After last year's successful concert by one of the most prestigious and high-quality philharmonic orchestras in the world, the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the upcoming Winter Festival will offer an even larger selection of world-renowned musicians. Between February 10 and 14, 2018, the versatile musician and violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy will perform, after a long hiatus the New Swing Quartet is returning with a concert celebrating their 50th anniversary, and the festival will be rounded off with an evening of opera arias by one of the world's leading tenors, Ramón Vargas and internationally renowned soprano Elvira Hasanagić.
Winter festival will take place between February 10 and 14, 2018 in Union Halls in Ljubljana; Unionska Hall, built in Art Nouveau style, is still considered an exceptional venue for concert events.
He will open it English violinist Nigel Kennedy, who is one of the most prominent violinists of all time. In 1989, accompanied by the English Chamber Orchestra, he became famous with a recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. An album that sold more than three million copies, is considered one best-selling classical music albums of all time. With virtuoso technique and unique talent Kennedy inspires young musicians, who are improving both in the popular and classical fields. He is a winner numerous international awards (Echo, Bambi, Grammy, etc.), among others, he received the Brit Award in 1997 for his immense contribution to British music. It will be held at the upcoming Winter Festival February 10 presented with the music of Bach, one of his own compositions and hits George and Ira Gershwin.
February 12 the band will perform New Swing Quartet, which is celebrating this year 50 years of operation. The quartet brought the music of gospels and spirituals, seasoned with a slightly more modern touch, to stages all over the world during their numerous tours and managed to rank among leading gospel bands. They performed at many festivals and joint concerts, and for their work they received many awards.
It will be an evening of opera arias February 14 marked by one of the world's leading tenors Ramón Vargas. He is performing nowadays in renowned opera houses, such as Milanese Scala, London Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Arena Verona, Opera Bastille, etc. He also received the Laura-Volpa award for the best opera singer, the Gino Tania Award for artistic achievements, he was named the British Opera artist of the year, and since 1999 the Austrian magazine Festspiele has placed it among the world's leading tenors. A soprano will also join him at the concert Elvira Hasanagic, which, from the very beginning of her professional singing career, has been characterized by critics as well as the audience and the professional public as one of the more promising voices on the opera scene. She is a winner many awards in national and international competitions (in 2016 she received the 1st prize and the special prize of the jury at the international Zinka Milanov competition) and a scholarship recipient of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, DAAD, the German Theater Association, the Ana Foundation and the Richard Wagner Society Ljubljana. They will perform solos with the most beautiful arias Mozart, Donizetti, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Ciléa, Verdi and Rossini presented alongside the Symphony Orchestra of RTV Slovenia under the baton by the Argentine maestro Facundo Agudin.
More information:
ljubljanafestival.si
