24.08.2018
Festival Maribor dishes out musical passion
Passion is the force behind the unbridled creativity, which became the trade mark of the Festival Maribor. This is why passion is in the centre of the festival's 2018 programmes: from Haydn’s passion for beauty to Beethoven’s passion for freedom, from Mozart’s passion for life to children’s passion for learning.
Passion is the force behind the unbridled creativity, which became the trade mark of the Festival Maribor. This is why passion is in the centre of the festival's 2018 programmes: from Haydn’s passion for beauty to Beethoven’s passion for freedom, from Mozart’s passion for life to children’s passion for learning. With the cellist Nicolas Altstaedt leading the pack, and with the conductor Alexander Lonquich, Haydn Philharmonie, Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber String Orchestra, Gergely Dubóczky, Mahir Kalmik, Dávid Kutas, László Seeman, Boštjan Lipovšek and SNG Maribor Symphony orchestra following in his step, there is no doubt great things await us this September!
The Festival will take place from September 20th to September 28th.
The opening concert of the Festival Maribor will be marked by the Festival's resident orchestra, members of the international Haydn Philharmonic, based in Eisenstadt, and musical reinforcement by outstanding Slovenian musicians. The orchestra will perform under the baton of the artistic director and central figure of Maribor Festival 2018, the cellist and conductor Nicolas Altstaedt.
This year's opening concert features works of the great English musician Edward Elgar and the symphonies composed in London by Joseph Haydn. Listeners will discover that superficial cultural clichés can be put aside, as regards the English reserve; the musicians will reveal the lust for life, brewing like liquid lava beneath the elegantly inscribed pages of Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor.
The concert will be followed by The Music Market, a full-day programme, which will be held on September 22 in Vetrinj Mansion and in the Knight's Hall of the Regional Museum Maribor. The Music Market will feature two concert matinees, a performance and workshop for children and adults, as well as an interactive exhibition of unique musical instruments. Children and parents will delve into the periods of the Baroque and Classicism, and, with specific musical examples, explore what children today feel about compositions from the past. With the help of theatrical elements, participants will peek into the world of children and find out how the younger generation can develop a love of classical music.
Beethoven's brilliance and intrepid musical invention will come to light at the next concert on 23rd September. The musical tandem composed of Alexander Lonquich and Nicolas Altstaedt will reveal how Beethoven broke new ground in his five cello sonatas. The whole cycle of sonatas discloses the development of Beethoven's style over several decades. It reveals the reflection of the young composer as well as the characteristically mature Beethoven, who forcefully developed long and complex musical thought, taking hold of the so desired freedom of expression.
The next evening will be marked by one of Haydn’s symphonies, which originates in his fiery and more impassioned Sturm und Drang period, and by idyllic passages of Dvořák's soft Serenade for Strings. A more serious mood will then come over the listeners thanks to the grandiosity of Mozart's Adagio and Fugue, which with its unstoppable drive hints at the intrinsic intensity of Beethoven's music and his remarkable fugues. Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, K. 271, “Jeunehomme” will be performed by pianist and conductor Alexander Lonquinch.
The concert will be given by the members of the Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra, who will be accompanied by guest musicians.
At the closing concert the stage will be occupied by four outstanding horn players: Dávid Kutas, László Seeman, Mahir Kalmik and Boštjan Lipovšek, who at the threshold of successful international careers twenty years ago performed together for the first time with the Maribor Opera Orchestra, and will now be returning at the end of the 2018 Maribor Festival. On this occasion, the SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra will be directed by the Hungarian conductor Gergely Dubóczky, one of the most outstanding conductors of the younger generation.
More on this year's edition of Festival Maribor is available at http://festivalmaribor.si/en/home/
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