Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana

As the central Slovene music theatre company, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana stages an annual season of opera, ballet and concerts, plus some additional programmes featuring various classical and contemporary music theatre works.

History

Beginnings of the Slovene opera performances can be traced back to 1867 when Dramatic Society was established. The Society opened possibilities also for operatic productions which were at first very modest (singspiels, operettas, music in theatre). Important impulses were given by singer, conductor and composer Fran Gerbič who improved the music capacities of local actors and musicians.

In the year 1892 the new, neo-Classical building, which was designed by Czech architects Jan V. Hrasky and Anton Hruby, was built. The building hosted two theatres: German State Theatre (as conductors served in German theatre such conductors as Gustav Mahler and Fritz Reiner) and Slovene theatre, which operated now on the professional basis. Slovene ensemble was without orchestra but with the help of military band they performed also operas and operettas.

In 1918 Opera gained professional orchestra and ballet ensemble. The most important prewar artistic director was composer and conductor Mirko Polič. He enlarged orchestra and ensemble and staged a lot of contemporary music (I. Stravinsky, S. Prokofiev, E. Krenek, D. Shostakovich, P. Vladigerov, M. Kogoj) and basic German repertoire (R. Wagner, R. Strauss).

After Second World War Opera continued with successful work. Of special importance was the guest appearance on the Dutch Festival and in Paris with the performance of Prokofiev's opera The Love for Three Oranges, which was later recorded for the renown label Philips and rewarded with the grand prix du disque. Other tours (Russia, Czech and Slowak Republic) followed in the sixties.

Programme

Opera

As the central Slovene music theatre company, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana stages an annual season of opera, ballet and concerts, plus some additional programmes featuring various classical and contemporary music theatre works. Each season around 150 performances by opera and ballet ensembles take place on the SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana's own stage, at Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre, at Ljubljana Fairgrounds and occasionally at theatre houses abroad.

Ballet

Venues

International cooperation

is under renovation with the addition of a new annex which will double the building’s size to 10,000 square metres (architects Jurij Kobe and Marjan Zupanc). The door will re-open for the 2010/2011 season.

As the central Slovene music theatre company, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana stages an annual season of opera, ballet and concerts, plus some additional programmes featuring various classical and contemporary music theatre works. Each season around 150 performances by opera and ballet ensembles take place on the SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana's own stage, at Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre, at Ljubljana Fairgrounds and occasionally at theatre houses abroad.

The Ballet Company of SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana prepares on average three new performances per year. Guest dancers and choreographers are often invited to work with the company and various productions are staged in collaboration with overseas companies, eg Jean Christoph Blavier's 2003 production of Prokofiev's Cinderella and the 2004 production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, staged with the rich scenography and costumes of the English National Ballet. The 2004-2005 season celebrated the centenary of George Balanchine’s birth by staging his two Serenades, attracting both local and international acclaim. The same season also saw the production of Gagik Ismailian's Veronika Decides..., an original ballet adaptation after the novel by Paolo Coelho which is set in Ljubljana. Every year too a children's ballet performance or a ballet for youth audiences is included in the repertoire. The 2007-2008 season featured two ballet evenings: Yin&Yang and Mozart vs. Schumann.

The Opera Company of SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana also presents an annual programme of international opera featuring its own orchestra and regular appearances by visiting international guest conductors, directors or performers. The peak of the 2004-2005 opera season was the world premiere of Offenbach's opera Rhine Nymphs, produced by SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana in collaboration with the Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre, Festspielhaus from Austria's St Poelten and a number of international authors. It was directed by Manfred Schweigkofler from the Bolzano Theatre, Italy, conducted by Dieter Rossberg of Germany and Igor Švara of SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, with Sandor Roman from Budapest as its choreographer. Over 200 costumes were designed by one of the leading Slovene theatre costume designers, Alan Hranitelj. The opera travelled to Switzerland, Austria and two German cities, Cologne and Trier. The 2007-2008 season featured three operas: Die Csárdásfürstin in co-production with Volkstheater Rostock, Carmen in collaboration with Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Maribor, and Puccini's Triptych in co-production with Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb.

