STA, 13 April 2022 - The 70th Ljubljana Festival will bring over 80 classical music concerts, opera and ballet performances and more this summer. It will open with Summer Night - Power to Words, a tribute to Slovenian pop song lyrics from the 1960s in Congress Square on 21 June, and close with a Vienna Philharmonic concert at Cankarjev Dom on 8 September.
The Vienna Philharmonic will perform with Finnish conductor Esea-Pekka Salonen and Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder as the soloist.
Another highlight will be Verdi's Requiem, with conductor Karel Mark Chichon leading the orchestra and choir of the Slovenian Philharmonic on 3 June at Cankarjev Dom.
The concert will feature Bulgarian soprano Krasimira Stojanova, Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča, Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov and Italian bas Riccardo Zanellato.
Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov will meanwhile give a concert at the end of August.
Approximately at the same time Spanish tenor Placido Domingo will be featured as part of the Spanish Night concert.
The London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will perform with Slovenian violinist Lana Trotovšek and Ukrainian viola player Maxim Rysanov as soloists.
One of the greatest classic pieces, Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust will be conducted by Charles Dutoit from Switzerland.
French pianist Helene Grimaud will appear as soloist with the Symphony Orchestra from Pittsburgh and conductor Manfred Honeck from Austria.
The Bejart Ballet Lausanne from Switzerland will give two shows in early July, to be followed by Wedding & Rite of Spring, a ballet by choreographer Edward Clug against the backdrop of Stravinski's music.
Apart from Clug's ballet, SNG Maribor will also appear with Bizet's Carmen opera with conductor John Svinghammar.
American actor John Malkovich will bring to Ljubljana The Music Critic, a theatre piece the festival's director Darko Brlek recommended saying: "You'll laugh to tears".
Appearing for the first time in Ljubljana will be the West-East Divan Orchestra with conductor Daniel Barenboim and Chinese Lang Lang as the soloist on piano.
The festival will also serve as the platform for his first appearance in Slovenia for Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez. He will sing accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of RTV Slovenija and Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv.
The festival will also feature among others the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, The West Side Story musical and concerts by Slovenian singer Vlado Kreslin and musical group Laibach.
