Slovene National Theatre Maribor

One of three state-owned theatres in Slovenia, the Slovene National Theatre Maribor was established as a professional theatre in 1919. Its field of activity comprises Drama, Opera, Ballet and a Symphony orchestra. It also produces the annual festival of Slovenian theatre, the Maribor Theatre Festival.

SNT Maribor is a member of PERSPECTIV – Association of Historic Theatres in Europe and is included in the European Route of Historic Theatres.

History

In its 100-year-long history, SNT Maribor has presented more than 900 premieres of dramatic works, 450 operas and 100 ballets – a comprehensive programme realised by over 700 authors and collaborators.

In 1978, a series of renovations of the SNT Maribor building began, which were realised in several stages over a period of 25 years. In 1994, the Grand Hall was added to the existing building, and in 2003, the Old Hall was renovated.

Drama

Theatre activity in Maribor began in 1785, when the first theatre hall was organised, which mainly presented works by travelling theatre groups. The building was enlarged in 1864 and has remained practically the same since then. Until 1919, the building was the home of the German professional drama and opera theatre, when the Dramatic Society, established in 1909, moved to the existing theatre building and formed the first Slovene professional theatre with a permanent drama ensemble. The opening premiere was Josip Jurčič's Tugomer directed by the first director of SNT Maribor Hinko Nučič.

In the period before World War II, the theatre focused on Slovene playwriting, but also staged some world classics, mainly expressionist. After WWII and simultaneous with the city's industrialisation, the programme took on a more socially-critical emphasis, staging mainly Russian socialist realist plays. During the following decades the programme consisted of contemporary authors (Osborne, Camus, Brecht) and a number of new Slovene playwrights. In 1989 Tomaž Pandur, who brought the name of SNT Maribor Drama to the theatre world, became director and created a number of visually distinctive performances (La Divina Commedia, Carmen, Faust, Hamlet). Widely praised for his poetics, Pandur's performances have toured extensively across the world (Vienna, Dresden, Saint Petersburg, Brussels, Cuidad de Mexico, Caracas, etc.).

In 1966, the Week of Slovenian Theatre festival was organised for the first time and in 1971 was renamed to Borštnik Meeting, the central Slovene theatre festival in which all the Slovene drama theatres compete for different awards. Each year, the highest award for acting achievement, the Borštnik Ring, is awarded.

Opera

The history of the SNT Maribor Opera Company goes back to 1919 when a small company staged mostly operettas. The operas were regularly given from the season 1922/23 onwards but gradually ceased because of the lowered subventions. Operas were staged again after World War II (1947). The small ensemble consists of soloists (including renowned singers such as Janez Lotrič, Sabina Cvilak, and Petya Ivanova), a chorus, and a symphonic orchestra.

Ballet

The first ballet staging, Možiček, took place in 1926. However, the first evening-length ballet performance premièred as late as in 1949, when Leo Delibes's Coppelia was choreographed by Maks Kirbos. The ensemble included around 20 dancers. The programme included new ballet works by foreign as well as Slovene choreographers.

Programme

Drama

The programme of the SNT Maribor Drama presents both classical and contemporary dramatic texts, including works by Slovenian dramatists (Ivan Cankar, Slavko Grum, Anton Tomaž Linhart, Dominik Smole, Tone Partljič, Drago Jančar, Rudi Šeligo) as well as international playwrights. Many original Slovene texts staged at SNT Maribor are national premieres. The theatre annually presents around 7 new productions, while the repertory commonly consists of around 12 performances. The ensemble comprises 25 around permanent members. The theatre regularly collaborates with established as well as upcoming Slovenian directors, such as Janusz Kica, Jernej Lorenci, Mateja Koležnik, Ivana Djilas, Sebastijan Horvat, Ajda Valcl, Nina Rajić Kranjac, etc.

SNT Maribor Drama is regularly included in the programmes of major Slovenian theatre festivals, such as the Maribor Theatre Festival or Week of Slovenian Drama, where its performances as well as individual members of the ensemble are often awarded the highest recognition from the expert as well as the wider audience. Several former actors of the SNT Maribor Drama are the recipients of the highest award for lifetime achievement in acting, the Borštnik Ring Award. The theatre presents its productions also abroad and is invited to major international theatre festivals.

