Ljubljana, February 2014
At the Heart of Your Experience
Festival Ljubljana – Where History Meets Contemporariness
For more than 60 years now, Festival Ljubljana has organised a variety of cultural events and festivals, among them Slovenian Musical Days (SGD), a great supporter of new classical compositions. Over the course of its 29-year history it has featured many first performances of Slovenian music and compositions.
Festival Ljubljana is well known as the organiser of the summer Ljubljana Festival, the oldest and most important festival in Slovenia – and the wider European context as well. The first edition of the event goes all the way back to 1953; since then it has proven a highly popular part of the summer holidays for both the city’s residents and visitors to Ljubljana as well. With its colourful cosmopolitan spirit, the festival contributes a great deal to the life and energy of the Slovenian capital, itself considered one of the liveliest cities in Europe.
The main goal of the Ljubljana Festival has always been to present a carefully selected programme with outstanding performers – performers driven by excellence, creative energy and a desire to provide audiences with the best possible performance experience. The festival has always demonstrated its ambition to attract and showcase both local and international artistic production in equal measure. Over its 61-year history, the festival has hosted numerous internationally celebrated names, among them:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg, New York Philharmonic, La Scala Theatre Philharmonic Orchestra, State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Sir Simon Rattle, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Ennio Morricone, Riccardo Muti, Mstislav Rostropovich, En Shao, Fuat Mansurov, Paata Burchuladze, José Cura, Jose Carreras, Marjana Lipovšek, Yehudi Menuhin, Misha Maisky, Dubravka Tomšič, Mojca Zlobko, Miloš Karadaglić, 2 Cellos, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, St. Petersburg Boris Eifman State Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Wiener Staatsballett and many more.
Among the highlights of the 62nd Ljubljana Festival (1 July – 1 September 2014) will be:
– Vienna State Opera: Così fan tutte (accompanying event; 12 June 2014)
– Carl Orff: Carmina Burana
Conductor: Uroš Lajovic
– Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem
In memoriam Carlos Kleiber
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini
Conductor: Riccardo Muti
– Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam
Conductor: Mariss Jansons
– Filarmonica ‘900 Teatro Regio di Torino
– Moscow Soloists with Yuri Bashmet
– Elīna Garanča
– Pasión
Stefan Milenković & Marko Hatlak
– María Pagés: Utopia
– Evita, the musical
Produced by: Bronowski Productions, West End, London
– Richard Wagner: Lohengrin
Within its project framework Festival Ljubljana works to support both national and international artistic productions. Some years back it was awarded the Golden Honorary Medal of Freedom – the highest award of the President of the Republic of Slovenia – for its valuable contribution in organising and presenting domestic and international artistic endeavour and events.
Festival operations are located in Križanke, a beautiful former monastery complex that dates back to the 13th century and was once the seat of the Order of Teutonic Knights.
In the 1950s, the redesign of the monastery complex, inspired by the work of Renaissance architects, was entrusted to architect Jože Plečnik, who at 80 years old still enjoyed a widely celebrated reputation. Plečnik was responsible for the redesign of Ljubljana’s city centre, applying his own very individual early modernist style in the 1920s and 30s. From 1952 to 1956 Plečnik worked to create a unique venue for the city’s cultural and artistic events and into a unique tourist attraction as well.
Festival Ljubljana creates an exceptional opportunity for musicians, actors, writers and others to develop and present their artistic productions. The festival’s unique Križanke venue hosts a vast array of concerts, opera productions, theatre performances, musicals, exhibitions, poetry readings and so much more.
Festival Ljubljana serves as an important ambassador of Slovenian art, language and culture; and as a member of the European Festivals Association EFA (since 1977), shares this cultural vitality and passion with the world at large. Darko Brlek, general and artistic director of Festival Ljubljana, has served as president of the Association since 2005. The EFA is an umbrella organisation for arts festivals across Europe and beyond. Over the course of its 60-year history the EFA has grown into a dynamic network representing more than 100 music, dance, theatre and multidisciplinary festivals, national festival associations and cultural organisations from 44 countries.
Information / Public Relations
Hermina Kovačič
Tel.: +386 1 241 60 16
hermina.kovacic@ljubljanafestival.si
Sanja Kejžar Kladnik
Tel.: +386 1 241 60 19
sanja.kejzar@ljubljanafestival.si
