The festival's formula, which manages to strike the elusive and fragile balance between the established and the experimental, the expected and the surprising, is bound to build on the eclectic (in the best meaning of the word), and sure enough, it proved to be the right one. One of the reasons for its success is the festival's fearless insistence on authenticity in how music is being understood, encountered, and accepted. Furthermore, the constant striving for meaningful and intense musical experiences as well as the courage to explore different genres and periods, ideas and concepts, encounters and emotions make each festival event special, packed with heartiness and sincerity, which always manage to find their way from the stage to the audience, sparking a fire.
This year it isn't going to be any different, thanks to outstanding artists who dare to give it all. We look forward to welcoming back the marvellous world-renowned pianist Simon Trpčeski, who astounded and enthralled the audiences and the critics as our artist in residence. This year he is back with exciting collaborations with his long-time musical partners from the West Balkan area and Slovenian colleagues. They will join him in exciting new musical ventures. After a five-year gap, we are proud to bring back Alexander Gadjiev, the BBC's New Generation Artist, whose international career took a meteoric rise following his phenomenal success at the International Piano Competition in Sydney and the International Chopin Competition in 2021. Maribor soprano with a sparkling international career, Nika Gorič, is sure to make an impact, just like the charismatic Gabriel Bebeşelea, with his "Transylvania" State Philharmonic Orchestra of Cluj-Napoca. The brilliant young Italian conductor Gianna Fratta will conduct the SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra. Our young audience will enjoy the Boomtastic matinee for families by Louie's Cage Percussion, while our traditional concert for babies and toddlers features soprano Nika Gorič and pianist Adriana Magdovski. Festival Maribor's Young Artist title belongs to two exceptional local talents, violinist Zala Frangež and cellist Ariel Vei Atanasovski.
All in all, a string of fantastic concerts awaits! Make sure not to miss them. Therefore, we kindly remind you to save the dates from September 15th to September 24th and join our musical feast of excellence and wholeheartedness!
