How time flies when one is having a good time! It's hard to believe that Festival Maribor 2018 is over! We've been passionate, we've been struck by lightning, we've admired the power of human heart and enjoyed the laughter of children. We've gasped at the roars of nature, and celebrated lasting friendships. But, above all: we've enjoyed eight fantastic days and nights filled with great music.
For this, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, dear Nicolas Altstaedt, The Haydn Philharmonic, Alexander Lonquich, Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra, The SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra, Gergely Dubóczky, Dávid Kutas, László Seeman, Mahir Kalmik, Boštjan Lipovšek, Adriana Magdovski, Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet and Peter Kus. Thank you for being the (passionate and powerful) heart of our festival, for giving it all on our stage and for being such great friends!
Also, thank you to our audiences, from the smallest concert goers (yes, the ones with pacifiers) to the grey-haired ones, who have been faithful companions of our festival for decades. It's because of all of you that we are preparing the next one already. Therefore we won't say goodbye, but: see you next September. Welcome to Festival Maribor 2019!
Find your passion! Follow your passion! These lines read like marketing slogans, don’t they? Indeed, in our modern life, where most commodities are just a mouse-click away, we tend to believe passion is all about doing whatever makes us feel good about ourselves and make our life full (of new shoes or fancy cars in most cases). In our comfy-fluffy consumerism bubble, we tend to forget passion is anything but a feel-good journey to whatever we desire. We’re talking real desire here, forget those shoes and cars! About wanting something so badly, it makes us defy reason and step into something, even though it hurts. We have no choice! The sensible thing would be to turn around and walk away, but we don’t. We can’t. It means too much. That’s passion!
So, have you got something like this in your life? Have you found your true passion yet? If the answer is no, but you wish to find it, our La Passione concert is the thing to do. It’s programme featuring some of the most passionate and contemplative music ever written, performed by excellent musicians, who have found their life’s passion in playing it (Alexander Lonquich and the Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra with guests), it is a perfect opportunity to disconnect yourself from the outer world and search your soul. There’s bound to be passion there. We promise!
PS: We also promise, that the suffering part comes long after you’ve left our concert hall!
Let’s start with some medical facts. A human heart beats about 115,200 times a day. That’s a whopping 4.800 beats per hour, which means, during our Sunday, September 23rd Powered by Heart concert a good 12.000 should be counted. Should. But won’t!
With the programme offering all of the Beethoven cello sonatas, there are bound to be much, much more. Not only because such programme is a challenge for both the performing musicians as well as listeners, but because it’s Beethoven’s tour de force, at the same time intimate and heroic, passionate and spiritual, dreamy and dramatic! A whole universe of atmospheres, thoughts and feelings, reflecting the entire lifespan of the troubled genius. With Alexander Lonquich and Nicolas Altstaedt on stage, this epic journey is bound to be highly intense and passionate, a firework of virtuosity and a rollercoaster of emotions. Are you up to it? How strong is your heart?
“Mozart's music is so beautiful as to entice angels down to earth,” said Alexander von Kleist.
