ORGAN CYCLE: Stina Burkard (Slovenia)
A POETIC HYMN TO CREATION
– marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis and the 100th anniversary of Plečnik’s Church of St. Francis of Assisi
Stina Burkard, organ
Programme:
RICHARD PURVIS (1913–1994)
No. 4, Earth Carol ( from “St. Francis” Suite)
GEORG FRIDERICH HÄNDEL (1685–1759)
Organ Concerto No. 13 in F major, HWV 295
Larghetto
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro
JANEZ MATIČIČ (1926–2022)
Gloria
GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845–1924)
Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Op. 80
Prélude
Fileuse
Sicilienne
La mort de Mélisande
J. S. BACH (1685–1750)
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Stina Burkard (née Strehar) was born in 1996 and began organ studies at the age of eleven. In 2011, she enrolled at the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet (studying under Prof. Nina Frank). After graduating from secondary school, she was accepted in 2015 into the class of Prof. Hannfried Lucke at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, where she completed her undergraduate studies; she subsequently finished her master’s degree there with distinction in October 2021. In 2020, she studied at the Paris Conservatory (under Prof. Michel Bouvard and Prof. Olivier Latry) as part of the Erasmus programme, and she gained further artistic insight through masterclasses with various professors, such as Nathan Laube, Martin Schmeding, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Aude Heurtematte, and Thomas Lacôte.
She is a multiple prize-winner at Slovenian and international organ competitions; in 2016, she received a gold plaque at the SVIREL International Competition, the Award for Promising Young Artists from the Mozarteum University International Summer Academy, and the fourth prize from the Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Society at the International Rheinberger Competition. In 2018, she won first prize and a gold plaque at the TEMSIG Slovenian music competition. Her concert career includes performances at numerous international festivals, such as Bad Ragaz (Next Generation), Vienna (Wien Modern, Jeunesse), Varaždin (Varaždin Baroque Evenings), Salzburg (Orgel zu Mittag, Salzburg Festival), Mallorca (International Organ Week Antoni Martorell), Paris (Festival de Royaumont), Wiesbaden (International Organ Concerts at St. Boniface), and Nuremberg (Musikfest ION). As a soloist, she has performed in many prestigious venues and cathedrals, including Essen Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Francis in Geneva, Schleswig Cathedral, Haderslev Cathedral, St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and St. Gallen Cathedral.
In October 2021, following a successful audition, she was appointed cathedral organist at the Cathedral of St. Florin in Vaduz, Principality of Liechtenstein. In addition to her concert and liturgical work, she teaches organ at the classical high school in Sargans, Switzerland, where she also resides. Together with her husband—also an organist—she recently launched the organ podcast Zweizweidrittel, in which they explore the world of organ music from various perspectives and host interesting guests from the music world.
Playing the organ is an expression of a will imbued with a vision of eternity,” wrote the French composer and organist Charles-Marie Widor; indeed, the organ is—as W. A. Mozart famously put it—the “Queen of Instruments.” This instrument offers the performer countless interpretive possibilities while demanding a comprehensive and versatile musical personality.
With the aim of promoting and popularizing the organ and organ music, Imago Sloveniae, in collaboration with the Ars Programme of RTV Slovenia, organizes the organ concert series “Obiski kraljice v živo”. The series showcases renowned domestic and international organists performing carefully curated programs on Slovenia’s most distinguished organs.
Free admission.
You can also listen to the concert via a live broadcast on the ARS channel. Recordings of the concerts will be aired on the ARS channel on Sundays, October 18 and October 25, 2026, at 6:30 PM, as part of the program “Obiski kraljice”.
In collaboration with:
