLOODED CARMEN: 2 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• DANTE’S 700 AND THE FILM MUSIC OF NICOLA PIOVANI: 7 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• PLÁCIDO DOMINGO RETURNS TO THE STAGE OF THE SUMMER FESTIVAL: 8 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• MARTHA ARGERICH AND CHARLES DUTOIT: 15 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: 19 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• SONYA YONCHEVA – A SOPRANO WHO IMPRESSED PLÁCIDO DOMINGO: 27 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• THE RETURN OF OPERA STARS ANNA NETREBKO AND YUSIF EYVAZOV: 8 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• JONAS KAUFMANN TO THRILL THE AUDIENCE AGAIN: 11 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• THE VIRTUOSO PIANISM OF ARCADI VOLODOS: 13 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• A BROADWAY SPECTACLE SET IN JAZZ AGE CHICAGO: 16–20 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• A RUSSIAN MUSICAL OF CINEMATIC DIMENSIONS: 23 and 24 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• JOSÉ CURA AND GUESTS: 25 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY DANIEL HARDING: 1 September, 7.00 pm, Congress Square
• IRENA GRAFENAUER AND MATE BEKAVAC: 2 September, 7.00 pm, Congress Square
• THE BALTIC SEA PHILHARMONIC – AN INNOVATIVE ORCHESTRA: 6 September, 7.00 pm, Congress Square

TRADITIONAL ATTRACTIONS AT THE 69th LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL

• ALMOST ACOUSTIC: 5 July, 7.00 pm, Grand Foyer
• THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY: 27 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• SLOVENE THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS AND THE CENTURY WILL BLUSH: 9 July, 9.00 pm, Križanke Pergola
• BALLET BY EDWARD CLUG: 12 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• BIRDS OF A KIND: 12, 13, 14 and 15 July, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• MADAMA BUTTERFLY: 14 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square
• TANGO STORY: 30 July, 9.00 pm, Congress Square

CHAMBER CONCERTS NOT TO BE MISSED

• SLOKAR TROMBONE QUARTET: 16 July, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• MAHLER IN LJUBLJANA: 20 July, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• THE MERRY SOUND OF THE ACCORDION: 21 July, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• MUSICA VIVA MOSCOW CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: 22 July, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• AMBASSADOR OF THE RUSSIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC TRADITION: 25 July, 7.00 pm, Knights’ Hall, Križanke
• THE SOUNDS OF TRUMPET, TUBA AND PIANO: 26 July, 7.00 pm, Knights’ Hall, Križanke)
• LATICA HONDA-ROSENBERG AND BOŽO PARADŽIK: 28 July, 7.00 pm, Knights’ Hall, Križanke
• THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!: 29 July, 7.00 pm Slovenian Philharmonic Hall
• OBOE AND FLUTE WITH PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT: 31 July, 7.00 pm, Knights’ Hall, Križanke
• ROMANTIC FLUTE: 1 August, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• FROM BRAZIL TO NORWAY: 2 August, 7.00 pm, Knights’ Hall, Križanke
• GUY BEN-ZIONY AND JENS PETER MAINTZ: 2 August, 7.00 pm, Knights’ Hall, Križanke
• AN UNUSUAL TRIO OF YOUNG MUSICIANS: 9 August, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• A SENTIMENTAL KREUTZER SONATA: 10 August, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• ONLY1PLANET: 26 August, 8.30 pm, Congress Square
• AURORA AND THE CRICKET: 30 and 31 August, 7.00 pm, Križanke Church
• AN ITALIAN EVENING: 7 September, 8.00 pm, St James’s Church

CLOSING OF THE 69th LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL
8 September, 7.00 pm, Congress Square

The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra will close the 69th Ljubljana Festival with premieres of works by two acclaimed contemporary composers and Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite Scheherazade.  The programme includes the world premiere of a new work by the Austrian composer Julia Purgina and the first performance in Slovenia of a new cello concerto by Slovene composer Vito Žuraj. Austria’s most versatile orchestra, which carries in itself the heart of the golden Viennese orchestral tradition, enjoys a worldwide reputation. The orchestra has worked with some of the world’s highest-profile conductors. On this occasion the baton is taken up by the young British conductor Kerem Hasan. Appearing at the concert as a soloist is the outstanding French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.

ACCOMPANYING EVENTS OF THE 69th LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL

• LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL ON THE LJUBLJANICA: 28 July–1 August, boats on the Ljubljanica
• MASTERCLASSES: 26 July–7 August, Ljubljana Academy of Music
• INTERNATIONAL FINE ARTS COLONY: 12–16 July, Križanke
• EXHIBITIONS:
  2–29 June, Križanke Church
  Throughout June, the former church of the Teutonic Knights in Ljubljana, part of the Križanke complex, will be the venue for a transmedia installation by Eva Petrič entitled Post-Corona Sun, Penduluming. The ambient installation, consisting of an assemblage of found and recycled lace, plexiglass sculpture, sound and light, reflects the artist’s perception of the world and humanity at a crossroads as it transitions into the post-coronavirus age.
  7–30 September, Križanke Church
  Hommage à Vasja Žbona: Eight Years On – The works chosen for this first presentation in Ljubljana of the creative oeuvre of Slovene sculptor Vasilij (“Vasja”) Žbona date from the period 1994–2009. They include works in his favourite material, wood, which offered him numerous possibilities in terms of approach and technique, and also works in marble and bronze.

Want to know more? Have a look at the detailed programme or visit the festival's website. 

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