A GREY WOLF”S PICNIC AT THE ZOO
Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Ayrton Desimpelaere
Host: Franci Krevh
Music: Aleksandra Naumovski Potisk
Lyrics: Helena Kraljič
Director of the musical fairy tale: Saša Potisk
This year, Imago Sloveniae, in collaboration with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Ljubljana Zoo, and Zavarovalnica Vita, is once again preparing a magical concert in the unique setting of Ljubljana Zoo. The Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra will perform the musical fairy tale The Grey Wolf at the Picnic.
Three concerts are part of the accompanying program of the 37th International Festival Nights in Old Ljubljana.
The Grey Wolf at the Picnic is a bestseller by writer Helena Kraljič, a picture book that questions fairy tale codes and prejudices in a fairy tale-encoded world. We should be afraid of wolves, shouldn’t we? Didn’t he eat Little Red Riding Hood and the three little pigs? No, that’s not true. Our wolf is a lonely father with no evil intentions, who, as is often the case in our times, is raising and caring for three wolf cubs on his own… We haven’t lost the fairy tale, though—it unfolds in three fairy-tale steps of complication and three steps of resolution with three—no, not piglets, but wolf cubs—and, of course, it ends happily.
Composer Aleksandra Naumovski Potisk wrote the suite In the Forest, Op. 15a, originally for saxophone and piano, and now, at the initiative of Imago Sloveniae and the Slovenian Philharmonic, also for symphony orchestra, to fuse the story into a musical fairy tale. The music and lyrics are completely intertwined and not just juxtaposed. In addition to the standard thematic development of the story, the lyrics are also intertwined with personified instrumental colors (this time the wolf is in the bassoon, the deer in the horns and saxophone, the sound of water at the beaver dam in the harp …) and special sound signals that psychologically reinforce and deepen the current emphases of the story. Compositionally, they also develop in a fairy-tale triad. Despite all this complexity, the music is very listenable and perfectly adapted to the world of children, who are certainly the target audience of this musical fairy tale. The soundscape weaves together a variety of (sometimes unusual) instruments, which resonate in an extraordinary richness of sounds that connect the forest and the human environment. In this coexistence, we can also find the basic idea of the musical fairy tale—not only in moving away from prejudices, but perhaps even more so in bringing worlds closer together in a way that is tolerant, friendly, and well-meaning, and in no way frightening or alien. In this way, through sound (as will be explained in an entertaining and witty manner in the prologue), we will approach the imitation of animal sounds and the sounds of nature (onomatopoeia) through the instrumentation of the same to a completely musical thematization in a symphony orchestra — that is, through an organic fusion of the primal and the artificial.
And by the way, did we mention that the Gray Wolf also bakes excellent berry pies?
Admission is included in the ticket to the Ljubljana ZOO except for Slovenian Philharmonic subscribers, who will be able to attend the concert on 30 August after 4 pm admission free.
The concert is part of the annual event hosted by Vita Insurance at the Ljubljana Zoo. As in previous years, the event will feature an engaging and diverse program in collaboration with the zoo, where children can learn a lot about wolves and other predators.
In collaboration with:
