SiBRASS 2024 Concert Cycle

Concert 1

Brass Ensemble

Sunday, 19. maj 2024, at 7PM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performers:

Sibrass Brass Ensemble

Tom Hugh Poulson, trumpet (United Kingdom)

Boštjan Gombač, clarinet and whistles

Franc Kosem, trumpet

Urška Rošer, trumpet

Gregor Turk, trumpet

Mihajlo Bulajić, horn

Jože Rošer, horn

Žan Tkalec, trombone

Domen Jeraša, trombone

Wolf Hagen Hoyer, bass trombone

Jernej Oberžan, tuba

Matevž Bajde, percussion

Programe:

James MacMillan: Exsultet

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Enriqu Crespo): BWV 147 Jesus bleibet mein Freude 

Judith Bingham: The Snows Descend

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr.. Enrique Crespo): BWV 645 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme; BWV 639 Ich rufe zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ

Einojuhani Rautavaara: Playgrounds for Angels

Žiga Stanič: Black Hole, 1. part

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Blaž Pucihar): Concert for clarinet and brass in f minor (Allegro moderato, Largo, Presto)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (arr. Blaž Pucihar): Concert for Clarinet and Orchestra in A Major (Adagio)

Žiga Stanič: Black Hole, 2. part

FREE ENTRANCE!

Monday 6. November 2023 at 7:00PM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performers:

Brass Ensemble of Academy of Music Ljubljana

Žan Kopše, trombone

Steven Verhaert, conductor

Sunday 15. October 2023 at 7:00PM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performers:

Trobilni kvintet SiBRASS:

Franc Kosem, trumpet

Jure Gradišnik, trumpet

Mihajlo Bulajić, horn

Žan Tkalec, trombone

Jernej Oberžan, tuba

Sunday 17. September at 7:00 PM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performers:

Reinhold Friedrich, trumpet

Eriko Takezawa, piano

Sunday 4. June 2023 at 7PM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performers:

Musica Antiqua Salzburg

Matthijs Lunenburg, cornet & recorder

Andrea Guttmann Lunenburg, recorder

Stefan Konzett, trombone

Dušan Kranjc, trombone

Thomas Baur, trombone

Bernhard Prammer, organ

Sunday 12. March 2023 at 7:00 PM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performers:

 Matías Piñeira, horn

Boštjan Lipovšek, horn

Andrej Žust, horn

Mihajlo Bulajić, horn

Jože Rošer, horn

Blaž Ogrič, horn

Petar Kšenek, horn

Sebastijan Buda, horn

SIBRASS CONCERT CYCLE 2022

Concert 4
Recital
Sunday, 20 November 2022, at 11:00 a.m.
Slovenian Philharmonic, Slavko Osterc Hall

Programme:

Joseph Jongen: Aria and Polonaise

Uroš Krek: Thème Varié for Trombone and Piano

Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Trombone and Piano

I Allegro moderato maestoso

II Allegreto grazioso

III Allegro pesante

IV Allegro moderato maestoso

***

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Elegie, Op. 3, No. 1

Daniel Schnyder: Sonata for Trombone and Piano

I Blues

II An American Ballad

III Below Surface

Performing:

Žan Tkalec, trombone

Nika Tkalec, piano

Žan Tkalec (born 1991) began his musical path at the Krško Music School under professor Franci Arh and continued at the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory under professor Aleš Šnofl. In 2015, he obtained a master’s degree with honours from the Ljubljana Academy of Music under professor Dušan Kranjc, and two years later he obtained a master’s degree from the Hannover University of Music, Theatre, and Media under professor Jonas Bylund. Furthermore, he has achieved success at a number of competitions: a first place in the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb Competition in Berlin (2016), a finalist at the Citta di Porcia (2015) and Aeolus in Düsseldorf (2016) competitions, a scholarship awarded by the Yamaha Music Europe Foundation, a Prešeren Award from the Faculty of Music of the University of Ljubljana, etc. Furthermore, he has performed as a soloist with the Studio-Orchestra of the Berlin University of the Arts, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Slovene Military Orchestra, and the Krško Wind Orchestra. He has also collaborated with numerous other orchestras, e.g. the Hannover Radio Orchestra, the Wernigerode Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the HNK Opera Split. In Berlin, he recorded an album together with the pianist Nika Tkalec, and also two albums with Brass Quintet Contrast. Since 2013, Tkalec has been a regular member of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and is also a regular member of Brass Quintet Contrast.

Nika Tkalec finished primary music school in Krško under professor Branimir Biliško and subsequently continued her education at the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory, graduating under professor Janez Lovše, while in 2011 she graduated, summa cum laude, from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana under professor Tomaž Petrač. She further upgraded her knowledge at the Madrid Royal Conservatory of Music under professor Pilar Bilbao. As a soloist, she has performed with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the SNG Ljubljana Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Krško Music School Symphony Orchestra, the Krško Wind Orchestra, and the Brass Band of Slovenia. She has been awarded a Prešeren Award by the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. Furthermore, she regularly performs at concerts in Slovenia as an accompanist and playing chamber music. She participates in festivals such as the Lent Festival, the Samobor Music Autumn Festival, EPTA, AS, and Euritmia. She also performs at Ljubljana Musical Youth cycles, seminars, summer schools (Celje, Radenci, Kranjska Gora, Dobrna, and Podsreda), and accompanies young musicians in competitions, auditions, and recitals. Currently, she works at Vrhnika Music School, teaching piano, and at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana.

Organist, composer, and musical teacher Joseph Jongen was an important figure in Belgian musical culture whose musical talent was evident already in his childhood. During his university years, his compositions often won first place at various contests, which built his reputation among colleagues and the broader public. Thus, it is not surprising that in 1902, before the age of thirty, he was already professor of harmony and counterpoint at the college in his hometown of Liège. With the outbreak of World War I, he moved to England. After the war, he returned to his homeland and was named professor of fugue at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where he also served as director between 1925 and 1939. Jongen’s oeuvre encompasses more than two hundred mostly instrumental pieces, and his musical expression formed at the intersection of the lush acoustics of the (German) late Romantics and the exquisite softness and harmonies of French impressionists. Such is also reflected in the two-partite composition entitled Aria and Polonaise, Op. 128, which was written during World War II and is dedicated to Estevan Dax, professor of trombone at Brussels Conservatory.

The artistic expression of Uroš Krek, a classic of Slovene music of the 20th century, never truly reached into the field of modernism, rather Krek blended, more or less successfully, certain elements of his own with traditional compositional means and forms of past eras; such holds especially true for his chamber music, the field he felt most at home in. His creations are always accomplished and worked out to the finest detail, structurally transparent, musically inventive, and in parts imbued with folk motifs. However, the latter are not present in his Thème varié for trombone and piano. Written around 1970, it is a type of trial piece, one of the rare testimonies to Krek’s attraction to dodecaphony – the technique of using all twelve tones invented by Arnold Schönberg approximately half a century prior. This short composition comprises four sections, with Allegro giusto, Pochissimo meno, Allegro giusto, and Lento tempos.

German composer Paul Hindemith was born in 1895 in Hanau near Frankfurt am Main. He graduated in violin and composition in Frankfurt. While still very young, he became an opera concert master and an esteemed violinist in chamber music orchestras. Until 1927, when he established his permanent residence in Berlin, he played an important role in Frankfurt with his initiatives in the field of contemporary music; he also participated in the organisation of the Donaueschingen Music Days. Hindemith’s music is characterised by a strict orderliness of sound structures, which is more acceptable to the ear of the broader public than the atonal dodecaphony of the Second Viennese School. With his musical style, which is nowadays known as New Objectivity, Hindemith attempted to re-establish the lost connection between music, musicians, and the audience. His Sonata for Trombone and Piano (1941) is one of the most important and demanding compositions for trombone; the same as that of the trombone, the piano part is also tremendously difficult. The composition comprises four relatively fast movements, the themes of which vary from extremely extroverted, flamboyant, and even violent, to more playful and introspective. The introductory and closing movements have a connection as regards the theme and have the same Allegro moderato maestoso tempo. The calmest second movement, Allegretto grazioso, starts abruptly, as if cutting off the end of the first movement. It is devised like a theme with piano variations interrupted by the thematically disconnected ritonels of the trombone. Allegro pesante, the shortest movement, with the subtitle Lied des Raufbolds, spans two contrasting themes.

