A Concert at Vienna’s Musikverein Resounded Under the Baton of Slovenian Conductor Živa Ploj Peršuh

The concert given by the orchestra of the Viennese Musikverein featured Antonio Salieri'sSymphony in D major for chamber orchestra, nick-named Veneziana, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’sOboe Concerto in C major; a new work by Czech composer Tomáš Ille , and a piece by Austrian composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr.

Before the performance, the conductor and musicologist Živa Ploj Peršuh 1977, Maribor) underlined that she would share the stage "with Sebastian Breit, undoubtedly one of the finest oboists of our time, principal oboist of the Vienna Philharmonic and an outstanding interpreter of Mozart’s Oboe Concerto“.

A distinguished composer and teacher of many
In her view, Salieri is a neglected composer, something Vienna now wishes to change. "The myth, reinforced for the general public by the celebrated film Amadeus, has caused harm. In reality he was highly respected, and he taught many: Beethoven, Hummel, Schubert, Mozart and Süssmayr, for instance. He earned renown as an opera composer and held high posts in Vienna, such as court composer. He knew the Italian musical world well and was in general an exceptionally well-educated man,” she explained.

She added that the invitation had reached her two or three years ago, because programmes are fixed years in advance: “Promoters of the orchestras I worked with during that time came to one of my concerts, met me in person, and afterwards we discussed concrete possibilities and programmes.”

Abroad is opening up, yet staying on the market is demanding
In April, Živa Ploj Peršuh also appeared in Pécs, Hungary, after Vienna she travels to Lisbon to conduct the world première of the new chamber opera Café Europaby Austrian composer Christoph Renhart (1987, Graz). As she says herself, “foreign stages are opening up, but remaining on the market is extremely demanding and means constant work in that direction“.

During the summer she will lead the annual orchestra camp of the Slovenian Youth Orchestra in Ljubljana. Marking both the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and of the founding of the United Nations, this year’s camp forms part of the international campaign SIT DOWN, through which young people address world leaders and decision-makers, urging them to place peace and prosperity for all first. In August at Križanke and in October at Wiener Konzerthaus they will stage the musical Peace Child , prepared in cooperation with the Peace Child International foundation and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.

The musical Peace Child draws inspiration from the Declaration on Future Generations. “The children and teenagers who will co-create it this year will, through music, orchestral playing, choir singing and dialogue, voice their thoughts on social justice, on how conflicts are resolved at every level, their wishes and their vision for the future,,” Ploj Peršuh added. In past years, she says, they have often tackled socially responsible themes in which music served as a universal language everyone can understand: “Alarm H₂SO₄, The Uncertain Four Seasons of Vivaldi using artificial intelligence, concerts for the Only1Planet campaign, Music for the Future and similar projects are our tools — through them a young person learns to use their voice and, above all, to be aware of it.”