[PRESS RELEASE - LJUBLJANA 31 OCTOBER 2024]

Next year will see the 8th edition of the Winter Festival, organised by the Ljubljana Festival, which is set to open in grand style on 20 February 2025 with the first of two performances of Britten’s War Requiem and will continue with concerts by world-class musicians at Cankarjev Dom, the Slovenian Philharmonic Hall and the Knights’ Hall at Križanke. Coinciding with this edition of the Winter Festival will be the Ljubljana Festival International Competition – Brass Quintets and Quartets 2025. World-renowned pianist Grigory Sokolov will close the festival on 2 March 2025 with a performance that promises to be an unforgettable experience.

A MAGNIFICENT OPENING WITH BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S WAR REQUIEM (20–21 February, Cankarjev Dom, 18.00 PM)

The 8th Winter Festival will open on 20 and 21 February with two performances of the monumental War Requiem by the English composer Benjamin Britten. Scored for choirs, soloists and orchestra, the War Requiem is one of the most powerful and emotionally charged musical works of the twentieth century. Written for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral – built to replace its fourteenth-century predecessor, destroyed during the Second World War – the War Requiem juxtaposes the text of the Latin Requiem Mass with extra-liturgical poems by the English war poet Wilfred Owen, offering a vivid portrayal of the horrors of war. A committed pacifist, Britten created an important anti-war message with this work, one that still resonates today in a world that is once again torn by wars.

The War Requiem will be performed by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra under legendary conductor Charles Dutoit. Soprano Nadezhda Pavlova, tenor Ian Bostridge and acclaimed baritone Matthias Goerne will be the soloists. The Slovenian Philharmonic Choir will be joined by the Kaunas State Choir and the famous Vienna Boys’ Choir.

LJUBLJANA FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION – BRASS QUARTETS AND QUINTETS 2025 (24 February–1 March, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall)

The Winter Festival will coincide with the Ljubljana Festival International Competition – Brass Quartets and Quintets 2025, open to young musicians and ensembles from all over the world. Following last year’s extremely successful piano competition, the focus of attention now turns to brass quartets and quintets. The brass quintet, consisting of two trumpets, French horn, trombone or euphonium, and tuba, first appeared in the nineteenth century but it was not until after the Second World War that it established itself as a formal chamber ensemble, thanks to celebrated American quintets such as the New York Brass Quintet. The brass quartet, on the other hand, encompasses various combinations of trumpets, trombones, horns, tubas and euphoniums.

The focus of the repertoire to be performed at the competition will be on modernist, postmodernist and contemporary works. The Ljubljana Festival has commissioned a new work for the occasion from Nina Šenk, one of Slovenia’s most prominent female composers, who will also be a member of the judging panel. Chaired by Branimir Slokar, the competition’s artistic director, the international judging panel will also include trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich, tuba player Andreas Martin Hofmeir (both from Germany) and Croatian hornist Radovan Vlatković.

The competition will take place from 24 February to 1 March 2025 at the Slovenian Philharmonic Hall in Ljubljana. The deadline for submitting the complete application is 1 November 2024. Application forms can be found here.

THE HARP AND A JOURNEY THROUGH MUSICAL HISTORY

Next up is a duo performance by harpists Mojca Zlobko Vajgl and Marion Ravot on 25 February. Mojca Zlobko Vajgl is Slovenia’s best known and internationally most acclaimed harpist. Over the course of her long career she has inspired the creation of numerous new works by Slovene composers, while at the same time teaching new generations of harpists at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. She devotes particular attention to chamber music and has frequently performed in a duo with Marion Ravot, a brilliant French harpist who has worked with some of the world’s most renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

The concert programme will present a journey through musical history, with a particular focus on French works from the Romantic and Impressionist periods, which saw the harp elevated to the ranks of the most refined and colourful instruments. The programme also includes baroque dances, which will take on a new light when performed on the harp. Finally, the Slovene composer Aldo Kumar has created a new work especially for this occasion which will have its very first audience at this concert.

BACH’S CHORALES (26 February, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, 19.30 PM)

• ZAGREB’S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL GIANTS (27 February, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, 19.30 PM)
• CLOSING RECITAL: GRIGORY SOKOLOV  (2 March, Cankarjev Dom, 19.30 PM)

Tickets are already on sale at ljubljanafestival.si, the Križanke box office, petrol stations and other Eventim outlets. Ljubljana Festival Club members are entitled to a 20% discount during the presale period (which lasts until 16 November for the above events) and a 10% discount after tickets go on general sale. These discounts do not apply to the performances of the War Requiem. You can join the Ljubljana Festival Club by clicking here.

 More information and tickets at ljubljanafestival.si.