THE NIGHT OF SLOVENE COMPOSERS

Beata Ilona Barcza, piano
Igor Dekleva, piano
Klemen Golner, piano
Tina Mauko, piano
Pavel Mihelčič, piano
Aleksandar Serdar, piano
Žiga Stanič, piano

Programme:

Igor Dekleva: Sonata brevis*
Bojan Glavina: Suite in nineteen colours*
Peter Kopač: Encore*
Matija Marčina: Sequent*
Tina Mauko: Scorpio*
Pavel Mihelčič: From the winter garden*
Urška Orešič Šantavec: Variations on children’s theme*
Ljubo Rančigaj: Collage*
Uroš Rojko: Improvisational étude No 1*
Žiga Stanič: 18+*
Igor Štuhec: Sonata for piano*
Slavko Ludvik Šuklar: Malinconia e Ballo in modo barbarico*

*first performance

Every year, new works by contemporary Slovene composers play a significant role in the rich series of concerts that take place during Slovenian Music Days. This year a full thirteen compositions for piano will receive their premiere performances at the traditional Night of Slovene composers organised in conjunction with the Society of Slovene Composers. They are the work of Slovene composers of different generations, profiles, experience, creative views and musical languages. The youngest generation are represented by Matija Marčina (b. 1989), who having graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music is currently pursuing postgraduate studies in jazz composition in New York; Tina Mauko (b. 1982), a pianist, composer and creator/interpreter of original performances; and Urška Orešič Šantavec (b. 1981), a composer, pianist, teacher and singer who spans various genres. Žiga Stanič (b. 1973) is an increasingly acclaimed artist with an original musical style. He is also a pianist, teacher and music producer. The internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and teacher Igor Dekleva (b. 1933) has devoted the majority of his compositional oeuvre to piano music or pieces with piano; Bojan Glavina (b. 1961), a composer with an extensive and varied oeuvre, is another artist with subtle pianistic sensibilities. Peter Kopač (b. 1949), who for the last decade has headed the music school in Škofja Loka, is another composer intimately acquainted with the piano, since he is himself a pianist; and it was through his compositions for piano, along with his lieder, that composer, teacher and pianist Ljubo Rančigaj (b. 1936) won the 2014 Kozina Prize. Pavel Mihelčič (b. 1937) is an internationally recognised composer, an emeritus professor at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, a designer and organiser of music festivals, and a music critic; the works of composer, clarinettist, teacher and academician Uroš Rojko (b. 1954) are frequently performed abroad, particularly in Germany, where he lives most of the time. Ljubljana, Vienna and Darmstadt have all played a significant part in shaping the composer Igor Štuhec (b. 1932), the creator of a varied oeuvre and the winner of the 2011 Kozina Prize; Slavko Ludvik Šuklar (b. 1952) is a composer, teacher, concert organiser and member of the programme committees of various institutions and festivals. The solo piano pieces will be performed by:  Beata Ilona Barcza, an excellent Hungarian pianist who for the last two years has lived in Ljubljana, where she teaches and coaches at the conservatory of music; Igor Dekleva, an internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and teacher; Klemen Golner, an in-demand chamber music partner and long-standing member of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra; Aleksandar Serdar, an established concert pianist of Serbian origin who is also a teacher at the Ljubljana Academy of Music; and Žiga Stanič, who also features in the programme as a composer.

Helena Filipčič Gardina