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YOUNG MUSICAL TALENTS ONSTAGE IN THE 32ND YOUNG VIRTUOSI INTERNATIONAL CONCERT SERIES

10 October 2024

Once again this year, with what is now the 32nd edition of the Young Virtuosi International Concert Series, the Ljubljana Festival offers young musicians the opportunity to perform in front of a national and international audience. From autumn to spring, the Knights’ Hall at Križanke and St Francis of Assisi Church will be filled with the sounds of young virtuosi putting their skills as soloists and chamber musicians to the test in this unique concert series. Through their performances, they will bridge the gap between tradition and contemporary music. With the 32nd edition of this series, the Ljubljana Festival places the spotlight on young talents – winners of prestigious prizes and other accolades who enrich the local and wider cultural landscape with their creativity and innovation.

The first concert of the international series, on 29 September 2024, features two remarkable young musicians: Taiwanese pianist Kai-Min Chang, the winner of last year’s first Ljubljana Festival International Competition – Piano 2023 and a finalist at this year’s prestigious 21st Leeds International Piano Competition (in England), and Hina Khuong-Huu, a violinist with French, Japanese and American roots who won first prize at the prestigious Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition in 2023 (held in Boca Raton, Florida) and with it the opportunity to perform at the 32nd Young Virtuosi. On 3 October 2024, in collaboration with the Radovljica International Piano Competition, we will hear the equally promising Taiwanese pianist Kuan-Wei Chen and the Ad Astra Piano Trio. A week later, on 10 October 2024, piano keys and strings will meet in performances by Duo Empirio and harpist Aja Urlep. The concert on 17 October 2024, organised in collaboration with the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth in Szafarnia, will introduce the remarkable young pianists Filip Kauch from Poland and Ivan Petrenko from Ukraine.

The cold autumn evenings will be warmed by the music of four excellent Spanish ensembles consisting of promising musicians from the Conservatori Superior de Música de Castelló. Two of these ensembles – Duo Orfeo and the Quella Vita Quintet – will appear on 24 October 2024, while on 28 November 2024 we will have the opportunity to hear the Sajára Brass Quintet and the Future Sax Quartet.

Talented young Slovene musicians frequently take part in the TEMSIG (Young Musicians of Slovenia) competition, the most important national music competition in Slovenia. For many years now, the competition has been encouraging the development of young talents and represents an important springboard for many gifted musicians. Winners of this competition (some of them multiple winners) are among the many young musicians who have taken the next step on their musical journey at the concerts of the Young Virtuosi series. They include the protagonists of the concert on 14 November 2024: violist Manca Kosmač, accompanied by pianist Andreja Kosmač, and cellist Neža Homšak, accompanied by pianist Sven Brajković. The next concert, on 21 November 2024, will feature violinist Manja Slak, accompanied by pianist Beata Ilona Barcza and double bassist Pia Rener, accompanied by pianist Maja Klinar Bertoncelj.

The concert series will resume in 2025 with a performance on 16 January 2025 by the young Serbian musicians Milica Žižić (soprano) and Kristina Antić (cello), accompanied by pianist Jovanka Višekruna Janković, in a concert organised in collaboration with Artlink Serbia (EFA Member). The only concert to take place at St Francis of Assisi Church in this edition of Young Virtuosi will be the concert by the excellent organ soloists Zala Ažbe and Nika Frelih on 23 January 2025. The concert series then returns to the Knights’ Hall, which on 30 January 2025 will be filled with the wonderful sounds of the violin of Gaja Žnidaršič and the piano of Beata Ilona Barcza, followed by a performance by the Inuaria Flute Quartet. On 6 February 2025 the audience can enjoy performances by Duo Flauccord and violist Patricija Malovrh Mlačnik. On 13 March 2025 the Young Virtuosi baton will pass to violinist Nikola Pajanović, accompanied by pianist Stefan Pajanović, and cellist Sara Čano accompanied by pianist Aleksandra Pavlovič. On 20 March 2025 we will have the opportunity to hear the guitarists Leon Ravnikar and Ana Gorjanc, while on 27 March 2025 soprano and violinist Veronika Vanja will take the stage accompanied by pianist Ana Rodić.

The concert series will end on 3 April 2025 with performances by harpist Leto Križanič Žorž and trumpeter Anej Gorenjak, the latter accompanied by pianist Špela Horvat.

We look forward to seeing you at the concerts of the 32nd Young Virtuosi, where you can experience for yourself the bravura of these young musicians.

Free tickets to the concerts of the 32nd Young Virtuosi International Concert Series are already available for collection at the Križanke box office.

More information at ljubljanafestival.si.