European Capital of Culture to open with 14-hour spectacle

Coinciding with Slovenian Culture Day, the opening event, titled From Station to Station and directed by Neda Rusjan Bric, will set off at 10am with a brass band parade from the Gorizia railway station on the Italian side of the border before visiting locations on both sides of the border.

Led by the Gong Cross-Border Wind Orchestra, and joined along the way by musicians, dancers and folk dancers, the procession will move along the Corso to the city centre where the baton will pass to the Slovenian and Italian Police Orchestras.

The procession will stop in Piazza della Vittoria (Victory Square) where the audience will be addressed at 11.15am by the mayors of both cities, Rodolfo Ziberna from Gorizia and Samo Turel from Nova Gorica. This will kick off a cross-border parade featuring over 700 performers from each side of the border.

Presenting the opening festivities in Nova Gorica on Tuesday, the organizers said they invited all local sports and cultural associations to help fill the streets with dance, music and singing during the parade, choreographed by Tamara Babić Nikiforov and Stefano Palaferri.

The parade will cross the border at around 2pm at Erjavčeva Street and then head to Bevk Square, where it will be greeted by the two mayors once again at around 3pm to wrap up the morning part of the festivities.

The official opening ceremony featuring high-profile guests will follow at 4pm in Europe Square on the border. Speakers include President Nataša Pirc Musar and her Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella and other senior officials from both countries and the European Commission.

The event, at which heightened security measures will apply, will also see the Police Orchestras from both countries perform the national anthems of Slovenia, Italy and the European Union. The event will be broadcast live by RTV Slovenija and Italy's RAI.

The artistic part of the GO! 2025 opening spectacle will take place in Edvard Kardelj Square in Nova Gorica starting at 6pm with a welcome address by Prime Minister Robert Golob.

Multiinstrumentalist Boštjan Gombač will then perform on the Neanderthal flute, considered to be the oldest musical instrument in the world. He will be accompanied by wind orchestras from the Idrija and Cerkno region in western Slovenia where the flute was found.

The highlights of the European Capital of Culture will be presented by several artists, including pianists Alexander Gadjiev and Giuseppe Guarrera, MN Dance Company, Duo Silence, the Dunking Devils acrobatic group, BridA art collective, DJ Brina Knauss, rock guitarist Bor Zuljan and the band MRFY with a song created together with Laibach.

Finally, opera soloists Raiven, Laura Ulloa, Gregor Ravnik and Federico Lepre, joined by the Borderless Opera Choir and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, will perform an adaptation of the song Together/Insieme, as the recurring theme of the day. The organisers have also promised some surprises.

The opening festivities will wrap up with what has been dubbed borderless party. DJ Brina Knauss will perform in Edvard Kardelj Square starting from 6:45pm, followed by a concert by MRFY at 8pm. While DJs Daddy G and Andy Smith will entertain the crowd in Europe Square from 8:30pm.

The party will continue in bars, clubs and restaurants in both cities long into the night.

Several roads will be closed to traffic due to the opening ceremony, including a section of Kidričeva Street from 6 to 9 February. Info on road closures and parking regime will be available on the website www.go-borderless.eu.