Nowadays, Sergei Rachmaninoff is deemed to be one of the greatest of the composers who were also true masters of the white-and-black keys. Moreover, he is the last globally known star whose reputation was based upon his skills as a pianist as well as a composer. Long before the appearance of his favourite compositions, such as the final three piano concertos, the later symphonies, Rapsody on a Theme of Paganini, etc., and many years prior to his emigration to the United States, Rachmaninoff composed – at the onset of his path – Fantasy Pieces, Op. 3 (1892), which he devoted to Anton Arensky, his professor of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory. Fantasy Pieces is a set of five compositions, which are unrelated and in concerts often performed alone, not as a set. Some come close to Rachmaninoff’s mature compositional style, including the introductory Elegie in E-flat Minor, which has a three-partite structure and a somewhat unusual ending with the perfect fifth interval and the unresolved dominant. An interesting fact is that at his debut as a pianist Rachmaninoff performed the second composition from Op. 3, the famous Prelude in C-sharp Minor – the performance took place in 1892 at the opening of the Moscow Electrical Exhibition.

The concert will conclude with the Sonata for Trombone and Piano composed by Daniel Schnyder and dedicated to David Taylor. The piece won first prize at the 1996 International Trumpet Guild’s Composition Contest. The Swiss-born Schnyder creates his works at the intersection of classical music and jazz. He performs jazz music on the saxophone and applies the insights and experiences thereby obtained to his composing. Sonata for Trombone was designed in accordance with classical structural principles; however, its main character is influenced primarily by elements from other genres. The titles of the movements carry special significance: Blues, An American Ballad, and Below Surface.

SIBRASS CONCERT CYCLE 2022

Concert 3

The New Generation

Sunday, 23 October 2022, at 7.00 p.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Slavko Osterc Hall

Concert performed by the winners of the call for tenders for the New Generation concert in the SiBrass 2022 Concert Cycle

Programme:

George Enescu: Légende

Nina Šenk: One’s Song III

Théo Charlier: Solo de concours

Joseph Guy Ropartz: Andante in Allegro

***

Ernst Sachse: Concertino

I Allegro maestoso

II Adagio

III Allegro moderato

Alexey Lebedev: Concert Allegro

Eugène Bozza: New Orleans

Eric Ewazen: Concerto for Bass Trombone, I Andante con moto

Performing:

Živa Žohar, trumpet

Bojana Karuza, piano

Ana Knez, bass trombone

Mateja Hladnik, piano

Živa Žohar from the town of Celje is a third-year undergraduate student of trumpet at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana under professor Franc Kosem. Her musical path began under the music teacher Milan Majcen, who taught her in the periods 2006–2014 while at the Celje Music School and 2015–2019 while she was in secondary school at the Celje 1st Gymnasium. Žohar is a regular contestant at music competitions and has had several notable achievements: first prize in the B category at the “Davorin Jenko” International Competition in Belgrade, Serbia (February 2016); first prize and all 100 points in the D category at the Woodwind & Brass International Competition in Varaždin, Croatia (April 2016); first prize, a golden plaque, and special recognition for the best performance of the compulsory composition at the TEMSIG competition of young musicians of the Republic of Slovenia (2017, IIa category), and first prize and the “Laureate” title at the “Davorin Jenko” International Competition in Belgrade, Serbia (2018, C category). She has collaborated with reputable ensembles – mainly youth – such as the European Spirit of Youth Orchestra (ESYO), and has as well performed as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra and Youth Wind Orchestra of the Celje Music School (2018, 2019). In May 2022, she performed a recital within the scope of the Glasbeni Samovar (Eng. “Musical Samovar”) cycle. She has been upgrading her education by studying under musicians such as Fruzsina Hara, Reinhold Friedrich, Thomas Gansch, Håkan Hardenberger, Nenad Marković, Kristian Steenstrup, Jeroen Berwaerts, etc.

Ana Knez began her musical path by learning the violin under professor Nina Grošelj. After finishing the music primary school programme, she began to learn the trombone under professor Martin Šmon at the Slovenj Gradec Music School. In 2014, she continued her education at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where she studied bass trombone under professor Mihael Švagan. During the course of her schooling, she partook in several competitions and won a golden plaque and first prize for garnering 100 points at the Woodwind & Brass International Competition in Varaždin, Croatia (2015 and 2016); 100 points, a golden plaque, first prize, and other special prizes at the TEMSIG competition (2017 and 2020); and first prize, a golden plaque, and the “Laureate” title at the Woodwind & Brass International Competition in Varaždin (2017). Furthermore, in 2018, Knez was awarded the “Dr Roman Klasinc” Diploma bestowed on the best musicians by the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet. She is continuing her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz under professors Wolfgang Strasser and David Luidold. In February 2019, she was the only brass musician to receive a golden plaque in the Virtuoso 20-26 category at the Vienna International Music Competition. She collaborates with ensembles such as the Symphony Orchestra of the Maribor Slovene National Theatre, the Graz Opera Philharmonic Orchestra, the Morphing Orchestra, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. In March 2018, she made it into the Slovene finals in the Eurovision Young Musicians competition. Knez has upgraded her knowledge in seminars with professors such as Dušan Kranjc, Györg Gyivicsan, Roger Bobo, Simone Candotto, Stefan Schulz, Dave Taylor, Jonas Bylund, Erik Hainzl, Henning Wiegräbe, and Charles Vernon.

Bojana Karuza comes from Split, Croatia, where she graduated from the secondary school for music. Afterwards, she went on to study at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana under professor Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. During her university years, she won several awards and recognitions, and performed with orchestras. She works at the Academy of Music, where she collaborates with younger as well as established artists, whom she accompanies on the piano in master classes as well as at international competitions.

Mateja Hladnik graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music, where she is currently employed as an accompanist. She often plays musical accompaniment at competitions, auditions, summer schools, recordings, and concerts. She enjoys creative collaboration with students and professors, whose creativity is a source of inspiration for her.

George Enescu’s life and work was divided between Paris and Bucharest; he was also a conductor leading numerous, especially American, orchestras. He demonstrated exceptional musical talent already as a child. He first studied at the Vienna Conservatory; however, his studies at the Paris Conservatory, which he attended starting in 1895 at the age of fifteen, left a more powerful imprint on his work as a composer. There, he studied violin under Martin Pierre Marsick, composition under Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré, and harmony under André Gedalge. The latter described the young Enescu as “the only one among the students that truly possessed good ideas and spirit.” Enescu’s musical style exhibits influences from Romanian folk music, which he managed to subtly include in his artistic expression. His works are imbued with folk tunes and his masterly feel for instrumentation. Legend for Trumpet and Piano (1906) was composed as a trial composition for the annual music competition at the Paris Conservatory. This short tune, dedicated to the Conservatory’s trumpet professor Merri Franquin, is technically demanding and very diverse in character. The composer’s performance indications listed in the score, such as soft, hesitant, gracious, melodious, fierce, dreamy, etc., reveal the broad acoustic possibilities of the trumpet.

Nina Šenk, one of the most prominent Slovene creators of contemporary music, composed the original version of One’s Song in 2012 for solo horn. In subsequent years, the composition saw several adaptations: first for horn, violin, cello, and accordion, then for trumpet and accordion (and/or ensemble), and eventually for solo trumpet (One’s Song III). The latter is intended to be performed on a specially adapted, double-bell trumpet, one of which has a mute installed the entire time, while the other one does occasionally. Regarding the fundamental idea behind this piece, some years ago Šenk wrote the following: “This is the song of a person who, on one hand, is trying to accept solitude, while on the other struggling for a better life and gazing hopefully towards the future. The dualism of these two themes is resolved by means of a series of melodic lines in opposition with long pedal tones and by seeking balance between them.”

Théo Charlier was an extraordinary trumpeter and one of the central musical figures in Belgium at the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. He was one of the first to prefer playing the trumpet to the then prevalent cornet. Furthermore, in April 1889 he was one of first musicians of his time to perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. Furthermore, his composing oeuvre, imbued with influences from French music, is not negligible either – although not sizeable – and is an important contribution to music for the trumpet. Especially valuable in this regard are his 36 Transcendental Etudes for Solo Trumpet and his Solo de Concours (Eng.: “Solo for a Competition”) is also interesting. This relatively short composition written in the manner of virtuoso Romantic works comprises the following three sections with two faster and technically more demanding parts characterised by notable virtuosity and rapidly changing moods on each end encapsulating the slower and more melodious central part.

Charlier’s contemporary, Joseph Guy Ropartz, began his musical path by playing the cornet, horn, and double bass in a local orchestra. Initially, he studied with the Jesuits and graduated in law and literature in Rennes. In his early twenties, he went to Paris to fulfil his desire to study music. He entered the Paris Conservatory, studying under Théodore Dubois and Jules Massenet. Subsequently, he studied under the Belgian-born César Franck, one of the pillars of French music Romanticism, whose ideas regarding the cyclical nature and treatment of chromatic harmony were the most influential as regards Ropartz’s compositional style. Following his graduation, in 1894 Ropartz was appointed director of the Nancy Conservatory, which he turned into one of the most reputable music institutions in France. A quarter of a century later, he managed to do something similar while he was director of the Strasbourg Conservatory. After retirement, he withdrew to his native Brittany. Andante et Allegro, a two-partite composition and yet another one presenting the broadest possible sound spectrum and characteristics of the trumpet, is dedicated to a professor of trumpet at the Nancy Conservatory, Prof. Richert. In 1903, this piece was included in the compulsory programme of the musical instrument contest at the Paris Conservatory.

