Free tickets for the concert are available at the Križanke Box Office and online at www.ljubljanafestival.si

Maja Rome, viola 
Anja Gaberc, harp
Simon Klavžar, percussion
Programme:
M. Bonin: Shimmer VII (for harp, percussion and viola)*
H. Holliger: Arioso and Passacaglia (for harp solo)
G. Ligeti: Sonata (for viola solo)
I. Majcen: Bits & Pieces* (for viola, harp and percussion)
M. Matić: Between Eardrums (for harp and percussion)*
P. Šavli: Personae (for marimba solo)
L. Vrhunc: Gama (for viola and harp)
* premiere performance

The Concert Atelier of the Society of Slovene Composers is the oldest regular concert activity of this professional association, since the cycle has been taking place without interruption since 1965. In recent years, the cycle’s artistic director has been the internationally renowned composer Nina Šenk, whose programmes place select new Slovene works and Slovene pieces from the recent past alongside substantial contemporary works by foreign composers. On this occasion these are the works Arioso and Passacaglia for harp solo by the Swiss composer, oboist and conductor Heinz Holliger (b. 1939), who celebrates his eightieth birthday this year, and the Sonata for viola solo by the ever-inventive György Ligeti (1923–2003), one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century. The programme also includes Personae, a 1997 piece for marimba by composer Peter Šavli (b. 1961). After graduating in composition from the Ljubljana Academy of Music, Šavli continued his studies at Yale University in the USA and earned his doctorate from Cornell University, likewise in the USA. He is known as a melodicist who structures his compositions on a sophisticated harmonic foundation. Larisa Vrhunc (b. 1967) composes by inserting her chosen sonic material into carefully elaborated formal plan, thereby creating a subtle musical language. Trained in composition at music academies and universities in Ljubljana, Geneva and Lyon, she has participated in numerous international masterclasses. Although originally written for viola and piano, her 1998 composition Gama will be heard here in an arrangement for viola and harp. The programme also includes three premieres. Shimmer VII is the seventh in a series of works with this title by Matej Bonin (b. 1986). This original composer, who pursued further studies abroad after graduating from the Ljubljana Academy of Music, is among the more prominent Slovene composers at international festivals of contemporary music. Bits & Pieces is a work by Igor Majcen (b. 1952), a Slovene composer living and working in Germany who completed postgraduate studies in Freiburg after graduating from the Ljubljana Academy of Music and decided to settle there. After graduating from the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana, where she studied jazz piano, Maja Matić (b. 1987) undertook studies in composition and arrangement in Rotterdam. In addition to composing works into which she inserts jazz elements, she expresses her creativity by developing innovative approaches to teaching the piano and composition for both children and adults. The pieces in the programme will be performed by established concert performers who are at the same time active as teachers at the two central music institutions that are the focus of this edition of Slovenian Music Days: Maja Rome is an assistant professor at the Ljubljana Academy of music, as is Simon Klavžar, who is also a teacher at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where Anja Gaberc likewise teaches.