STA, 7 August 2020 - The 38th Radovljica Festival, known for its focus on music on period instruments, is starting on Friday with a concert by Slovakian ensemble Solamente Naturali connecting Georg Philipp Telemann music with the folk music from the manuscripts of that period. The festival will bring eight concerts by 33 artists from 12 countries until 23 August.
The concerts will offer a review of the music from the 11th century to Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt. Among the highlights will be Solamente Naturali and vocal quintet Cinquecento.
Musicians that will bring magic to Radovljica come from Australia, Austria, Armenia, Belgium, Czechia, Israel, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Slovenia.
Half of the programme was created especially for the festival. Five concerts are dedicated to Slovenia, and three to the Slovenian musical heritage from the 16th to 19th centuries, the organisers say.
The opening concert will be held in the square before St Peter's Church in Radovljica, and two days later the church will host a concert entitled Valvasor's Sound, presenting the Slovenian music heritage of the 17th century played on the instruments left behind by the natural historian and polyhistor Janez Vajkard Valvasor.
The third concert will be held on 11 August at the Church of Annunciation in Velesovo, where Cinquecento will perform an Antonius Gosswin mass.
On Friday, 14 August, music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Eduard de Lannoy will fill Radovljica Mansion, and two days later young Austrian tenor Jacob Lawrence will sing Italian spiritual music from the 17th century at the St Peter's Church in Radovljica.
Pieces by Chopin and Liszt will be played by Spanish pianist Rosalia Gomez Lasheras at Radovljica Mansion two days later.
The five-member ensemble PER-SONAT, also featuring Slovenian specialist in Medieval music Jasmina Črnič, will present the earliest written polyphony and other Medieval music related to the mythic Orpheus at a concert at the Radovljica church.
The closing event will be a concert held at the mansion, linking chamber music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn with ancient instruments and dances.
Free bus rides from Ljubljana and Kranj will be organised during the festival.
The festival’s official website
