THE BEGINNING OF THE SUMMER CONCERT SEASON 2020
Esteemed lovers of top cultural offer,
at Imago Sloveniae intensive prepartions are taking place for the upcoming summer concert season 2020, which will, despite the crisis situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, impress with a variety of events. Being a non-governmental and non-profit organization, we have been providing free access to high-level cultural events for 32 years.
We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to register in our visitor database so that you will be informed about our upcoming events regularly and in a timely manner. It is still possible for you to donate 0,5% of your personal income tax to support the organization of our events (download the form HERE). We will be very happy to receive your contributions and donations by a direct donation to our account at Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB):
Ustanova Imago Sloveniae
Gornji trg 16
SI-1000 Ljubljana
IBAN: SI56 0205 1025 4910 271
Purpose: donation (or prostovoljni prispevek)
Reference: SI00 or SI99
As always, we will offer you a diverse selection of musical programmes, from classical music, presentation of young talents to jazz and ethno music. This year, given the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the cultural sector, we decided to support mainly local artists. Emergency situations related to the virus led to a postponement of our summer concerts. As a result, we were forced to cancel our grand opening concert, which we traditionally perform every year at the Congress Square.
The legendary Czech Trio Smetana will conjure up the introduction to the festival season on 1 July at the City Museum of Ljubljana with a selection of piano trios by L. van Beethoven, B. Martinů and A. Arenski.
Shortly after the opening, artists Theresa Plut and Polona Gantar will perform sacred songs, composed by Hugo Wolf, at the Ljubljana Cathedral. In collaboration with the Publishing and Record Label RTV Slovenia (ZKP RTV Slovenia), the two artists recently released a CD in honor of the 160th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Among the chamber music events with Slovenian musicians, we should mention masters of the early music Domen Marinčič and Tomaž Sevšek – Ensemble musica cubicularis, who will display a selected chapter from Bach’s musical universe on original historical instruments, and the excellent Duo Marko Hatlak and Eva Dolinšek, that will impress with an unusual sound combination of accordion and harpsichord with a repertoire encompassing old and modern musical creativity.
Among the guests of the second half of the festival summer we would like to point out one of the greatest chamber musicians of our time, the Italian pianist Bruno Canin, who will conjure a romantic evening of fantasies and trios with flutist Luisa Sello (Italy) and cellist Ariana Kashefi (UK).
The most promising young musicians from different parts of the world, united in the brilliant Oberton String Octet, which is gaining recognition from music critics across Europe, will, despite their youth, perform at the highest artistic level. Special attention should also be drawn to the young but already internationally renowned Trio Tempestoso, winners of one of the most prestigious competitions for contemporary music, the Boris Pergamenščikov Competition in Berlin. One of the members of the Trio is the young clarinetist Andraž Golob, who in September 2019 took the academy position in the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, we prepared a concert performed by the renowned Austrian TrioVanBeethoven, which returns to our stage with two of the musical giant’s Piano Trios. Highlights include the musical-literary project All About Beethoven – The Roaring Silence; selected Beethoven’s compositions will be intertwined with excerpts from the composer’s letters or correspondence, in which the master’s personality is contemplated by his contemporaries.
This year’s summer evenings in the historic ambience of the Ljubljana Old Town will once again be coloured by jazz concerts as part of our Jazz Stage Cycle. At Gornji trg you will be pampered by Slovenian jazz giants, united under the name Concinnity Quartet; saxophonist Jani Šepetavec with his original blues-coloured compositions; an old acquaintance of our Jazz Stage, seasoned jazz musician Ratko Zjaca, who was awarded by the Croatian Composers’ Association in 2019 for exceptional authorial and artistic achievements, with his international New Organ Group; one of the best Croatian guitarists and the most awarded Croatian jazz composer Elvis Stanić in his “Power Trio” band; and our fast-growing jazz youth, Patricija Škof Trio and Rok Zalokar Trio.
As every year, the summer season of Imago Sloveniae will end with the Nights in Old Ljubljana Town International Festival – a three-day abundance of concerts by selected leading ethno and jazz ensembles from all over the world.
All events will be free for visitors.
You are kindly invited to visit our cultural events!
In these uncertain times, the program is subject to sudden changes, so we kindly invite you to regularly follow our website.