Ernst Sachse, born in the city of Altenburg south of Leipzig, is a somewhat less renowned German musician and composer from the first part of the 19th century. His first assignment was as a trumpeter at the court ensemble in Weimar under the direction of Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Liszt. Sachse was an extremely talented musician, performing also as soloist – he was principal trombone for the premiere of Wagner’s Lohengrin. His relatively extensive composing oeuvre encompasses more than one hundred etudes for trumpet, some chamber music pieces, music for various wind orchestras, and two solo pieces for trombone – Concertino in B Major for regular trombone and Concertino in F Major for bass trombone. The latter, authored by Martin Göss, is actually an adaptation of the former transposed by a perfect fourth interval. The composition is a three-partite concert piece, which features bass trombone as a versatile solo instrument.

Concert Allegro for tuba and piano is a composition by the exceptional Russian tubist and composer Alexey Lebedev (1924–1993), whose composing and teaching were often intertwined. From 1950 onwards, he worked at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, first as a teacher and subsequently as a professor. He composed numerous etudes and exercises for tuba and piano, and also adapted numerous pieces composed by his contemporaries. Two of his works for tuba were composed while still a student, before starting his work at the Conservatory. In 1947, he enriched the then relatively scanty tuba repertoire with Concerto No. 1, and two years later with Concert Allegro, a dynamic one-partite composition featuring a lithe tuba part and frequent transfers between registers; its melodic and harmony-related characteristics are quite analogous to brass quintets written by Lebedev’s contemporary Victor Ewald.

Eugène Bozza, a French composer whose unique musical expression reflects influences of the French Impressionists (Debussy), the music of older musical eras (J. S. Bach), jazz (Milhaud), as well as Neo-Classicism (Milhaud, Stravinsky), contributed three chamber pieces to the standard oeuvre for bass trombone. New Orleans was the last of three pieces Bozza, which composed between 1953 and 1962. At first, it was intended for bass saxhorn, but since this instrument soon fell into obscurity the piece was subsequently re-envisioned for bass trombone. The jazzy motifs of the composition develop from the introductory ballad-like atmosphere through to the livelier finale. As is evident from the title, the piece was primarily inspired by the principal musical culture of New Orleans, the Mecca of jazz.

Eric Ewazen, a contemporary American composer, as a general rule, does not apply modernist or other inventive means of expression but rather follows the example of classical structural forms. Therefore, it is not surprising that his oeuvre mostly consists of solo concertos for various groups of instruments, especially wind and brass. His Concerto for Tuba or Bass Trombone and Orchestra was composed in the mid 1990s, originally as Sonata for Tuba and Piano (1994-1995), written for the tubist Karl Kramer. A year later, Ewazen adapted the Sonata for orchestra and added a cadence, while in 1997 a version for bass trombone and orchestra appeared. Concerto comprises classic movements characteristic of tri-partite concert forms, which follow one another in a fast-slow-fast manner. On this occasion, the audience will hear the sonata-allegro form with an Andante con moto tempo, which poses abundant technical and musical challenges for the trombone player. 

Brass Quintet

Sunday, 18. September 2022 at 11 AM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performing:

Ensemble Schwerpunkt

Matthew Brown, trumpet

Matthew Sadler, trumpet

Cecilie Marie Schwagers, horn

Mikael Rudolfsson, trombone

Janne Matias Jakobsson, tuba

Programme:

Viktor Ewald

BRASS QUINTET NO. 4

Vinko Globokar

DISCOURS VII

SiBRASS CONCERT CYCLE 2022

CONCERT 1

Brass Ensemble

Saturday, 7. May 2022 at 8 PM

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performning:

SiBRASS Ensemble

Franc Kosem, trumpet

Jure Gradišnik, trumpet

Urška Kurbos, trumpet

Gregor Turk trumpet

Mihajlo Bulajić, horn

Jože Rošer, horn

Blaž Ogrič, horn

Sebastjan Buda, horn

Žan Tkalec, trombone

Domen Jeraša, trombone

Marko Ilič, trombone

Ana Knez, bass trombone

Žan Pečenik, eufonium

Jernej Oberžan, tuba

Jože Bogolin, timpani

Matevž Bajde, percussion

Jeroen Berwaerts, conductor

Programme:

Jakob Petelin Gallus (arr. Andrej Misson)

ECCE QUOMODO MORITUR IUSTUS

Edvard Grieg

FUNERAL MARCH FOR RIKARD NORDRAAK

Einojuhani Rautavaara

A REQUIEM IN OUR TIME

Knut Nystedt

PIA MEMORIA

Henry Purcell (arr. Eric Crees)

MUSIC FOR THE FUNERAL OF QUEEN MARY

March

FAIRY QUEEN

1. Symphony

2. Air

3. Rondeau

6. Two Hornpipes

10. Dance for Chinese Man and Woman

Björk (arr. Joakim Agnas)

DANCER IN THE DARK

Henri Tomasi

FANFARES LITURGIQUES

Concert 3

 French horn, violin, and piano

Sunday, 24 October 2021, at 11.00 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performing:

 Mihajlo Bulajić, French horn

Benjamin Ziervogel, violin

Klemen Golner, piano

Programme:

 Carl Reinecke

TRIO FOR OBOE (VIOLIN), HORN, AND PIANO, Op. 188

Johannes Brahms

TRIO FOR PIANO, VIOLIN, AND HORN in E-flat MAJOR, Op. 40

 Hornist Mihajlo Bulajić, violinist Benjamin Ziervogel, and pianist Klemen Golner, three excellent musicians, all members of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, will open the third concert with two chamber masterpieces for a so-called “horntrio” ensemble pertaining to the permanent repertoire of compositions from the Romantic period. The compositions Trio in A Minor, Op. 188 by Carl Reinecke and Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 40 by Johannes Brahms, although very popular among musicians, are still rarely included in the programmes of chamber music concerts.

Carl Reinecke, born in Hamburg, lived and worked when the Romantic era was in full swing. He studied under esteemed musicians such as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt. He taught composition at music conservatories first in Cologne and then in Leipzig, where he would remain for 35 years. Some of his most renowned students include Edvard Grieg, Max Bruch, Isaac Albéniz, Leoš Janáček, Johan Svendsen, and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. Reinecke was a multitalented musician: as a pianist, he partook in numerous concert tours and was deemed a true master of interpreting the music of Mozart; he conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for more than three decades, and also dedicated a great deal of his time to composing. His oeuvre comprises more than 250 compositions, predominantly of an instrumental character.

Trio for Oboe, Horn, and Piano, Op. 188, composed in 1886, is one of Reinecke’s fully mature works, in which a resemblance to the music of Johannes Brahms can be observed. It may have been Brahms’s “Horntrio in E-flat Major” that inspired Reinecke to choose the combination of French horn, oboe, and piano. He intended equal roles for all the instruments, in superb interplay between the piano, French horn, and oboe, which pass to one another the themes in an intricate dialogue. Another common characteristic of both compositions is a four-partite design with very similar tempo markings and typical dramatic peaks, which interchange with lyrical yearning, especially in the first movement, Allegro moderato. The second movement – the playful Scherzo with a Molto vivace tempo – is the shortest and liveliest of all. However, the third movement, Adagio, is completely different: very melodious, introspective, and imbued with a hint of a peaceful still life, which then builds in intensity through the middle of the movement, and ends by returning to the calm, opening atmosphere. The conclusion is the rapid Finale: Allegro ma non troppo, with the character returning to the quick vivaciousness of the second movement.

