Season
2023/24
Mainly Vocal Programme
On the Wings of Words
Through words and music, the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir will lead you to a deeper experience with the concerts of the subscription series MVP – Mainly Vocal Programme. The word itself has extraordinary power, and supported by melody it touches the depths of the soul. Over and over again, we each experience a range of emotions – from sorrow to joy, from melancholy to longing, from hatred to love – and with the right music we are able to relive every nuance. You are warmly invited to the world on the wings of words.
New Orchestral Works
Let’s Listen Differently
The twentieth century was a time of turbulent change. It was marked by events such as the two world wars and man’s landing on the moon. Today, in the twenty-first century, we are battling pandemics, the Earth is polluted and global warming seems unstoppable. These and other current topics are reflected in the compositions of the subscription series NOW – New Orchestral Works. Each concert is complemented by two accompanying events: SIM – Saturday Insights into Music and a post-concert gathering. When listened to differently, each concert will make a profound impression on the memory.
Philharmonic Classics
In the Embrace of Beauty
The concerts of the subscription series PC – Philharmonic Classics present the noble masterpieces of the Viennese classics, complemented by works of various stylistic periods. The concert programmes consist of compositions in which beauty, playfulness, refinement, harmony and temperament coexist idyllically.
Symphonic Masterpieces Series
In a Whirlwind of Emotions
With its opulent palette of sound colours, the large symphony orchestra will draw us into a whirlwind of diverse emotional moods at the concerts of the subscription series SMS – Symphonic Masterpieces Series. The concert programmes will mainly comprise the music of high Romanticism, complemented by works by Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Slovenian composers Demetrij Žebre and Peter Kopač.
Vocal-Instrumental Programme
The Sound of Coexistence
From the late Renaissance to the present day, the period during which singing and instrumental music have coexisted, the most beautiful and weighty works have been created for choir and orchestra, often representing the peak of the creative work of individual composers. Vocal-instrumental compositions speak to us with a special expressiveness, which is reflected in their great popularity. In the subscription series VIP – Vocal-Instrumental Programme, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir will revive some of the most glorious moments in the history of music with the sound of coexistence.
Young Ears Series
Stories
The music of the subscription series YES! – Young Ears Series will tell a variety of stories. We will shorten Saturday mornings for families and the youngest audience at the Slovenian Philharmonic, and you will learn a lot of interesting things through music.
Saturday Insights into Music
TV
Listen remotely
Watch live concerts, with a delay in the comfort of a home armchair
Musical Gallery
Dear Audience!
What could the introduction to the presentation of the 2023/24 Slovenian Philharmonic concert season contain that is special? A canticle promising that the choir will sing you beautiful songs and the orchestra will play your favourite melodies? Or simply that this time you will really be able to hear a lot of new and unfamiliar things? Perhaps that we will serve up famous soloists? Good wine?
I say to myself: “Why not? Business is just business. Let’s blow our own trumpet, let’s be successful and do something to make the customer happy. After all, the customer is always right.”
On reflection, however: I meet a lot of people at the concerts of the Slovenian Philharmonic. They are mainly listeners who return to our concerts because they are satisfied with the experience, and perhaps some who have not yet given up on the arrival of better times. I meet old acquaintances, as well as new faces. Among the audience, I see smiles and hear friendly greetings. Occasionally someone passes on words of praise and encouragement, or expresses their enthusiasm. Sometimes, however, a letter arrives in my mailbox expressing disagreement with the musical selection on offer, perhaps even a letter tinged with indignation and anger. When this occurs, the time has come for reflection and self-examination about whether we at the Slovenian Philharmonic are really neglecting a certain segment of our audience, or even acting against their will.
Due to all of the above, we approach the creation of our concert programmes with greater care and reflection each year. At the same time, however, we remain faithful to the eloquent thoughts of the composer, academician and honorary member of the Slovenian Philharmonic, Lojze Lebič, who once said: “Music is a social reality like a sporting event, the publication of a book or a radio show. In this reality, however, we must not allow the number of people present in a certain market, the number of tickets sold or the hubbub of advertising to become a measure of value. It is necessary to distinguish between the various kinds of music and their different value, or at least their different purpose. Music must retain its artistic character, it must not become merely a means or a useful object, especially if it wants to retain its socially critical role today.”
