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26/08/2022 Juliana Széchenyi

A propos: Culture for a full recovery; Slovenian Youth Orchestra with young Ukrainians and Kranj citizens at Križanke

Živa Ploj Peršuh, Conductor and Programme Director: If we had to title Thursday's concert at Križanke, we would, yes, also because of the outstanding collaboration of the Kranjčan family and the brilliant young musicians, as a musical triptych entitled Family, Planets, Dance. The usual symphonic ensemble has been slightly expanded to include young Ukrainian musicians; with their National Orchestra of Young Symphonists we performed 131 concerts in four countries from 8 March to the end of July.

After the summer break, we are taking culture and art to the edge with A propos: Culture for a full recovery, this time with the help and support of the mutual health insurance company Vzajemne zdrav zavarovnica (Mutual Health Insurance Company), a show that goes far beyond the workings and effects of the covid pandemic, the consequences of which have prompted us to take up the themes covered in such shows. This time, we're going to the edge of the war in Ukraine, and also to the centre of Thursday's action at the Ljubljana Festival.

Our interlocutor is Živa Ploj Peršuh, conductor of the Slovenian Youth Orchestra, which this time also includes some young Ukrainian musicians, and which, through her and her colleagues' efforts and immediate action after the aggression against Ukraine, enabled more than a hundred young Ukrainians, members of their Youth Symphony Corps and some of their escorts to flee to safety, to Slovenia.

For Thursday's concert, which will take place in the Križanke Summer Theatre as part of the 70th Ljubljana Festival, the Slovenski mladinski orkester has prepared an interesting programme, which the conductor and her colleagues have prepared in collaboration with the versatile and, above all, exceptionally musically creative Kranjčan family.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is another in a series of programmes from this year's rather truncated A propos project, which we have entitled Culture for a Full Recovery, in the hope that the pandemic of COVID-19 is over. The project, or rather - what was left of it after the now-former Ministry of Culture made sure that we were left without the support we were expecting through the so-called media tender, was based in material terms on the goodwill of some supporters.

In this programme, our artistic director and conductor of the Slovenian Youth Orchestra Živa Ploj Peršuh, was realised with the understanding and support of Mutual Insurance Company.

By the way, and lastly, even if this question belongs at the heart of the programme, because we are dealing with the living and working conditions of young Ukrainian musicians in Slovenia, there is also the status of these young people in terms of the health insurance to which they are entitled as applicants for international protection. However, the formal procedures concerning their rights under this title are quite complicated and take far too long in our country.

Who they are and what they can do, these young musicians, some of whom are also in the ensemble of the Slovenian Youth Orchestra this Thursday at the Križanke concert hall, which will be more than just an ordinary musical performance by up-and-coming symphonists, future masters, virtuosos.

The creators of Thursday's concert, or more precisely the music-scene event, are Slovenian Youth Orchestra under the direction of the conductor Live Ploj Peršuh Lojze Krajnčan as composer and arranger, Romana Krajnčan as singer, Kristijan Krajnčan with cello and drums, Žigan Krajnčan with singing and dancing. Details of all eleven programme items can be found on the website of the Ljubljana Festival, which - as you may already know - is celebrating its 70th year this year.

The programme was prepared and recorded by Andrej Pengov and produced by the team of Radio KAOS.

EN