About two decades before (in 1865), Johannes Brahms composed his Horntrio in E-flat Major in commemoration of his mother Christianne, who had passed away that year. The entire composition, which marks the end of Brahms’s early period in the field of chamber music, seems to be imbued with sentimentality – the composer’s nostalgic gaze into his youth – which is expressed differently in each of the four movements. His gaze into the past is expressed through an interesting slow-fast-slow-fast order of movements, by which Brahms moved away from his typical baroque sonata cycle form, and flirted with the old baroque form of sonata di chiesa. The opening Andante movement introduces the main theme based on an E-flat major overtone series and occurs throughout all movements, sometimes more and sometimes less noticeably. It is interesting that Brahms prescribed for this piece the natural horn, without valves, which must be in memory of his youth, when his father, a professional hornist, played such instrument and also acquainted the young Johannes therewith. The second movement is the vivacious Scherzo, with a great deal of virtuosity intended for the natural horn. The central trio includes a slower section with distant hints of rustic melodics and a Ländler rhythm, while in terms of content the movement presents the composer’s happy memories of his childhood, i.e. events with his mother. The most sombre and also emotionally expressive element is the slow Adagio mesto, acting as the third movement. Its contemplative mood makes it one of the most touching and sensual musical sections in Brahms’s entire oeuvre. It is a deep bow to his deceased mother, an elegy into which Brahms implemented the theme of the German folk song entitled There among the Willows Stands a House, which his mother sang to him in his childhood. Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano, Op. 40 by Johannes Brahms is rounded off by the joyful Finale, symbolising the end of mourning, recovery after a great loss, and an optimistic outlook on the future.

Concert 2

 Tuba and Piano

Sunday, 26 September 2021, at 11.00 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Slavko Osterc Hall

Performing:

Roland Szentpáli, tuba

Dalma Cseh, piano

Programme:

Benedetto Marcello (adapted by Roland Szentpáli)

SONATA IN F

Luigi Cherubini (adapted by Roland Szentpáli)

SONATA

Luigi Boccherini (adapted by Roland Szentpáli)

CONCERT FOR TUBA AND PIANO (originally composed for the cello)

Allegro Moderato

Adagio

Allegro

Roland Szentpáli

ALLEGRO FUOCO

MELTON

CARMEN FANTASY

With its more intimate chamber music atmosphere, the second concert of this year’s SiBrass cycle is envisaged as the polar opposite of the first. Its central persona will be the multi-talented Hungarian musician Roland Szentpáli, the principal tuba with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and a tuba and chamber music professor at the Music Academy in Luzern. Slovene audiences first became acquainted with his compositions at a concert in the 2020 SiBrass cycle. This time round, this master of low brass instruments will be live on stage in a three-fold role – as tuba player, composer, and arranger. He will be accompanied on the piano by another Hungarian musician – Dalma Cseh, adjunct professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, where she teaches in the Woodwind and Brass Department and the Department of Vocal and Opera Studies. The programme will feature the following: in the first part, Szentpáli’s adaptations of compositions by three Italian composers from older periods, and in the second part three of his own works. First in line is Sonata in F Major by Benedetto Marcello, the first of the six sonatas for cello and basso continuo that this Italian master from the Baroque era published in 1732 in Amsterdam as his Opus 1. It comprises four movements in the fast-slow-fast-slow order, which clearly indicates its modelling on Italian church sonatas (sonata da chiesa). Then follows an adaptation of Sonata for Horn and Strings No. 2 by Luigi Cherubini, another Italian composer approximately one century older than Marcello, who made his most noticeable mark in the field of opera, while his broad-ranging creativity reaches into the fields of church, orchestral, and chamber music. His chamber music oeuvre includes six string quartets, six sonatas for harpsichord, a few minor attempts at compositions for various ensembles and instruments, as well as two sonatas for horn and strings composed in 1805, which are dedicated to the French hornist Frédéric Duvernoy. The more interesting of the two sonatas is the second, which was adapted by Szentpáli for tuba and piano and comprises two parts opposite in nature – the slow Largo and the faster Allegro; the latter is primarily intended to enable musicians to show off their technical skills. The series of Szentpáli’s three arrangements for tuba and piano will conclude with a piece by Luigi Boccherini composed in the 1870s, i.e. his Cello Concerto, No. 9 in B-flat Major, G.482. A little more than one century later (in 1895), some further changes in the concerto were made by the German cellist Friedrich Grützmacher in the style of the great Romantic sinfonie concertanti, with explicitly emphasised virtuosity, which solidified its permanent position in the repertoire of cello concerts. Furthermore, in 2019, Grützmacher’s version was adapted by Szentpáli for the tuba (the solo part), two oboes, two French horns, and strings. On tonight’s occasion, the audience will be able to enjoy Szentpáli’s last version adapted for tuba and piano, which comprises Allegro moderato, Adagio, and Allegro movements.

As already mentioned, the second part of the concert will feature original works by Roland Szentpáli. The first of his three compositions is Allegro fuoco, created in 2005 for the final part of a Hungarian brass competition in 2006. Szentpáli’s original design was for tuba and piano; however, while composing he added a string quartet in order to achieve a more voluminous sound. This short composition with elements of Eastern European folk music comprises three parts of different character, which coalesce into one another without a break. On this occasion, we will hear it in the version for tuba and piano. The next composition, Melton 200 from the year 2010, comprises sharper sounds in three movements of contrasting nature with meaningful titles: the rapid and often syncopated Torzo (Eng.: “Torso”), the freely designed Obrekovanje (Eng.: “Gossip”), and the again more rhythmically dynamic Tablete ni več (Eng.: “The Pill Is Gone”). The series, encompassing the three compositions by Szentpáli as well as the entire concert, will conclude with Carmen Fantasy, a composition based on themes from the famous opera by Georges Bizet addressing the story of Carmen, a gypsy femme fatale. The opera, in which the main character first seduces the soldier Don José and subsequently cheats on him with the toreador Escamillo, after which Don José kills her, shocked the Parisian audience upon its premiere in 1875. No one, including Bizet, who suddenly passed away following the 32nd run of the opera, could expect his last creation to become so popular and one of the most frequently performed works in history. Themes therefrom have inspired various music creators, such as Pablo de Sarasate, François Borne, Vladimir Horowitz, and Roland Szentpáli, who tackled motifs from Carmen in his original and unique manner, interwoven with elements from numerous genres, with the common denominator being virtuosity.

SiBRASS 2020 CONCERT CYCLE

Concert 4

Brass Quintet

Sunday, 20 December 2020, at 11.00 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performing:

 Schaka Brass Quintet

Matej Kravcar, trumpet

Dominik Rus, trumpet

Blaž Ogrič, French horn

Tine Plahutnik, trombone

Rok Grubelnik, tuba

Programme:

 Victor Ewald

BRASS QUINTET NO. 1 in B Minor, Op. 5

Moderato

Adagio – Allegro vivace – Adagio

Allegro moderato

Andrej Misson

MEDITACIJA NA GALLUSOV ECCE QUOMODO MORITUR IUSTUS

(Eng. “Meditation on Gallus’s Ecce quomodo moritur iustus”)

Jani Golob

BRASSY

Intro

Balade

Grotesque

Final

Michael Kamen

QUINTET

Joseph Horovitz

MUSIC HALL SUITE

Soubrette Song

Trick Cyclists

Adagio Team

Soft Shoe Shuffle

‘Les Girls’

The concluding concert of the SiBRASS 2020 Cycle will feature music written for the oldest type of brass ensemble – brass quintet. The Schaka Brass Quintet will be performing: Matej Kravcar and Dominik Rus (trumpets), Blaž Ogrič (French horn), Tine Plahutnik (trombone), and Rok Grubelnik (tuba). The programme includes five compositions, two of which are deemed to be in the canonic repertoire of such ensembles, i.e. Brass Quintet No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 5, by Victor Ewald, and the closing Music Hall Suite by Joseph Horovitz.

For a number of years, the Russian composer Victor Ewald was deemed the father of the contemporary brass quintet genre. Although it has recently been discovered by musicologists that compositions for ensembles comprising five brass instruments of different register were already being created some sixty years earlier by the somewhat less known French composer and musician Jean-Francois Bellon, such does not diminish the importance of Ewald’s contribution to the repertoire for brass quintet. He composed four quintets, which attempt to spotlight the virtuosity of the individual brass instruments as well as the acoustic possibilities that such an ensemble consisting of different brass instruments presents. In the period when they were being created – at the turn of the 20th century – Europe saw various brass quintet compositions: two trumpets, cornets, or flugelhorns plus one French or alto horn, plus two low brass instruments – at first the latter were typically represented by the tenor horn, also called the tenor, and the tuba; subsequently, however, the tenor was replaced by the trombone. In mid 19th century, the composition of the brass quintet became standardised and today comprises two trumpets, a French horn, a trombone, and a tuba. Brass Quintet No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 5, which is imbued with romantic expression, was composed in 1890. It was moulded on classical principles, with three movements following one another in the order fast-slow-fast. For a long time, Quintet was thought to be Ewald’s sole work of this type as it was the only one published during the composer’s lifetime. Today it is labelled No. 1 even though two years prior to it Ewald composed his actual first work for such ensemble (the composition now labelled No. 4), which, however, was then deemed impossible to perform and Ewald had to transform it into a string quartet, which was published as Op. 1.

