Harmony of the Spheres XXVI

Dear Friends of the National Gallery of Slovenia and the Slovenian Philharmonic Chamber String Orchestra!

Art is a space of encounter – bridging different eras, cultures, creative visions, and generations. It is precisely in this encounter that its special power lies: the familiar can be heard differently, the less known is rediscovered, and the new becomes part of a broader memory.

The second season of the concert cycle Harmony of the Spheres – Portraits II presents five different perspectives on music and its creators. The programmes connect works from various historical and cultural environments, united by the search for a personal expression and a relationship to musical an fine art tradition.

The season opens with Slavic Colours, which links music and fine art to place and cultural heritage.Dr. Alenka Simončič will introduce us to the forerunners of Slovenian identity. Slavko Ludvik Šuklar, Franz Benda and Antonín Dvořák each in their own way reveal how a personal compositional language can blend with the musical identity of an environment. The Rhythm of Differencebrings together Florence Price, Ethel Smyth and the contemporary Slovenian composer Luka Juhart. Their musical languages are connected by the search for space for a different expression, and Juhart’s new work for accordion, chamber string orchestra and percussion will receive its world premiere in this programme. Dr. Andrej Smrekar will show us the distinctive character of Božidar Jakac’s graphic art, which was influenced by the emergence of Japanese woodblock prints in the Western cultural sphere after the Second World War.Tribute to Mozart and Haydn returns to Classicism, an era of clear form, balance and expressive transparency. Bernarda Stenovec will take us on a journey through the stories of visual art, from Baroque splendour to Classical elegance.  Alongside the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Georg Joseph Werner, the historical repertoire is joined by a young horn soloist and a new musical miniature by composition student Jan Triler of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. The past thus becomes a starting point for the creativity of new generations. Lost in the Northtakes us among the musical images of Scandinavia, where folk melodies, historical forms and personal creativity meet in the works of Carl Nielsen, Johan Svendsen and Edvard Grieg. In the opening lecture, Kaja Cajhen will gently lull us into the cradle of Impressionism in visual art.The season concludes with Forgotten Romantics, dedicated to Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and Robert Fuchs, composers whose music is once again finding a place on the concert stage. Their serenades represent two different faces of late Romanticism, and alongside them a new miniature by the young composer Lucio Žganec will also be heard. Nataša Braunsberger will take us on a journey into the period of Romantic art, featuring works from the collection of the National Gallery.

Young composers and performers occupy a special place in the season. Their presence alongside the music of past centuries establishes a dialogue between tradition and the present, and reminds us that musical history of a work does not end with its creation of a work. Each new performance can illuminate it anew and give it a different meaning.

The past and the present, the local and the distant, the established and the newly discovered interlace in Portraits II. It is precisely in this opening of different musical worlds that the common thread of the season lies – music and fine art as a space of encounter, discovery and new harmonies.

Dr. Barbara Jaki, Director, National Gallery of Slovenia
Ana Dolžan, Artistic Director, Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra

Subscription Harmony of the Spheres

Subscription price for the 2026−2027 season: 80 EUR
Single ticket: 20 EUR

Friends of the National Gallery of Slovenia: 60 EUR
Single ticket: 15 EUR

Subscription or single tickets available at the front desk of the National Gallery of Slovenia, Prešernova 24, Ljubljana, 10 am–6 pm, Thursdays through 8 pm, or half an hour before the event; closed Mondays.

Concert and lectures dates at the Grand Hall of the National Gallery of Slovenia

Each time the event begins with a lecture at 7.30pm and continues with a concert: