Ljubljana ballet to pay tribute to director Pandur
Ljubljana, 16 May - Slovenia's pre-eminent opera and ballet house, the SNG Opera and Ballet from Ljubljana, will feature seven new shows in the 2016/2017 season. One of the highlights will be a tribute to the recently deceased theatre director Tomaž Pandur.
Ljubljana
The Ljubljana SNG Opera and Ballet House, located in the city centre.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
File photo
A new ballet project by Pandur was originally to premiere this season, but it has been cancelled due to his untimely death. Instead, the opera house will put on Henry Mikolay Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.
With dramaturgy by Pandur's sister and long-time collaborator Livija Pandur and choreography by Ronald Savković, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs will be conducted by Živa Ploj Peršuh and will premiere in April 2017.
Rocc, the director of the opera and ballet house, told the press on Monday that another highlight would be a home-grown project by Karmina Šilec, the renowned Slovenian conductor of the girl choir Carmina Slovenica.
Evergreen, which will premiere this October, draws on the myth of Orpheus, which the author combines with the tragic story of the Titanic. Rocc said the project was a showcase of the ensemble's efforts to engage in contemporary artistic practice.
Another Slovenian project will be a work by famed anthropologist Svetlana Slapšak, who wrote the libretto for Julka and Janez. The music has been written by the composer Jan Gorjanc, who is only 23.
The remaining premieres are mostly classics, ranging from Puccini's Madame Butterfly to Rossini's Cinderella and Beethoven's Fidelio and the ballet Romeo and Juliet to honour the 400th death anniversary of William Shakespeare.