Preseren Awards Conferred as Slovenia Celebrates Culture
Composer and pianist Janez Maticic and actor Radko Polic-Rac received the coveted Preseren Prize for life-time achievement in the arts at a ceremony on Wednesday, the eve of Culture Day, a national holiday that pays tribute to Slovenia's greatest man of letters, France Preseren (1800-1849).
In his acceptance speech, Maticic (1926) gave an account of his career, which features classical music as well as electroaccustic forays, while Polic-Rac (1942) extended his "silent words" of gratitude to the loved ones, including the fellow actors who may have been offended by his "creative madness".
Maticic, who writes mainly for strings and the piano, quoted a friend of his, who said about him that he was essentially a romantic for all his love for things modern. The composer, helped by two musicians, demonstrated both as the audience at the Cankarjev dom arts centre had the advantage of listening to Maticic's compositions "Mehanika" and "Frenetico".
Radko Polic-Rac, whom the prize jury labelled a "tight-rope walker without a safety net" and a "spiritual theatre animal", wished everyone in the auditorium to discover their inner truth and contrast, and then went on to recite a poem by Janez Menart entitled "Myself". Rac has appeared in more than 100 theatre roles and starred in more than 50 films.
While the Preseren Prize is the highest commendation an artist in Slovenia can get for life-time achievement, Preseren Fund prizes are given out for individual achievements. These were conferred tonight to architects Vesna and Matej Vozlic, ballet dancer at the SNG Maribor ballet company Anton Bogov, and composer Urska Pompe, for the achievements in the past two years.
The Preseren Fund Prize was also bestowed on writer Suzana Tratnik for her book "Vzporednice" (Parallels), multimedia artist Marko Peljhan for the project MakroLab, which combines art and science, and painter Joze Slak - Djoka for the exhibition Paintings for the Blind.
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