Such thoughts make it is easier to plan the concert programmes. Lebič’s words help us to remain faithful to the fundamental principles, which certainly do not include the excessive repetition of the familiar, instant satisfaction of the need for pleasure and constant gratification. Following only the latter would quickly lead to the zone of complacency, then laziness and eventually numbness.
The established philharmonic subscription series are therefore intertwined in the most diverse possible ways with the desire for every listener to have an opportunity to choose mostly well-known and “popular” music by purchasing a VIP, SMS or PC subscription. At the same time, with the additional purchase of an NOW or MVP subscription at only half the price, listeners are invited to enter the world of newer music, to which I myself and the artistic director of the choir, Gregor Klančič, devote special attention. In addition to a range of classic masterpieces, we both want to present to the audience the most important works created in our own time, the time in which we live. In the past, up to the period of Romanticism, it was music by living composers – the contemporary music of the time – that was exclusively performed. The audience was always hungry for new things – new musical styles and new means of expression. This was the case in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, the period of Viennese Classicism and beyond, right up to the twentieth century.
In many places, the concert offer today still consists almost exclusively of music from the past: from the times of the medieval popes, the Sun King, Maria Theresa, Napoleon, Tsarist Russia, the First and Second World Wars, the Soviet Union and, last but not least, Yugoslavia. We nurture a great deal of respect for good music from these periods. At the same time, in addition to all of the frequently performed and often heard music, I feel a profound duty to open our ears to the music of our own time, just as they do today in enlightened cultural centres and just as they did the past.
A considerable part of the audience does, however, harbour reservations, fear and resistance with regard to contemporary music, as such music is perceived as sounding unpleasant, or even terrible, compared to “harmonious” Classical and Romantic music. The reason for this perception of most new music can be found in the many dissonant chords, which at first seem disturbing to us.
What exactly is dissonance? The Dictionary of Slovenian Literary Language describes dissonance as an indelicate (“neblagoglasen”) relationship of two or more notes. The German interpretation of this term, however, is somewhat different: a combination of notes in need of resolution (“auflösungsbedürftige Tonkombination”). This explanation is also closer to life, nature and society in general. The whole world, the universe and all of creation works according to the principle of accumulating and releasing energy. At the same time, conflicts arise that we must resolve, thus developing ourselves. Like conflicts, dissonances are necessary; without them, life would stand still. Most of the time they are unwanted, but they are unavoidable.
All of the old masters of music used dissonances as if they were forbidden fruit: Hildegard von Bingen, Perotin, Ockeghem, Gallus, Palestrina, Vivaldi, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Mahler, Ravel, Stravinsky, Xenakis – all of them. Dissonance is also used by by Nana Forte, Lojze Lebič, Ambrož Čopi, Larisa Vrhunc, Vito Žuraj, Nina Šenk, Matej Bonin, Unsuk Chin and all other living composers. Each and every one in their own way. At our concerts, we will have an opportunity to get to know these composers and become familiar with their inner worlds. At the same time, we too can learn to face dissonances, to resolve them and to become better because of them.
This is precisely why I invite you to join us at the Philharmonic pre-concert talks, the Saturday Insights into Music, and the post-concert social gatherings that we will prepare for you following the NOW and MVP subscription concerts. Attending the concerts of any of the subscription series, especially in combination with an MVP or NOW subscription, is essential for the development of cultural awareness.
Our youngest audience, visitors to the Young Ears Series (YES!), have no need for such awareness. Children have not yet developed prejudices and intolerance towards the new and different. This is exactly why the Young Ears Series was sold out in the 2022/23 season, and it will certainly be the same this year.
Let’s learn something from them.
Matej Šarc
General Director and Artistic Director
Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra