Sweet Closing of the 24th Festival Bled
The concert of Cello attacca! Dolcissimo held on 17 July 2019 in St. Martin's church in Bled closes the 24th Festival Bled, which brought 16 musical events over the past fortnight. The programme of the international festival is based on classical music but also incorporates other musical genres. Since its inception, the programme of Festival Bled has been designed by Jernej Brence, its Art Director and founder. The festival is organised under the auspices of the Bled Culture Institute.
Master classes are a valuable supplement to the concert programme. During this year’s festival, a total of 80 young musicians attended master classes led by 11 internationally acclaimed professors from Europe, South Korea and China.
This year, Festival Bled took place from July 1 to July 17, 2019. The opening concert (one of two festival productions, the other is the closing concert), entitled Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, was performed by the master of black and white keys, pianist Aleksandar Serdar, cellist Karmen Pečar Koritnik, an outstanding artist who connects people through music, and Jernej Brence, violinist and founder of Festival Bled.
A renowned musical couple, pianists Bokjoo Suh-Cho and Saewon Suh, have been performing at Festival Bled for several years. This year they had a solo concert. Tilen Draksler took the festival stage with his Orkester Amadeo. The duo Percussive Colours from Turkey, which consists of Ruya Taner (piano) and Dinçer Özer (percussion), gave a stunning performance of a musical mix of famous piano pieces, the music of contemporary Turkish composers, and folk music.
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The members of the Same babe band won their audiences with their alternative chanson. For their Festival Bled performance, Same babe teamed up with songwriter Jani Kovačič. Amazing Goran Bojčevski, world-class clarinetist, had the audience out of their seats with his unique Balkan Nuevo music. The same can be said for the Bosnian musical attraction, Divanhana, which ranks among the most popular sevdah bands. The members of the Commuters ensemble brought together the sounds of alto saxophone, vibraphone, guitar, double bass and drums into an exciting evening of jazz music.
Same babe & Jani Kovačič
Goran Bojčevski Quartet
Divanhana
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Commuters
The grand stage of the Congress Hall welcomed young musicians from Royal Colchester Grammar School, UK, and exceptional Dusika Youth Symphony Orchestra from Copenhagen. Young musicians who perfect their musical skills in master classes performed at three solo musical evenings. Sally Bytheway Chorale, a chamber music choir from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA captivated the audience with their stunning performance in the last part of the Festival.
Royal Colchester Grammar School
Dusika Youth Symphony Orchestra from Copenhagen
Sally Bytheway Chorale
One of the highlights of this year’s Festival Bled was the concert of a world–class choir from Slovenia. The Academic Choir of the University of Primorska, led by conductor Ambrož Čopi, a recipient of the Prešeren Fund award, which consists of about 40 students, was the finalist of the international choral song competition organized in France, the Florilège Vocal de Tours, in 2009.
The Academic Choir of the University of Primorska
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