The diverse opus of Andrej Misson, composer, professor at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana, conductor, and organ player, who is celebrating his 60th birthday this year, comprises mainly vocal and chamber music, while spiritual music also figures prominently. His leading principle in composing is “write little and with deliberation and be loyal to your own sound,” yet he also draws inspiration from metaphysics and the transcendence of the spiritual world. Therefore, it is not surprising that he finds inspiration in the music of Jacobus Handl Gallus, of whom he wrote the following: “Gallus was an exceptional composer from Carinthia. Numerous contemporary composers, myself included, can find inspiration in him, which I have many times. Above all, I feel that his music should be performed by musical instruments (ricercar), ensembles, and orchestras.” The core of Misson’s Meditation on Gallus’s Ecce quomodo moritur iustus features the famous Lenten motet Ecce quomodo moritur iustus (Eng.: See how the just dies), which seems to have been written (also) intentionally for brass ensemble. Misson extended the original four-part harmony into a five-part harmony movement, somewhat enriched the harmony, and gave the motet representing the core an introduction and coda.  

The melodically inspired composition entitled Brassy, by Jani Golob, favours melodic and relatable musical ideas over contemporary acoustics. It premiered on 16 March 2015 when the SiBRASS Quintet performed it on Radio Slovenia’s Studio 14. The composition was created for the occasion of the 30th Slovene Music Days; at which the composer stated the following: “This is a cyclical four-movement composition created upon the initiative of principal trumpet Franc Kosem. As indicated by its title, it is supposed to be kind to its performers, allowing it to be played in a relaxed manner.” Its four movements, differing in character, are entitled: Intro, Balade, Grotesque, and Final.  

The American conductor, arranger, and composer Michael Kamen was primarily a very multifaceted personality in the world of music whose opus mainly comprises arrangements of popular and film music. He created only a few compositions that could be categorised among artistic and serious classical music. However, one such work is his Quintet, which was composed for the renowned Canadian Brass ensemble. This short and emotional composition, embued with the warmth of his film music, features rich melodic inventiveness, thus offering musicians a plethora of performance possibilities. Its musical flow spreads and grows from the introductory pastoral motif of the French horn, which in the course of the composition is echoed also by other instruments, whose sounds almost coalesce into one another.

The final composition of the 2020 cycle is Music Hall Suite by Joseph Horovitz. This work was composed in 1964 upon being commissioned by the well-known American tuba player Roger Bobo. Soon after, it became a regular work in the repertoire of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, the leading brass quintet of that period. Suite consists of five short movements, all illustrating various aspects of the burlesque theatre, music halls, circus, and cabaret entertainment so popular at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. The movements are entitled: Soubrette Song, Trick Cyclists, Adagio Team, Soft Shoe Shuffle, and Les Girls.

The Schaka Brass Quintet

The Schaka Brass Quintet is an ensemble comprising five young musicians from different parts of Slovenia, all graduates of the Ljubljana Academy of Music, true friends who have been brought together by their love for making music. Matej Kravcar and Dominik Rus (trumpets), Blaž Ogrič (French horn), Tine Plahutnik (trombone), and Rok Grubelnik (tuba) became established as a brass quintet in the academic year 2017/2018 under the mentorship of docent Franc Kosem; however, they have obtained further knowledge and training with other renowned brass masters such as Leonhard Paul (Mnozil Brass), Chris Coletti (Canadian Brass), and Marco Pierobon (Gomalan Brass). At the 2019 Competition of Young Slovene Musicians (TEMSIG) they received a gold plaque. All five musicians excel as to their professional attitude, reliability, and flexibility; they always strive to present a programme that will be of interest to the broadest circle of the public and their positive energy always creates a good atmosphere for listeners.

SiBRASS 2020 CONCERT CYCLE

Concert 3

The New Generation

Sunday, 29 November 2020, at 11.00 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performing:

 Sebastijan Buda, French horn

Urban Stanič, piano

FourCor Horn Quartet

Sebastijan Buda

Blaž Ogrič

Petar Kšenek

Gašper Okorn

Programme:

 Tilen Slakan

HORNESS

Sergej Prokofjev

TOCCATA IN D MINOR, OP. 11

Jane Vignery

SONATA FOR HORN AND PIANO, OP. 7

Oliver Messiaen

APPEL INTERSTELLAIRE

Jean Francaix

CANON IN OCTAVE

***

Kerry Turner

THREE MOVEMENTS FOR FOUR HORNS, Op. 48

Eugène Bozza

SUITE FOR FOUR HORNS

Prelude
The hunt
Old Songs
Dance
Choir
Fanfare

Werner Pirchner

BORN FOR HORN

Rok Golob

TSUNAMI WARNING

Traditional (adapted by Joshua Davis)

WALTZING MATILDA

The focus of the third concert of the SiBRASS Cycle will be the French horn; the first part features music for French horn and piano, while the second part will showcase French horn quartet compositions. The performers will be Sebastijan Buda (French horn) – selected to be the Slovene representative at the 2020 Eurovision Young Musicians – Urban Stanič (piano) and the other three musicians (French horn players) comprising the FourCor Quartet: Blaž Ogrič, Petar Kšenek, and Gašper Okorn.

The concert will begin with Horness for French horn and piano (2017), a melodically diverse composition with a heroic character, by Tilen Slakan. Although he pertains to the youngest generation of Slovene composers, Slakan’s opus is diverse and extensive, encompassing numerous fields – even the field of opera; however, it predominantly comprises orchestral and chamber music. More than a century earlier, in 1912 to be precise, Sergei Prokofiev composed his Toccata in D Minor, Op. 11, which he had first intended to be one of the movements of his Piano Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 14, but he later changed his mind and published it as an independent concert composition. Although short, Toccata is very difficult to play, demanding of pianists flawless mastery of the technique as it requires extreme dexterity and includes numerous rhythmic stresses. The third, somewhat newer, piece is Sonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 7, created by the Belgian composer Jane Vignery during the Second World War. For most of her life, Vignery was a professor of harmony in Gent, while before that she studied composition in Paris under Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas. As regards Vignery’s musical expression, especially Dukas was very influential – two features of Sonata are its softness and impressionistic acoustics, typical of French composers, while it also includes a distant echo of Villanele, Dukas’s famous composition for French horn and piano. Then follows the fourth composition, Appel Interstellaire (Eng.: “Interstellar Call”) for solo French horn, by Olivier Messiaen. Appel is the virtuoso sixth movement of the twelve-movement Des canyons aux étoiles ... (Eng.: “From the Canyons to the Stars...”), which does not lack in bold, contemporary sound expression.  Messiaen was commissioned to write Des canyons aux étoiles... by Alice Tully in 1971 to celebrate the bicentennial of the American Declaration of Independence. While preparing the work he visited Utah, where he was inspired by the birds and the landscape, particularly at Bryce Canyon National Park. The first part of the concert closes with Jean Francaix’s Canon in Octave, a short composition full of spark featuring an emphasised and syncopated rhythm.

The second part of the concert will be dedicated entirely to music for French horn quartet and will open with Kerry Turner’s Three Movements for Four Horns, Op. 48, which he composed in 2003 for the American Horn Quartet. The work was a preparation for the composer’s subsequent more extensive and demanding quartets. One of the most important compositions for French horn quartets – and a typical piece in the repertoire of such ensembles – is Suite for Four Horns by Eugène Bozza. This acoustically exciting composition, which reflects its author’s retrospective gaze, comprises six movements: Prelude, The Hunt, Old Songs, Dance, Choir, and Fanfare. Werner Pirchner was an eccentric Austrian composer and jazz musician whose creations can be placed at the intersection of classical artistic music and musical genres intended for entertainment. His works often include elements of jazz and somewhat more contemporary composition methods, as well as improvisation and inspiration stemming from nature and the environment.The latter is especially true as regards his six-part composition Born for Horn. The concert will close with the compositions Tsunami Warning by Rok Golob from 2005 and the well-known and popular Australian ballad Waltzing Matilda, adapted for French horn quartet by Joshua Davis

Sebastijan Buda, French horn

Sebastijan Buda, French horn player and winner of the Eurovision Young Musicians 2020 competition, finished music school in the town of Sežana under Prof. Simon Perčič. For two years he studied the French horn at the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory, under Prof. Jože Rošer. He is currently studying at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana under Prof. Boštjan Lipovšek. In 2011, 2014, and 2017 he was awarded the gold prize at the Competition of Young Slovene Musicians (TEMSIG). Furthermore, he has received five gold prizes at the Svirél international competition, at which he was a finalist in 2013, 2015, and 2017. In 2014, he won first prize at the 6th “Giovani Musicisti – Cittá di Treviso”  International Competition in Treviso (Italy). In 2015, he was awarded first prize at the International Woodwinds & Brass Competition in Varaždin (Croatia). Furthermore, he was a finalist at the 7th international AudiMozart Competition in Rovereto (Italy). In 2015 and 2016, he performed as a soloist with national symphony orchestras at music festivals for young musicians in Armenia and Lithuania. In Slovenia he has performed as a soloist with the following ensembles: the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Domžale–Kamnik Symphony Orchestra, and the NOVA Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a regular member of the TrobiNOVA brass quintet, the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music, the Komen Wind Orchestra, and the Slovenian Baroque Orchestra. He has participated in master classes in Slovenia and abroad with French hornists such as the following: Radovan Vlatković, Dale Clevenger, Luca Benucci, Will Sanders, Johannes Hinterholzer, Eric Terwilliger, etc.

