#POK2024 starts tomorrow

The camp, taking place from 14 to 21 August at the Ivan Cankar Student Residence in Ljubljana, will bring together 100 young musicians from all over Slovenia. The final concert, this time featuring film music with Marcel Štefančič, will take place as part of the 72nd Ljubljana Festival on 21 August at 20.30 at Ljubljana's Križanke. The special musical guest will be the composer and bassist Lauri Porra from Finland.

This year's programme will tell the story of the close symbiosis between music and film. Throughout the final concert, the audience will be guided by the film expertise of the finest Slovenian film critic, presenter and writer Marcel Stefančič Jr. The programme will thus include both pieces written for films and existing classical music that has been used in films. Once again the young musicians will perform music of several genres and hone their skills in playing demanding masterpieces of the classical repertoire, original music by Slovenian composers, and arrangements. Among the Slovenian composers featured this year are Jani Golob and composer-arrangers of the younger generation: Tomaž Kukovič, Matija Krečič, Nejc Bečan and Marjan Peternel.

The special guest of the concert will be the Finnish film composer and electric bass guitar soloist Lauri Porra, great-grandson of the celebrated giant of Finnish music Jean Sibelius. He will perform his concerto for electric bass and symphony orchestra entitled Entropia. Once again, the Summer Orchestra Camp is intended for musicians aged between 12 and 22 who are in music education. Over a good week together, the young people enjoy an unforgettable experience of meeting peers and role models, learning, making music, creating together and preparing for the grand finale: a performance on the main stage of Ljubljana's Križanke alongside top, internationally established solo musicians.

Participants will have access to top music mentors as well as additional creative workshops designed to build self-confidence, concentration and public performance skills. The young musicians will rehearse 6 hours a day, 3 hours in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, with social and musical activities in the evenings. For the first three days, mornings will be devoted to sectional rehearsals and afternoons to creative workshops; on the fourth day the orchestra starts playing together. The young people will devote at least 56 hours to working on and polishing the programme. The Summer Orchestra Camp is made possible by a donation from Elektro Ljubljana, for which we, on behalf of SMO extend our warmest thanks.

You can also follow the daily goings-on at #POK2024 on our social media: