Ceremonial welcome of the 7th Winter Festival

The highlight of the evening was the solo violin performance by Rok Zaletel Černoš, who excelled technically and even more so interpretatively. He was accompanied by an orchestra that skilfully supported his expression. Full credit also goes to the conductor Živa Ploj Peršuh, who, particularly in Beethoven’s Eroica, challenged the orchestra with her energetic presence and drew from it a crisp, contrasting interpretation.

This winter, too, for the seventh year running, the Ljubljana Festival organised . This year’s festival programme featured internationally acclaimed soloists, including Kai-Min Chang , winner of the 1st International Piano Competition of the Ljubljana Festival , pianist Olga Kern , singer Lidia Rodríguez González , trumpeter Vicente Campos , and violinist and pianist Maksim Vengerov and Vag Papian . Yan Pascal Torteller and Roberto Abbado appeared as conductors. Ensemble Dissonance also performed at the festival. On the final evening we heard the Slovenian Youth Orchestra under the baton of Živa Ploj Peršuh , with violinist Rok Zaletel Černoš as soloist , who this year became the first Slovenian violinist to take part in the International P. I. Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He performed Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 14.

Johannes Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn in B flat major, Op. 56a, are regarded as one of the composer’s most popular works. The theme is taken from the chorale Saint-Antoine from the Feldpartie in B flat major, Hob. II/46 by Joseph Haydn. Brahms wrote eight variations on this theme and a finale. In the Slovenian Youth Orchestra’s interpretation we sensed the warm sound of the brass and woodwind, which stood out with their airy and well-measured playing. The performance was supple, with an emphasis on clean tone and a festive character in the finale.

The eagerly awaited Violin Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 14 by Henryk Wieniawski sounded somewhat more animated right up to the entry of the violin, which movingly filled the soloist’s space. Rok Zaletel Černoš conjured up a clear, singing tone with a light and calm yet polished manner of playing. At times the sound of the violin was delicately sensual, at others dramatically energetic, but always remarkably supple and pure. The orchestra matched him, particularly in the violins. Especially sensitive was the melancholy Preghiera, while the Rondo whirled vehemently in the soloist’s virtuoso playing and touched us lightly with the grace of its melody in a temperamentally lyrical interpretation.

Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55, also known as the “Eroica”, by Ludwig van Beethoven rang out decisively in a deeply felt and dramatic interpretation. The orchestra recreated it with expressively contrasting playing, an elegant measure of fervour and well-sung dramatic impulses. We witnessed nuanced shading right up to a colourful crescendo and markedly powerful passages. The Allegro con brio was contrasting and energetic, Marcia funebre, Adagio assai, on the other hand, evoked a darker mood in the strings, while the woodwind was brighter. In the third movement Scherzo. Allegro vivace opposing moods awoke, and a second melody also appears before returning to the original. The horns stood out here, sounding warm and inviting. The finale was particularly dramatic and embraced the whole orchestra, with the emphasis on the pizzicati of the strings and the staccati of the woodwind. The musicians were fully engaged throughout the performance.

To conclude, the highlight of the evening was the solo violin performance by Rok Zaletel Černoš, who excelled technically and even more so interpretatively. He was accompanied by an orchestra that skilfully supported his expression. Full credit also goes to the conductor Živa Ploj Peršuh, who, particularly in Beethoven’s Eroica , challenged the orchestra with her energetic presence and drew from it a crisp, contrasting interpretation.