Urban Stanič, piano

Urban Stanič, pianist, was the winner of the Slovene selection for the Eurovision Young Musicians 2014 competition; in the finals in Cologne he received second prize. Currently, he is a student at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana under Honorary Prof. Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. Prior to that, he studied under Profs. Lorena Mihelač, Lilijana Žerajić, and Lidija Malahotky Haas. In recent years he has performed in a number of concerts that garnered a great deal of attention: as a soloist with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music Ljubljana, and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra; furthermore, he has presented a number of solo recitals (Young Virtuosi, Imago Sloveniae, Piano FVG, the International Holland Music Sessions, etc.). He received the Škerjanec Award bestowed by the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory for academic achievement, and the Prešeren Award of the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. For four years in succession he won first prize and was the overall winner at the international competition for pianists in Povoletto (Italy). Furthermore, at the Zlatko Grgošević 2014 international competition in Zagreb he received first prize, was the overall winner, and was bestowed a special award for the performance of a classicist sonata. In 2013, 2016, and 2019 he received three gold prizes, and won three first places and special awards at the Competition of Young Slovene Musicians (TEMSIG) for the best performance of a sonata composed by Domenico Scarlatti, a compulsory composition, and a composition by a Slovene composer. He has improved his knowledge by attending seminars by professors such as Natalia Trull, Andreas Frölich, and Konstantin Bogino. Slovene critics deem Urban Stanič to be “a pianist such as Slovenia has been awaiting a long time.”

The FourCor Horn Quartet

The FourCor Horn Quartet was founded in 2008 upon the initiative of students at the Ljubljana Academy of Music. Its members are Sebastijan Buda, Petar Kšenek, Blaž Ogrič, and Gašper Okorn, who share the desire to play chamber music together. These young musicians are also all well-established individually in Slovenia and internationally. In April 2019, under the mentorship of Prof. Boštjan Lipovšek, the Quartet successfully auditioned to play solo with an orchestra, and in October 2019, together with the Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, it presented Carl Heinrich Hübler’s Concert for Four Horns and Orchestra in the Gallus Hall of the Cankarjev Dom venue.

Zagreb-born French hornist Petar Kšenek is a multitalented musician. In 2017, he was awarded the first prize at the Competition of Young Slovene Musicians (TEMSIG), and won the International Solfege Competition in Slovenia. As soloist, orchestra musician, or chamber musician, he has collaborated with numerous ensembles, inter alia with the Rucner String Quartet, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he is on an Erasmus+ student exchange, studying under Professor Mahir Kalmik at the Mainz School of Music (“Hochschule für Musik Mainz”). Tomislav Uhlik, a Croatian composer, wrote the piece Petar’s Magic Horn for Kšenek, which he performed as a child with a tamburica orchestra.

Blaž Ogrič has received the Škerjanec Award bestowed by the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory for exceptional achievement. He has participated in four music tours with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (Eng.: the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra), for which he plays principal French horn. He has collaborated with composers such as Sir Neville Marriner, Daniel Harding, Christoph Eschenbach, etc. He cooperates on a regular basis with some of the most reputable Slovene orchestras. Since 2015, he has been a student at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana under Prof. Boštjan Lipovšek. In 2015, won first place in the highest category at an international competition in Varaždin, Croatia.

The final member of the FourCor Quartet is Gašper Okorn, also a student of French horn under Prof. Boštjan Lipovšek. Okorn attends seminars held by established musicians such as Raimund Zell, Szabolsc Zempléni, Boštjan Lipovšek, Johannes Hinterholzer, Dale Clevenger, Stefan de Leval Jezierski, Pálma Szilágyi, Nilo Caracristi, etc. In 2016, with a French horn quartet he received a gold plaque at the Competition of Young Slovene Musicians (TEMSIG), while in 2017, as an individual competitor, he won second place and received 97 points and a gold plaque. Aside from his passion for classical music and jazz, he is interested in contemporary music, which he performs as a participant in project-related ensembles of the Ljubljana Academy of Music.

SiBRASS 2020 CONCERT CYCLE

Concert 2

The Brass Trio

Sunday, 11 October 2020, at 11.00 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Performing:

Gábor Tarkövi, trumpet

Andrej Žust, French horn

Jesper Busk Sørensen, trombone

Programme:

 Johann Sebastian Bach (adapted by Heribert Breuer)

SUITE FOR BRASS TRIO

Leonard Bernstein

ELEGY FOR MIPPY II for solo trombone

Nina Šenk

...da kehrte die Ruhe ein... (Eng.: “…and then came peace…”; premiere, comissioned by the SiBRASS Association)

Vincent Persichetti

PARABLE XIV for trumpet solo

Francis Poulenc

SONATA FOR HORN, TRUMPET, AND TROMBONE

Allegro moderato / Andante / Rondeau

***

Jean-François Michel

SUITE FOR TRUMPET, HORN, AND TROMBONE

Vitaly Buyanovsky

ESPAÑA for solo French horn

Vaclav Nelhybel

TRIO FOR TRUMPET, HORN, AND TROMBONE

Frigyes Hidas

TRIGA

The second concert of this year’s cycle will feature three exceptional musicians, all members of the Berlin Philharmonic: in addition to “our own” Andrej Žust (French horn, Slovenia), Gábor Tarkövi (trumpet, Hungary) and Jesper Busk Sørensen (trombone, Denmark) will be performing. The programme includes a series of short, yet diverse musical pieces for brass trio or solo, encompassing everything from baroque music to the latest compositions, which were specifically created for tonight’s event. The opening work – Suite for Brass Trio, an adaptation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s piece arranged for trumpet, French horn, and trombone by the German composer and arranger Heribert Breuer, will be followed by Elegy for Mippy II for solo trombone by Leonard Bernstein. The composer dedicated this short and humorous work, in which he applied the expressive element of a foot stamping on the floor, to Mippy – his brother’s dog.

The concert will premiere the composition …da kehrte die Ruhe ein… by Nina Šenk, one of the leading composers of the younger generation in Slovenia, who is well established internationally. She created this piece for tonight’s concert upon the commission of the SiBRASS Association and her perspective thereon is as follows: “…da kehrte die Ruhe ein… was written during the period of the current epidemic, when life on the streets of Ljubljana came to a halt and the clamour of the city died down – those lively, ever present sounds that one becomes aware of only when they disappear. Ljubljana became enveloped in silence; however, my ideas became more sensitive if only also a little frightened and fragile. In the composition, whose name translates as ‘…and then came peace…’, I attempted to gather the entire range of feelings and sounds that arose inside of and around me in the silence of Ljubljana. I chose a German title for two reasons: first, because the composition was written for a very special trio based in Berlin, and second, because the feeling of insecurity reminded me of my time studying in Germany, where I was occasionally faced with apprehension as regards the future.”

The first half of the concert will round off with Parable XIV for solo trumpet, Op. 127 by Vincent Persichetti and Sonata for Horn, Trumpet, and Trombone by Francis Poulenc. In the 20th century Persichetti was one of the most prominent personas in the field of music in the United States. He is important as a composer and teacher – for a number of years he taught composition at the famous Julliard School, his students included Philip Glass, Lowell Liebermann, and Robert Witt. He wrote more than 160 compositions, in which he often integrated new ideas and thus created his unique musical expression. Parable XIV for solo trumpet, Op. 127, a short yet demanding composition, is number fourteen in his series of twenty-five parables for various instruments and ensembles. Therein, the composer often quoted passages from his other works or drew inspiration from incidents from his personal life.

Poulenc composed Sonata for Horn, Trumpet, and Trombone in 1922 and further adapted it some two decades later. He dedicated it to his childhood friend Raymonde Linossier. Through three movements, this light and playful composition brings about a fair-like atmosphere. The first and third movements are vivacious with a predominant dance character, while the central Andante is a dreamy lullaby.

The second part of the concert opens with Suite for Trumpet, Horn, and Trombone by Jean-François Michel, a Swiss musician who began his career as an excellent trumpet player, but has lately become increasingly established as the composer of wide-ranging chamber music works and music for wind orchestras. He does not employ radical means in his musical expression, but rather his music is often illustrative – and effective as such.

