Concert Atelier Society of Slovenian Composers

Nadja Drakslar Petrač. clarinet

Andrej Petrač, cello

Tomaž Petrač, piano

Programme:

Blaženka Arnič Lemež: Duet for Cello and Piano*

Nejc Bečan: New piece for trio*

Bojan Glavina: Bagatelles for Clarinet and Piano*

Uroš Rojko: Five Portraits for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Marko Tajčević (arr. Alojz Srebotnjak): Seven Balkan Dances

*premiere performance

Acclaimed and experienced Slovene concert musicians offer performances of works by six composers in a blend of their most recent compositions and already established works. The concert opens with a new work by Blaženka Arnič-Lemež (1947), who is active both as composer and teacher. When composing, she seeks inspiration from various sources ranging from Slovene folk song to Tibetan polyphonic structures. Nejc Bečan (1984) first demonstrated his great talent as a composer while still a student of composition, when he won the University of Ljubljana Prešeren Prize. He is also the conductor of the Gimnazija Kranj Review Orchestra and the Police wind orchestra. Bojan Glavina (1961) is noted above all as a composer who is able to address with sincerity and imagination even the youngest listeners and interpreters, to whom the majority of his extensive and diverse oeuvre is dedicated. Uroš Rojko (1954) is one of the most prominent contemporary Slovene composers and teachers, actively involved in educating new generations of promising Slovene composers. In 2015 he was elected a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Five Portraits for Clarinet, Cello and Piano is one of his first works. It was written in 1978, while he was studying composition. “When I started studying I knew nothing about the art of composition and simply followed my instincts. I felt I had something to say. Here, Uroš Krek opened all the windows and doors to me,” remembers Rojko, mentioning his former mentor. “Writing music mainly requires precise technical preparations and analysis of different technical possibilities. But all of this has to be in the service of one single goal: expressing what is inside you.” This was the view of Alojz Srebotnjak (1931–2010). Elements of folk music may frequently be observed in Srebotnjak’s work alongside his expressionist tendencies. His oeuvre includes several arrangements of works by other composers, among them Seven Balkan Dances by the Serbian composer Marko Tajčević (1900–1984), originally written for piano in 1927.