Imago Sloveniae
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24 Jul 2024
A live performance by the Italian-Slovenian classical pianist Alexander Gadjiev, German-Israeli pianist[Ido Ramot and Busan-born pianist, composer and virtuoso Jonghwa Park. The new EU funded "Festival Prečkanja - Sconfinamenti" is the brainchild of Alexander Gadjiev, who is also the festival's program director. The festival was made possible by the collaboration between Glasbena Matica in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Imago Sloveniae.
at the Festival Prečkanja - Sconfinamenti
Concept and background
The whole thing was initiated by the musician and pedagogue Primož Lorenz (1942–2007). In order to revive the old town centre of Ljubljana, he and some other members of the Ljubljana civil society started to organise open air concerts in the second half of the 80s. This project soon began to spread outside the local area and to deal with this, Imago Sloveniae was established in 1994. It currently collaborates with 25 Slovene municipalities and towns and manages a network of cultural venues from all over the country, utilising this to offer high-quality culture to the smaller, more peripheral towns.
Revitalisation of architectural heritage by way of live music, discovery of new, often unusual sites for cultural events like castle courtyards and churches, poly-centric and regionally dispersed promotion of new music, the artistic development of young musicians and free accessibility of arts form the main coordinates of the Imago project.
The festivals
Imago Sloveniae organises several festivals and cycles, with Summer Imago Sloveniae Festival being the primary one. It goes on from June till September and takes place all over Slovenia.
The Ljubljana part of this festival, which also uses its historic name Summer in Ljubljana Old Town, lasts from June till the middle of August and is co-organised by the still active Society for the Revitalisation of the Cultural Image of the Old City Centre. It has a further subsection, The Jazz Stage, which is taking place at the Gornji Trg square. A similar December edition is called Winter in Ljubljana Old Town.
Nights in Old Ljubljana Town is a more condensed festival, set in the last few days of August. Another, more recent project, established in 2005, is also the Young Talents Cycle.
International projects
Imago Sloveniae organised the European Music Summer 2009, a project supported by the EU Culture Programme (2007–2013). 73 concerts of music (early music, ethno, jazz) were performed by around 970 musicians from 17 European countries and took place at architectural heritage sites in Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. In course of this project, as well as its other activities, Imago has established firm links with a number of festivals and cultural institutions worldwide.