CELEBRATION CONCERT

Symphony Orchestra of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet celebrating the Slovenian cultural holiday Preseren Day.

Friday, 3 February 2023 at 19:30h
Large Stage of the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum

 

Camille Saint-Saëns: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in A minor, op.33

1. Allegro non troppo
2. Allegretto con moto
3. Molto allegro

Soloist: Leonard Razborsek, cello

Mentor: Prof. Karmen Pecar Koritnik

Intermission

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

1. Allegretto
2. Tempo andante, ma rubato
3. Vivacissimo
4. Finale

 

Conductor: Slaven Kulenovic

 

The Symphony Orchestra of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet has been active since the school was founded in 1953. Its primary aim is to introduce students to orchestral playing and familiarise them with the symphony orchestra literature, while at the same time offering the best students the opportunity to perform as soloists. The orchestra has been invited to perform at numerous prestigious festivals, including the Ljubljana Festival. So far, the school has released three sound carriers with recordings of the KGBL (Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana). Over the last 20 years, the orchestra has performed more than 15 works of Slovenian composers, entrusting their performance to the young performers/students of the school. The Symphony Orchestra of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet has been led by: Vinko Sustersic, Franc Rizmal (1987–1991), Tomaz Habe (1991–2011), Ziva Ploj Persuh (2012–2014). A conductor and a pianist Slaven Kulenovic took charge of the orchestra in 2014. Under his leadership the orchestra has given a number of guest performances both in Slovenia and abroad: they have presented themselves to the audience in Germany (Dresden, Munich), Austria (Graz), Hungary (Budapest), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, Zenica).

Slaven Kulenovic is currently one of the leading young conductors in Slovenia. In the years of his artistic work, he has conducted numerous orchestras, including the Slovenian Philharmonic, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet from Ljubljana, the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet from Maribor, the Sarajevo Philharmonic, the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra, the Romanian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chamber string orchestra of the Academy of Music from Ljubljana, Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music from Ljubljana, Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory of Music and Ballet from Ljubljana, Domzale-Kamnik Symphony Orchestra.

A conductor and pianist Slaven Kulenovic (Sarajevo, 1984), has studied piano in the class of a Prof. Dubravka Tomsic Srebotnjak at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. He graduated from the Piano Department in 2007 with the highest honours. He has studied conducting and graduated from the same Academy in the class of a Prof. Milivoj Surbek. During his piano studies, he received the prestigious Preseren Award for performing Mozart's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C minor KV 491.

Among a number of his outstanding artistic activities is his performing at the opening of the IMAGO Sloveniae Festival in 2019, when conducting the orchestra of the Slovenian National Theatre from Maribor and the united choirs of Croatian and Serbian Radio-television, as well as very successful and notable guest performances with the Symphony Orchestra of the Ljubljana Conservatory in Germany (Dresden, Munich), Austria (Graz), Hungary (Budapest) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo and Zenica). In February 2022, he made his debut as a conductor at the Ljubljana Opera with La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi.

He has performed solo piano concerts and concerts with chamber ensembles in Germany, Austria, Italy, South Korea, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. He continued enhancing his artistic ability by attending numerous conducting master courses, led by prominent artists and music pedagogues such as Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Hannu Lintu, Wolfgang Dörner, Klaus Arp, Andrey Boreyko, Marko Letonja, George Hurst.

In 2009, Slaven Kulenovic conducted for the first time two chamber operas composed by students of the Ljubljana Academy of Music. Professional critics assessed the performance of the young conductor as an outstanding artistic achievement. He participated as a conductor at the ISCM World Music Days in 2015 in Ljubljana. Over the past years, Slaven Kulenovic has conducted the premieres of a number of works by prominent Slovenian composers.

Since November 2013, he has been engaged as the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Domzale-Kamnik Symphony Orchestra, and since February 2014, he has been entrusted with artistic leadership of the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet Symphony Orchestra. He has worked as an accompanist at Ljubljana SNT Opera and Ballet and Maribor SNT Opera and Ballet. He currently teaches chamber music and piano at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana.

Leonard Razborsek, the 16-year-old cellist is a multiple winner of national and international young musicians competitions, such as Svirel, Slovenia (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Euritmia, Italy (2014, 2015, 2016), A. Janigro, Croatia (2016), R. Mac, Croatia (2016), Temsig, Slovenia (2015, 2018, 2021) and Petar Konjovic, Serbia (2019). He also won the 3rd (2020) and 2nd (2022) awards (A. Janigro, Croatia), a gold plaque with a string quartet (Temsig, Slovenia) and was a finalist of the Anna Kull International Cello Competition (Graz, Austria). During ten years of schooling, he has won fourteen first prizes, twelve special prizes of the expert jury, has been the laureate of the competition and five times assessed with the highest score of 100 points. He started learning cello with a Prof. Ksenija Trotovsek Brlek, continuing his studying in the second year at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana with a Prof. Karmen Pecar Koritnik. He has already perfected his knowledge at master classes with renowned cellists such as Reinhard Latzko, Dragan Djordjevic, Giovanni Gnocchi, Marco Testori, Igor Mitrovic, Julian Steckel, Gal Faganel and Thomas Carroll. As a soloist, he has performed several times with the String Orchestra of the Moste-Polje Music School from Ljubljana, with the Coastal Chamber Orchestra, the Amadeo Orchestra, has been a soloist at the EMARS Master and has also performed with the Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra. As a member of the Cello Attacca cello ensemble, he has been performing with them at the Bled Festival for five seasons so far.