V poslopju današnje Opere, ki je bilo zgrajeno leta 1892 (stavbo sta projektirala arhitekta Hrasky in Hruby), sta na prelomu 19. v 20. stoletje delovali dve gledališči: Nemško gledališče in slovensko Deželno gledališče z dramo in opero. V slednji so bili angažirani stalni dirigenti, solisti in zbor. Operne predstave so vse do leta 1908, ko je bila ustanovljena Slovenska filharmonija, spremljali godbeniki 17. (kranjskega) in 27. (štajerskega) pehotnega polka cesarske in kraljeve armade. Od leta 1908 do 1918 je operne predstave spremljal orkester Slovenske filharmonije, 1918. pa je bil ustanovljen operni orkester. Tega so po letu 1925 povečali. Pomladili so zbor, ki so ga od tedaj naprej sestavljali večinoma slovenski pevci. Izvajali so predvsem francoske in italijanske opere, poudarek pa je bil tudi na slovanskih in slovenskih opernih delih. V obdobju med obema vojnama je operno gledališče posodobilo svoj repertoar in uprizoritev je doživelo kar nekaj uspešnih oper slovenskih avtorjev (Kogoj, Osterc, Bravničar). Po drugi svetovni vojni je postal ljubljanski ansambel cenjen tudi zunaj meja domovine. Velikanski uspeh je požel z mednarodnim gostovanjem na Nizozemskem, še zlasti pa z uspešnim nastopom v velikem opernem gledališču v Parizu. Leta 1957 je bil posnetek opere Zaljubljen v tri oranže S. Prokofjeva (dirigent Bogo Leskovic) nagrajen s Philipsovo grand prix (veliko nagrado) kot najboljši posnetek leta.

Profesionalni baletni ansambel je bil v Ljubljani ustanovljen leta 1918 in je od tedaj dalje nenehno prisoten v slovenskem gledališču. Že v prvih letih svojega obstoja je uprizoril nekaj znanih klasičnih baletnih stvaritev, svoj repertoar pa je obogatil tudi z novejšimi slovenskimi deli. Mladi plesalci so se vseskozi izobraževali večinoma na domačem odru vse do leta 1948, ko je to nalogo prevzela Srednja šola za balet in glasbo. Doslej si je ljubljansko občinstvo ogledalo skoraj 200 različnih baletnih predstav iz klasičnega repertoarja in kar lepo število novejših stvaritev slovenskih in tujih koreografov.

Danes se osrednje slovensko glasbeno gledališče – poleg rednih programskih novosti vsake sezone – ponaša z obširnim repertoarjem opernih, baletnih in koncertnih del iz sodobne in klasične glasbeno-gledališke ustvarjalnosti, v sezoni pa izvede okoli 150 abonmajskih in zunajabonmajskih ponovitev v matični hiši ter na gostovanjih doma in v tujini. Slovensko narodno gledališče Opera in balet Ljubljana že nekaj let uspešno sodeluje z različnimi mednarodnimi kot tudi domačimi koproducenti, s katerimi je v minulih sezonah uprizorilo nekaj odmevnih projektov (Faust, Aida, Renske nimfe, Zaljubljen v tri oranže…).

SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana sodeluje tudi z ljubljansko Akademijo za glasbo, z Lutkovnim gledališčem Ljubljana, s SNG Maribor, HNK Zagreb, SSG Trst, s Teatrom Verdi (Gorica, Trst), s portoroškim Avditorijem, z Glasbenim ateljejem Tartini, s kulturnimi domovi v Krškem, Novem mestu, Domžalah, na vsakoletnih Gostičevih dnevih, s SGBŠ Ljubljana ter s številnimi društvi in posamezniki.

External links

SNG Ljubljana website (in Slovenian)
VR panoramas of the Opera's reconstruction works on the Burger.si website
SNG Opera & Ballet Ljubljana architecture - the history of the building from the Theatre Architecture in Central Europe web database

Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana

Contents

History

Programme

Opera

Ballet

Venues

International cooperation

See also

Slovene National Theatres

External links

Operated by

Financed by