Concert marking the 80th anniversary of the Academy of Music and the centenary of the University of Ljubljana

Mixed Choir of the Academy of Music
Alenka Podpečan, choirmaster
Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra
Simon Dvoršak, dirigent 

Programme:
L. van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, "Pastoral"
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M. Bravničar: Hymnus slavicus (for mixed choir, organ and symphony orchestra)
A. Lajovic: Autumn Song
M. Kozina: Antiquity

It was in Ljubljana that the first public music school in Slovenia was founded, in 1816. Later on, in 1875, this school incorporated into the city's Philharmonic Society (Philharmonische Gesellschaft). The latter institution, founded in Ljubljana in 1794 by a group of prominent citizens, frequently performed the works of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), including his Pastoral Symphony. The Philharmonic Society archives contained a manuscript score of this symphony, today to be found in the Music Collection of the National and University Library. It is a copy made in 1808 of the original autograph score used for the Sixth Symphony's premiere performance – the so-called Große Akademie – in Vienna on 22 December 1808. What makes the Ljubljana score of Beethoven's Sixth so valuable, besides its authenticity, are the composer's own handwritten notes. Beethoven is also one of the most eminent honorary members of Ljubljana's Philharmonic Society. The performance of his Pastoral Symphony to mark the bicentenary of his honorary membership will be conducted by Simon Dvoršak. 

The concert programme, which also includes works by three major Slovene symphonic composers, features the two largest ensembles at the Ljubljana Academy of Music, which this year celebrates its eightieth anniversary. Autumn Song (Pesem jeseni) was the last symphonic work composed by Anton Lajovic (1878–1960). It was he who succeeded in formally incorporating the Philharmonic Society into the Glasbena matica music society – an organisation involved in all aspects of musical performance and creation, music publishing and music education for the Slovene population. The establishment of the Conservatory in 1919 represented the realisation of longheld aspirations for music education at a higher level, while its transformation into an Academy in 1939 meant that Ljubljana at last gained an institution offering university-level education in music. It was while studying at the Conservatory in Ljubljana in 1931 that Matija Bravničar (1897–1977) composed his solemn
prelude Hymnus slavicus; its premiere performance was given to mark the 60 th anniversary of the Glasbena matica. Another student of the Ljubljana Conservatory was Marjan Kozina (1907–1966), the composer of the symphonic poem Antiquity (Davnina). He was also active at the Maribor Glasbena matica, as the conductor of its choir and orchestra and the head of its school, as a professor of composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and as the first director of the post-war Slovenian Philharmonic.