Slowind Festival

Founded in 1999, the Slowind Festival has ever since been the main Slovene event for modern and contemporary composed music. Mainly taking place at the Slovene Philharmonic, the festival features chamber and electro-acoustic works as well as pieces for bigger ensembles. Works of both Slovene and international composers are explored and performed by some of the best new music ensembles from around the world. Each year the festival offers a variety of concerts – usually exploring a chosen theme or artistic direction – as well as workshops and pre-concert discussions with composers and lectures by music experts.

The festival is organised by the Slowind, at the same time a producer (also know as the Slowind Music Society) and a highly renowned wind quintet. They who have recently expanded the festival with the similarly oriented concert cycle entitled Slowind Spring.

Background

The annual Slowind Festival was set up with the intention of commissioning new compositions from Slovene and international composers for the wind quintet as well as presenting well-known and seldom performed compositions from the 20th-century chamber music repertoire. It was initially run as a concert cycle and only in 2005 condensed into its present festival form.

Its founders and main organisers, the Slowind Quintet, are all soloists of the Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra, with the event headed by the oboist Matej Šarc. They partake in the festival in various ways, often also commissioning new works either for their ensemble or for other artists involved.

Conceptual focus

Each year the music curation is entrusted to another composer with whom the organisers set the main theme (and tone) of the festivals.

Some of the recently chosen curators and themes were the French composer Brice Pauset (he set up the idea of mingling early music with new works, and idead also explored by the chosen curator in 2013, the young German composer Matthias Pintscher), the famed Slovene composers Vito Žuraj and Vinko Globokar, the Canadian flautist and composer Robert Aitken (he focused the festival on Japanese avantgarde music, modernist as well as contemporary); and Neville Hall, who took care of the first condensed edition in 2005.

Repertoire

The festival's repertoire includes commissioned new works written for the ensemble in its present form as well as many chamber works which feature wind instruments in a leading role. There are mostly chamber and electro-acoustic works by composers such as E. Carter, V. Globokar, W. Rihm, E. Varèse, K. Stockhausen, L. Berio as well as new works by young Slovene composers.

The programme is therefore only in part tailored to the wind quintet and is mostly focused on important 20th-century chamber works. A number of contemporary Slovene and foreign composers have thus dedicated works to the Slowind Quintet including Larisa Vrhunc, Vinko Globokar, Lojze Lebič, Nina Šenk, Neville Hall, Volker Staub, Ivo Nilsson, and Martin Smolka. The festival's programme includes works by composers such as G. Mahler, A. Schoenberg, G. Scelsi, G. Crumb, E. Varese, L. Berio and M. Kagel.

Another unique element of the festival are performances of compositions featuring winds with other instruments such as the accordion, the Latvian kokle, and different percussion instruments.

International participation

The Slowind Festival features many international musicians, who perform contemporary pieces together with the Slowind Quintet.

The festival concerts bring to Ljubljana the performances of distinguished international chamber ensembles including Accroche Note, Ensemble Aleph, the ensemble SurPlus, as well as musicians such as percussionist Matthias Wüsch, violinist and conductor Arvid Engegård, oboist Heinz Hollinger, and trombonist Ivo Nilsson. The featured contemporary programme, which also includes works such as Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Xenakiss' Phlegra, is prepared and conceptualised in collaboration with international conductors and composers. The artists that collaborated with the Slowind Quintet in the festival's artistic direction include James Freeman and Jürg Wyttenbach.

The festival programme is regularly recorded and broadcast by Radio Slovenia, and the concert recordings are also played by foreign radio stations, including BBC 3, Dutch Radio and others.

External links

Slowind Festival webpage

Slowind Festival

Contents

Background

Conceptual focus

Repertoire

International participation

See also

External links

Operated by

Financed by