Today, on 20 December, the TV show Jutro na Planetu hosted the Ljubljana Festival’s staff member Katja Bogovič, violinist Rok Zaletel Černoš and conductor Živa Ploj Peršuh. They presented the programme of the 7th Winter Festival, which takes place from 18 to 23 February 2024.

You can see the clip from the show below:

The festival will open in Cankarjev Dom with a performance by Kai-Min Chang, the winner of the 1st Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition. He will be accompanied by the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Yan Pascal Tortelier. In the second part of the evening, the orchestra and the conductor will be joined by top soloists Sophie Marin-Degor, Annalisa Stroppa, Celso Albelo and Paul Armin Edelmann, as well as the Mixed Choir of the Glasbena Matica Ljubljana, the Virtuosi Festival Choir, and the Academy of Music Chamber Choir.The opening evening will feature works by J. Brahms, L. Boulanger and C. Saint-Saëns.

The following day, on 19 February, Roberto Abbado will be returning to Cankarjev Dom to conduct the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Megaron Chamber Choir and internationally acclaimed soloists Olga Kulchynska, Gaëlle Arquez, Francesco Demuro and Riccardo Zanellato in an evening of religious and Asian stories Rossini’s famous cantata Stabat Mater will be followed by excerpts from Busoni’s Turandot Suite.

This will be followed by four concerts at the Slovenian Philharmonic. On 20 February, a recital by pianist Olga Kern will take place, with a programme of works by L. van Beethoven, R. Schumann, G. Gershwin, S. Rachmaninoff, A. Scriabin and M. Balakirev. The next day, on 21 February, in a concert of Italian and Spanish classical music, Ensemble Dissonance will be accompanied by trumpeter Vicente Campos and singer Lidia Rodriguez, under the direction of Miguel Á. Navarro.On 22 February, we will welcome violin virtuoso Maxim Vengerov and pianist Vag Papian,who will perform works by J. Brahms, C. Franck, A. Shore and S. Prokofiev.

On 23 February, the festival will conclude with a concert by the Slovene Youth Orchestra under conductor Živa Ploj Peršuh, and featuring violinist Rok Zaletel Černoš as soloist, performing Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 14. The orchestra will also interpret works by J. Brahms and L. van Beethoven.

The full programme is available here.