Opera

The SNT Maribor Opera ensemble stages a mostly standard operatic programme, centred around Italian 19th-century opera (especially Verdi and composers form the verismo period). Operettas and musicals comprise a standard part of the repertoire as well as operas by Slovenian composers (Pavle Merku, Tomaž Svete, Viktor Parma). Over time, standard concepts of productions have often been replaced by the productions of the younger generation of Slovenian stage directors (Diego de Brea, Vito Taufer, Ivica Buljan). The SNT Maribor Opera enjoys the reputation of being the first opera company in the state whose expertise can be confirmed by regular appearances by visiting international guest performers and the regular touring of its productions – see also SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra.

Marij Kogoj's opera Black Masks (written in 1924–1927) was directed by Janez Burger and performed by the joint ensembles of the SNT Maribor and Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana as an opening performance of the Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012 programme.

Ballet

The SNT Maribor Ballet ensemble cooperates with the Opera and Drama ensembles in its productions and produces around 2 ballet performances per year. The ensemble, led by the Romanian dancer and choreographer Edward Clug, the recipient of the 2005 Prešeren Foundation Award and the 2008 Glazer Award, hosts many guest dancers and choreographers from other countries. During the last decade, Edward Clug and Valentina Turcu, also recipient of the 2017 Prešeren Foundation Award, have put SNT Maribor Ballet on the international map of ballet companies with their stagings of innovative and highly expressive ballet performances, which are nevertheless firmly rooted in ballet tradition. SNT Maribor Ballet occasionally also enters co-productions with other Slovenian institutions and international co-producers.

SNT Maribor Ballet productions have been presented world-wide, for example, in Austria, Brasil, Columbia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Finland, Israel, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, the United States, and elswehere.

Educational programmes

The theatre seeks innovative and flexible learning models for general education through the inclusion of principles and methodologies adopted from the sphere of art, especially theatre and performing arts. The actively participate in project bringing together educational and art institutions, i.e., teachers/tutors and artists/theatre workers, that strive to develop permanent models of cooperation between the sectors to promote education in/for art and creativity at large.

Venues

The Slovene National Theatre Maribor has five venues: Grand Hall, Old Stage, Small Stage, Chamber Stage and Casino Hall.

External links

Slovene National Theatre Maribor website
Maribor Theatre Festival website
SNG Maribor architecture - the history of the building from the Theatre Architecture in Central Europe web database
Slovene National Theatre Maribor at the European Route of Historic Theatres

Gallery

Pianist Jasminka Stančul and violinist (at that time also the festival's artistic director) Richard Tognetti performing in the Kazina Hall at Festival Maribor, 2015

Women’s Choir APZ Maribor performing in the Slovene National Theatre Maribor at the Festival Maribor, 2015

Mojtina Jurcer in the Medea's Scream, Jurcer, Inner World Theatre Production Company, 2009

Maribor Festival Orchestra performing in the Slovene National Theatre Maribor at the Maribor Festival, 2010

Accordion player Richard Galliano performing Gallianissimo in the Slovene National Theatre Maribor at the Maribor Festival, 2010

Ivan Cankar's Lepa Vida directed by Sebastijan Horvat, Maribor Theatre Festival, 2008.

Brecht's A Respectable Wedding, directed by Mateja Koležnik, Maribor Theatre Festival, 2010.

Patrick Marber's Closer directed by Dino Mustafić, Maribor Theatre Festival, 2010.

Prometheus: A Beautiful Apocalypse (Slovene National Theatre Maribor), selected for the competition program at the 59th Maribor Theatre Festival, 2024. Author: Peter Giodani

A book with projected moving images from the performance Immaculata - Hommage a Tomaž Pandur, a part of the Warped Space installation representing Slovenia at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019. Curated by Barbara Novakovič and produced by Muzeum Institute.

Karmina Šilec & Heiner Goebbels at Slovene National Theatre Maribor, 2010

Slovene National Theatre Maribor

Contents

History

Drama

Opera

Ballet

Programme

Drama

Opera

Ballet

Educational programmes

Venues

See also

External links

Gallery

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