Kogoj Days contemporary music festival begin in Kanal
Kanal, 2 September - The Kogoj Days, a music festival that has attracted prominent Slovenian and foreign performers of contemporary classical vocal and instrumental music to the town of Kanal in the west of Slovenia for decades, will get under way on Friday.
Deskle
A performance at the 2021 Kogoj Days contemporary music festival.
Photo: STA
The 43rd iteration, running until 9 October, will focus on performers from the Primorska region and will feature eight concert evenings at the Church of the Assumption in Kanal and one across the border with Italy.
Friday's opening will include the launch of an exhibition by the Trieste painter Nandet Vidmar at the Rik Debenjak Gallery, while the first concert will feature the Cantabile chamber string orchestra, whose programme includes new works by Bojan Glavina. The Slovenian composer will also be present at the opening and the concert.
The following eight evenings will bring a mix of well-known and young Slovenian performers, including the Slovenian Octet, pianist Danijel Brecelj, the Nova chamber orchestra and the Feguš string quartet.
The list of featured younger Slovenian musicians includes the Chamber Choir of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Ballet and Music led by Ambrož Čopi, mezzo-soprano Anja Šinigoj accompanied by Gašper Vuga on the piano, and the project choir of the Young Singers' Camp of Primorska, mentored by Stojan Kuret and Martina Burger.
The festival is named after Slovenian composer Marij Kogoj (1892-1956). In 2015, it was honoured with the Order of Merit by President Borut Pahor for its contribution to the promotion of Slovenian classical music.
It was praised for providing the stage for more than 300 new Slovenian compositions to be performed for the first time since it was launched 1979.
The festival was also praised for promoting a single Slovenian cultural space, a reference to the Slovenian ethnic community across the border in Italy.