Slovenia's blog

A concert took place Tuesday, November 10, in the National Museum in Ljubljana featuring what the probably the oldest musical instrument in the world — a Neanderthal-era flute or whistle discovered in Divje Babe cave near the town of Šebrelje.

Eighty accordionists played Slavko Avsenik’s megahit ‘Na Golici’ on November 26 in honour of the legendary musician’s 80th birthday at a special celebration held at the Pri Joževcu restaurant in Begunje.

A one-day symposium focusing on the life and work of Radovan Gobec took place on November 26 at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. After an opening speech by Andrej Grafenauer, dean of the Music Academy, Dr. Darja Koter presented a publication on Pavel Sivic, then guest speakers devoted their talks to composer Radovan Gobec.

A press conference took place September 23, 2009 reviewing the activities of the publishing wing of the Slovenian Composers Society (DSS), known as DSS Editions, during 2007 and 2008.

The Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor marked the nine decades since its opening with a special open meeting of the theatre’s board and the release of a monograph devoted to the institution.

This year’s 11th annual Slowind Festival took place October 10-14 at Slovenian Philharmonic Hall in Ljubljana.

First autonomous student radio in Europe - Radio Student, the broadcaster who from its very beginnings has been a force for expanding the boundaries of the typical media space, advocating freedom and opportunity for all those artists ignored by the mainstream media, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Slovenian soprano Urska Arlic Gololicic has taken first prize at the 13th International competition named after Ada Sari, which took place this year, along with an accompanying festival, April 17 to May 3 in Nowy Sacz in Poland. The competition consisted of three stages, with the winner being chosen by adding up the points obtained in all three performances.

The 10th biannual Maribor International Choir Competition, organised by the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia, took place April 17-19 in Maribor. The competition, which last year was welcomed into the consortium of competitions for the Grand Prix Europe, played host to twelve choirs from ten European countries.

The Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne or European Early Music Network (REMA) accepted seven new members from Belgium, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia at its recent general meeting held at the French Ministry of Culture.

The fifth international young choir conductor’s competition, organised by the Public Fund for Cultural Activities in Slovenia in co-operation with the organisation Europa Cantat, took place in Ljubljana March 26-30.

The 24th annual edition of the Slovenian Music Days kicked off on March 10 in the main hall of the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor with a performance of Trieste-born Slovenian composer Viktor Parma’s fairy-tale opera Zlatorog.

The ‘Glabena Matica’ Music Society of Trieste is celebrating an honourable 100 years of activity. In honour of the occasion the annual Prešeren Day celebrations marking Slovenia’s cultural holiday took place in three different locations. The first performance of the music and theatre project was on Feb.

The Prešeren and Prešeren Fund Prizes were distributed at a ceremony in Gallus Hall in Ljubljana’s Cankarjev dom on the eve of the Slovenian national cultural holiday, Saturday, February 7.

The Slovenian Music Information Centre (SIGIC) was formally established on January 27, 2004, when the non-profit organisation’s foundation statute was ratified.

The 43rd MIDEM music trade fair kicked off on January 18 in the French city of Cannes. The fair is one of the largest in the world and annually hosts around 10,000 people. Last year, Slovenia exhibited at the fair as one of the main guests, offering an ambitious array of performances featuring Slovenian musical talent — an undertaking which was organised by SIGIC.

The Julij Betetto Prize is awarded annually by the Slovenian Musicians Association in recognition of an artist’s achievement and all-round contribution to Slovenian musical culture. This year, the advisory committee was made up of composer Dušan Bavdek, violinist Tomaž Lorenz and flutist Matej Zupan.

The Carmina Slovenica (CS) Choral School in Maribor is an institution that has grown in the 15 years since the establishment of the ‘Pu’ Children’s Choir, which gave its first performance on December 17 1993, into a well-recognised vocal training centre and music school, the first of its kind in this part of Europe.

The building that is the home of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra has been declared a cultural monument of national significance following a vote on the matter in an auxiliary session of government.

Slovenia’s most celebrated DJ Umek celebrated 15 years of artistry with a two-day event November 7 and 8 in the brand new Ljubljana club InBox. Throughout his career, DJ Umek has released a total of 460 tracks (of these, 73 are remixes while 267 are compilation releases) and has travelled more than a million kilometres, making roughly 850 appearances.