The Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra marked its centenary with a gala concert in Brussels on Wednesday evening in a ceremony that the Slovenian presidency staged as a prelude to the spring EU summit, to be chaired by Prime Minister Janez Jansa on Thursday and Friday.
Conducted by George Pehlivanian, the orchestra performed Gustav Mahler's Symphony 2, "The Resurrection". The composer embarked on his career in Ljubljana as a conductor in a theatre.
The concert also featured the Slovenian Chamber Choir and the Consortium musicum choir. The solos were preformed by soprano Sabina Cvilak and mezzosoprano Bernarda Fink, both acclaimed and award-winning musicians
Officials at the Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts, where the concert was held, labelled Fink's voice as one of the best mezzo-sopranos currently.
The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Jansa and several ministers as well as European Science Commissioner Janez Potocnik.
The Slovenian Philharmonic was founded on 23 October 1908 and performed its first concert on 8 November that year, but its precursor was established two hundred years earlier.
Records show that the first musical group on Slovenian lands was set up in Ljubljana in 1701 as Academie Philharmonicorum Labacensis. It became the third professional philharmonic society in Europe and held its first public concert on 8 January 1702.
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