Vitaly Buyanovsky was an excellent Russian French horn player, music teacher, and – under Yevgeniy Mravinsky – the long-standing principal French horn in the Leningrad Philharmonic. His España, a composition imbued with the rhythmic and melodic colours of this Iberian country, pertains to a series of compositions for solo French horn that Buyanovsky subtitled “four improvisations on impressions from travels and a Russian song”.

The concert will close with Trio for Trumpet, Horn, and Trombone by Václav Nelhýbel, an American composer of Czech origin; this scherzo composition, moody at times, was dedicated to the German trumpet player Helmut Hunger. The second work in the closing part is Triga, a fanfare, solemn composition by Frigyes Hidas.

Gábor Tarkövi, trumpet

Gábor Tarkövi comes from a family of musicians. At the age of nine he received his very first trumpet lesson from his father, István Tarkövi, and even in his early childhood developed a fondness for the music of local brass ensembles. After graduating from the Richter János Conservatory in Győr, he first enrolled in a programme under György Geiger at the Franz Liszt Teacher Training College in Budapest, and then continued his studies at the Budapest Franz Liszt Academy of Music. After graduation, he took a position at the Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra (Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen), and then as principal trumpet performed with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Bayern Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (2004-2019). Since 2018 Gábor Tarkövi has been Professor for Trumpet at the Berlin University of the Arts. Furthermore, he plays chamber music in various ensembles: the Austrian Brass Connection, Pro Brass, the Wien-Berlin Brass Quintet, and the Berlin Philharmonic Brass Trio. He is a renowned soloist, having performed concerts with many of the most eminent German and foreign orchestras, e.g. the China National Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Under an exclusive contract with the Swiss Tudor Classics label, Gábor Tarkövi has released four CDs, which have won critical acclaim.

Jesper Busk Sørensen, trombone

Jesper Busk Sørensen’s first instrument was the euphonium, but he later decided to take up the trombone because he loved its warmth, opulence, and versatile tone. In his words, the trombone is one of the most powerful yet mellowest instruments in an orchestra. He studied with Niels-Ole Bo Johansen, Rolf Sandmark, and Jesper Juul at the Royal Music Academy in Århus. His first professional engagement was in 2002 as second trombone – later becoming first – of the Århus Symfoniorkester. In addition, he undertook further training with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra trombonist Michael Mulcahy at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. As a chamber musician, Sørensen is a member of the Danske Basunkvartet (Danish Trombone Quartet), which has premiered several contemporary works. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Ensemble. He enjoys traveling and has a special interest in architecture and design.

Andrej Žust, French horn

Andrej Žust was born in Logatec, Slovenia, where he finished music school studying the French horn under Prof. Janez Polanc. He continued his education at the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory under Prof. Metod Tomac and subsequently graduated from the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana under Profs. Jože Falout and Boštjan Lipovšek. He improved his knowledge and skills through lessons with renowned French horn players such as Hermann Baumann, Radovan Vlatković, Frøydis Ree Wekre, etc. Between 2009 and 2011 he received a scholarship from the prestigious Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. As soloist, he won three first prizes at the Competition of Young Slovene Musicians (TEMSIG), i.e. in 1996, 1999, and 2001 – at the last of which he received a perfect score. He also received the Prešeren Award of the University of Ljubljana. For a number of years, he played solo horn in the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, cooperated with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, and the Ljubljana National Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Since 2011 he has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Furthermore, Andrej Žust is a very active chamber musician and regularly performs at international festivals throughout the world. As soloist, he has performed with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Baroque Soloists orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Mito Chamber Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra, the Zadar Chamber Orchestra, the Maribor National Theatre Orchestra, the 1B1 Orchestra, etc. He performs works from the canonical repertoire as well as new compositions by Slovene and foreign composers.

SiBRASS 2020 CONCERT CYCLE

 Concert 1

Euphonium and Piano

Sunday, 27 September 2020, at 11.00 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Slavko Osterc Hall

 Performing:

Nejc Merc, euphonium

Davorin Mori, piano

 Programme:

Roland Szentpáli

SYMPHONY CONCERTANTE

I. Introduction

II. Passepied

III. From Nóra

IV. Play

Georg Philipp Telemann

SONATA FOR BASSOON AND CONTINUO in F Minor, TWV 41:f1

I. Triste

II. Allegro

III. Andante

IV. Vivace

Robert Kamplet

SKRIVNOST (Eng.: “Secret”)

BLIZU (Eng.: “Close”)

Gioachino Rossini

LARGO AL FACTOTUM (Cavatina from The Barber of Seville)

The cycle will open on 27 September 2020 with a concert by the euphonist Nejc Merc and pianist Davorin Mori, presenting music for euphonium and piano. Since the mid 19th century the role of the now well-established brass instruments has gradually increased in various orchestra and instrumental ensembles, especially with regard to French horn, trombone, and trumpet. This was facilitated in particular by the system of valves invented at the beginning of the 19th century by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel; this also stimulated the development of new brass instruments. One of these was the euphonium – aerophone, which was invented in 1843 by Ferdinand Sommer of Weimar under the influence of Adolph Sax and his saxhorns. The euphonium is a low brass instrument of conical bore with four valves (three upright valves and one side valve, while other versions have three or five valves), known for its full, soft sound. Although it was called the sommerophone at the 1851 London Great Exhibition, its inventor called it the euphonion. The word derives from the Ancient Greek word euphonos, in which eu means “sweet” or “good”, and phonos means “to sound”. Hence, the Greek combination could be translated literally as “sweet-voiced” or “well-sounding”. Nowadays, the instrument belongs in the tuba family, which is characterised by a tenor pitch; a synonym for the euphonium is the tenor tuba.

The initial concert will open with Symphony Concertante by Roland Szentpáli, presented in a version for euphonium and piano. This Hungarian tuba virtuoso, composer, and general master of low brass instruments composed this piece in 2015, having been commissioned by the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, and premiered it the same year as a soloist on four historical instruments: serpent, cimbasso or bass horn, ophicleide, and saxhorn. This melodically inventive composition, with a virtuosic character and spontaneously unravelling musical flow, comprises four movements (Introduction, Passepied, From Nóra, and Play), whose primary purpose is to allow the soloist to demonstrate his mastery of the instrument(s). The composer dedicated the piece to his friend Steven Mead, yet another great master of the euphonium, who is an old acquaintance of Slovene musical stages, and to his French colleagues who play saxhorns and other similar French instruments. 

Nearly three centuries older is the Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo in F Minor, TWV 41:f1 by Georg Philipp Telemann, regarding whom Johann Mattheson, a famous music theorist from Hamburg, once wrote the following: “Lully is praised, Corelli will let himself be praised greatly, only Telemann rises above all praise.” One of the most prolific composers of all time, who according to some of the latest studies composed as many as 3,000 works, Telemann created 43 different complete musical works between 1725 and 1740 alone. During his lifetime he was deemed the most important German composer, with his chamber music pieces in particular being held in high regard. Unfortunately, many of them were lost during the Second World War, but not the Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo in f Minor, which was probably created around 1728, during the period when Telemann served as cantor at the Johanneum Latin School in Hamburg. He published this composition in the monthly journal Der getreue Musik-Meister, i.e. The Reliable Music Teacher, the first journal of this kind in history, in which Telemann published his compositions for various ensembles and in all styles popular at that time. His Sonata for Bassoon and Continuo in F Minor was modelled on the Italian church sonata (sonata da chiesa), with its movements (Triste, Allegro, Andante, Vivace) following one another according to the following principle: slow-fast-slow-fast.

Robert Kamplet is a teacher of composition and solfeggio at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet. He graduated summa cum laude from the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana under Prof. Dane Škerl and obtained his Master’s Degree under the mentorship of Prof. Marko Mihevc. His works are performed at concerts and musical festivals, such as the Lent Festival in Maribor, Slovenia, the World Music Days in Belgium, the Leoben Music Festival, and the Vocal Series of the Slovenian Philharmonic. Kamplet’s opus, comprising approximately 150 works, mainly consists of chamber music. Skrivnost (Secret) and Blizu (Close), his characteristic pieces for violin and piano, were composed in 2017. On 16 March 2020, they were premiered at an event entitled “The Night of Slovene Composers” organised by the Society of Slovene Composers at the Knights’ Hall of the Križanke venue in Ljubljana by violinist Matej Haas and pianist Beata Ilona Barcza. The dreamy first composition (Secret), with regard to which it seems as if the violin floats above the repetitive, ostinato patterns in the piano base, is followed by a contrastive, impulsive, and at times even abrupt movement (Close), which maintains a somewhat rhythmically emphasised element. In the composer’s opinion, “the compositions were essential in the renaissance of his creativity upon the transition to his second, more mature creative period. The music of the compositions, which can be performed together or separately, expresses hidden thoughts through an impulsive gradation of sound.”

