On the evening of Monday, 19 August, beginning at 8.30 pm, Križanke will resound to the music of legendary composer and guitarist Frank Zappa, as the 72nd Ljubljana Festival hosts the Zappa Day in Ljubljana concert, performed by Ensemble Dissonance under conductor Jonathan Stockhammer. The supremely talented musicians of the ensemble will be joined on stage by virtuoso guitarist and improviser Vlatko Stefanovski and actor and vocalist Blaž Šef.
American composer Frank Zappa achieved worldwide fame as the leader of rock band The Mothers of Invention, although he also composed for orchestras and instrumental ensembles. His music has been performed by world-famous orchestras and ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Ensemble Modern, under eminent conductors including Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez and Peter Rundel.
Zappa’s music continues to be performed today by numerous other orchestras, chamber ensembles and conductors. This last group includes Jonathan Stockhammer, who recorded the album Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions with Ensemble Modern and regularly performs the music of Frank Zappa. “That’s why we invited him to conduct Ensemble Dissonance at the Zappa Day in Ljubljana concert,” explains Ensemble Dissonance’s artistic director Klemen Hvala. “This will be the first concert of Frank Zappa’s music performed by an instrumental ensemble in Slovenia, which is another good reason to come to the concert.”
The Ljubljana Festival concert will consist of a selection of pieces by the Grammy-winning musician. Some appear on the albums The Yellow Shark and Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions, while others are from other periods of Zappa’s career. Pieces such as “Dog-Meat (Dog Breath Variations & Uncle Meat)”, “Naval Aviation in Art?”, “Peaches en Regalia”, “Put a Motor in Yourself”, “G-Spot Tornado”, “The Black Page”, “Revised Music for Low Budget Orchestra”, “Outrage at Valdez”, “Moggio” and the mini-musical “The Adventures of Greggery Peccary” are without question a choice selection of Frank Zappa’s music for ensemble.
Preparations for this special concert have been going on for several months. Ensemble Dissonance will be joined onstage by Vlatko Stefanovski, who will perform solo interludes and improvisations on the guitar. Actor and singer Blaž Šef will appear in the title role of the mini-musical “The Adventures of Greggery Peccary”. Frank Zappa’s music is still extremely fresh and innovative, even thirty years after his death, and his provocative lyrics are still relevant today. Klemen Hvala promises us a musical evening that will be “varied, interesting and entertaining, just like the music of the genius Frank Zappa!”
