Živa Ploj Peršuh conducts tonight at Vienna's famous Musikverein

The programme features Salieri's Symphony in D major for chamber orchestra, known as Veneziana, and with the orchestra of the Vienna musical society she will also perform the Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra in C major Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’sOboe Concerto in C major; a new work by Czech composer Tomáš Ille and a work by the Austrian composer Franza Xaverja Süssmayrja.

“I will share the stage with Sebastianom Breitom, who is without doubt one of the finest oboists of our time, principal oboist of the Vienna Philharmonic and an exceptional interpreter of Mozart's Oboe Concerto in particular,” she told STA.

In the view of the conductor and musicologist, Salieri is an overlooked composer, something Vienna, where he spent most of his career, wishes to change. “The myth, reinforced among the wider public by the famous film Amadeus, has done damage. In reality he was a highly respected composer and also a teacher to many, for example Beethoven, Hummel, as well as Schubert, Mozart and Süssmayr. He gained his reputation as an opera composer, and in Vienna he held high positions, such as that of court composer. He knew the Italian musical world well and was altogether an exceptionally cultivated man,” said the conductor.

She received the invitation for the concert two or three years ago, as programmes are planned several years in advance: “Promoters of the orchestras I worked with during that period came to see me at one of my concerts, to get to know me personally as well, and that was followed by a conversation about concrete possibilities and programmes.”

Doors abroad are increasingly opening for Ploj Peršuh, judging by the fact that in April she was a guest conductor in Pécs, Hungary, and after Vienna she will give the world premiere in Lisbon of the new chamber opera Cafe Europa by the younger-generation Austrian composer Christoph Renhart. “Opportunities abroad are opening up, but staying in the market is extremely demanding and means constant work,” says the conductor.

Meanwhile, in the summer she will lead the Slovenian Youth Orchestra's annual Summer Orchestra Camp in Ljubljana, which, marking this year's 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the founding of the United Nations, will be part of the international Sit down campaign. Through it, young people wish to call on world leaders and decision-makers to put peace and prosperity for all first.

In this spirit they will prepare and perform the musical Peace Child, which draws its inspiration from a declaration for future generations. “The children and young people who will be this year's co-creators will express, through music, playing in the orchestra, singing in the choir and through dialogue, their thoughts on social justice, on how conflicts are resolved at every level, and on their wishes and vision for the future,” said the conductor, who at the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, together with her husband Tomom Peršuhom ensured that young musicians from that country found refuge in Slovenia. 

The project will be performed in August at Križanke and in October at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and is being prepared together with the Peace Child International foundation and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. As Ploj Peršuh further explained, in previous years they have repeatedly taken on socially responsible themes in which music was used as a universal language understood by all: “Alarm H2SO4, Vivaldi's Uncertain Four Seasons using artificial intelligence, concerts as part of the Samo1planet campaign, Music for the future and similar projects are our tools, through which a young person learns to use their voice and, above all, to be aware of it.”