The opening concert of the SiBRASS cycle will finish with another composition of an older date, i.e. the bravura Figaro’s Cavatina from The Barber of Seville, an opera by Gioachino Rossini, adapted for euphonium and piano. Rossini masterfully transformed a libretto created by Cesare Sterbini on the basis of the eponymous French comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais into a musical composition. Perhaps the most famous part of the opera is Figaro’s Cavatina from Act One, entitled Largo al factotum, in which the self-confident character lists his successes as well as his burdens in a rapid yet effective patter.

Nejc Merc, euphonium

 After graduating from the at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet, Nejc Merc continued his education at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana and in 2014 was awarded, summa cum laude, a Master’s Degree under Prof. Darko Rošker. He has had great success and been awarded numerous recognitions at national and international competitions. In Slovenia, he has been awarded the Prešeren Award for students. He further upgraded his knowledge under world-renowned professors such as Øystein Baadsvik, Steven Mead, Thomas Rüedi, Roger Bobo, and James Gourlay. He cooperates on a regular basis with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra; he also collaborates with other groups, e.g. the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Brass Band Slovenia, the Slovenian Philharmonic Brass Ensemble, etc. Since 2013, Merc has been employed at the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet, where he is the leader of the GŠ Center Wind Orchestra, and since 2017 he has been employed as a teaching assistant at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana.

Davorin Mori, piano

Davorin Mori studied piano and conducting at the Carinthian State Conservatorium in Klagenfurt under Alexei Kornienko and piano at the Mozarteum University Salzburg under Claudius Tanski. Currently, he is a student of conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Johannes Wildner. As a pianist, he has won competitions in Italy, Slovenia, and Serbia. He has been awarded the Dr Roman Klasinc Award for artistic achievement. As conductor or soloist, he has performed with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Viennese choir Philharmonia Chor Wien, the Symphonieorchester des KONSE, the Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich, etc. He often performs with various chamber music ensembles in Italy, Slovenia, and China. In the spirit of Arnold Schönberg, who in 1918 established a society for private musical events, Davorin Mori founded, one hundred years later, the Camerata Sinfonica Austria, a chamber orchestra that performs great symphonic compositions by Gustav Mahler, Antonín Dvořák, and other composers. In 2019 he worked as Assistant Choir Director for the choir academy of the Vienna State Opera.

Sunday, 22 December 2019 at 11 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Free entry

Sunday, 24 November 2019 at 11 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Free entry

Sunday, 13 October 2019 at 11 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Free entry

Sunday, 22 September 2019 at 11 a.m.

Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Free entry

Sunday, 19 May 2019 at 7.30 p.m.

 Slovenian Philharmonic, Marjan Kozina Hall

Free entry

Performing:

Thomas Hugh Poulson, trumpet and artistic director

Franc Kosem, trumpet

Blaž Avbar, trumpet

Jure Gradišnik, trumpet

Mihajlo Bulajić, French horn

Domen Jeraša, trombone

Žan Tkalec, trombone

Žan Kopše, trombone

Wolf Hagen Hoyer, trombone

Jernej Oberžan, tuba

Programme:

Anthony Plog: OCTET

Nina Šenk: TANGLE for solo trumpet and brass quintet

Tom Hugh Poulson, solo trumpet

Michael Nyman: FOR JOHN CAGE

Jan Koetsier: BRASS SYMPHONY

The Slovenian Philharmonic Brass Ensemble was formed in 2002 upon the initiative of the brass section of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. The ensemble regularly presents concerts throughout Slovenia and abroad. In the 2015/2016, 2016/2017, and 2017/2018 seasons the ensemble’s work was further enhanced by its first independent cycle of three concerts, staged in the Marjan Kozina Hall of the Slovenian Philharmonic. The ensemble’s repertoire comprises works from various stylistic periods arranged for brass, as well as original brass compositions.

The artistic director at the helm of the first concert organised by SiBRASS will be the trumpeter Thomas Hugh Poulson, a member of the famous Stockholm Chamber Brass ensemble. Tonight’s programme will bring together some extremes as the works on the programme oscillate between traditional and progressive-modern, while throughout they remain astounding and attractive. Tonight the audience at the Slovenian Philharmonic will be able to delight in the grandeur of the works, which are a veritable treasury for any brass player and have been performed in countless places around the world.

Works by the following composers will be performed at the concert:

Anthony Plog is primarily a successful trumpet player who has enjoyed a long international career. He only became established as a composer later in life, yet today his works are performed globally. Plog’s works are characterised by their originality and unusual expressive dimension. One of his first compositions for brass of this kind is Octet, a composition for four trumpets and four trombones, which, marked by tempo indications, transports listeners through an allegro vivace into a calm and slow section, and then further into the theme, followed by fast and bouncy variations (I-IV).

Nina Šenk is known as a composer for various ensembles. Her compositions can be virtuosic or minimalistic, yet always follow a tendency towards perfection. In her exploration, Šenk leads the listener from tradition (which she trusts) to contemporaneity (because she dares), while masterfully interweaving the threads of each. Clearly, one such work is Tangle, a composition that – as suggested by its title – offers a tangle: an entanglement of sounds and tones, as well as of the soloist and the quintet. Disentanglement is achieved with the folk tune Vsi so venci vejli, which, in the words of the composer, “is a short memoir presenting beauty and the power of expression, as well as utter opposition to the fast, short, and winding segments comprising a large part of the composition.”

Michael Nyman is undoubtedly one of the more innovative and famous British composers; his considerable reputation is based on his extensive repertoire of compositions written for the widest variety of ensembles. Alongside composing, Nyman is also a conductor, pianist, author, musicologist, photographer, and film-maker. The first sketches for the composition entitled For John Cage were made in September 1991, in a hotel room. The piece was completed in 1992, yet lacked a title. Nyman had considered the title Canons, Chorales, and Waltzes, but dropped it as the composition comprises only one canon, numerous corals in terms of sequences, and one waltz. The following day after finishing the piece Nyman read in a newspaper that John Cage had died. Also for this reason, but mainly because Cage had been one of the truly revolutionary music theorists of the 20th century and had influenced Nyman’s music as well, Nyman dedicated the composition to him.

Jan Koetsier, like Plog, began composing only after retirement. Prior to that, he had conducted the ‘Concertgebouw Orchestra’ in Amsterdam and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. Brass Symphony is one of Koetsier’s masterpieces for brass ensembles. It comprises three movements: Allegro, Larghetto, and Rondo. The composition was commissioned by Philip Jones, a famous British trumpeter and leader of the ‘Philip Jones Brass Ensemble’; it premiered in 1980 and was recorded in 1981.  

Slovenian Philharmonic - Marjan Kozina Hall

TASF & Thomas Gansch

Slovenian Philharmonic - Marjan Kozina Hall

TASF & Lucija Čirović

Slovenian Philharmonic - Marjan Kozina Hall

TASF & Boštjan Gombač

Chapel - St. Stanislav's Institution

Hommage to Maurice André - Founder of trumpet as a solo instrument in 20. and 21. century.

• Johann Friedrich Fasch: CONCERT FOR TRUMPET IN D-MAJOR

• Henri Tomasi: SEMAINE SAINTE A CUZCO / GREAT WEEK IN CUZCO

• Johann Sebastian Bach: CONCERT IN D-MAJOR, BWV 972

• André Jolivet: ARIOSO BAROCCO

• Johann Wilhelm Hertel: CONCERT IN D-MAJOR nr. 3

• Lojze Lebič: ILLUD TEMPUS

• Georg Philipp Telemann: CONCERT FOR THREE TRUMPETS, TIMPANI AND TWO OBOES, TWV 54:D3

Franc Kosem (trumpet), Jure Gradišnik (trumpet), Aleš Klančar (trumpet), Pavao Mašić (organ) in Tilen Bajec (organ)

Španski borci - Great Hall

Brilliant sound combination of all brass instruments...

SiBRASS Quintet

• Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Arthur Frackenpohl:
  CONTRAPUNCTUS I from Die Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080

• Uroš Rojko: BRASS

• Michael Kamen: KVINTET

• Enrique Crespo: RAGTIME, from American Suite for Brass Quintet nr. 1

• Joseph Horowitz: MUSIC HALL SUITE

• Kevin Mckee (1980): VUELTA DEL FUEGO

• Bojan Adamič, Jože Privšek, Ati Soss / arr. Lojze Krajnčan: EVERGREEN MEDLEY

• William Christopher Handy, arr.. Luther Henderson: BEALE STREET BLUES