Concert for Peace by the Cantabile Symphony Orchestra

4 November 2022 "Faced with the horrors of the war that has broken out in Ukraine, the musicians of the Cantabile Symphony Orchestra are sending a call to peace to all who are willing to listen and hear."

The programme of this concert was prepared with the help of the conductor Live Ploj Peršuh, invited young musicians from Ukraine who had fled to Slovenia to escape the horrors of war. A special place has also been given to the superb young violinist Sofia Kysliak from Ukraine, who will perform a piece from the film Schindler's List, accompanied by a symphony orchestra, in memory and tribute to all the victims of the Nazi rampage in the Second World War.

The evil that every war brings calls for reflection and purification. The composition Religioso, by Slavko Osterc, calls us to reflection and purification, without which there is no peace."

The main focus of the programme is the performance of Mikolaj Gorecki's 50-minute Third Symphony, which holds a special place in the world treasury of classical anti-war music. This Polish composer wrote it in response to the horrors of the Second World War and turned its focus on a message of peace. In the first movement, he used the lament of Mary, Mother of Jesus, from the Monastery of the Holy Cross, from the collection of Lysagore songs from the second half of the 15th century. The text in the second movement of the symphony is particularly poignant, with words written as a prayer on the wall of cell 3 in the Gestapo prison in Zakopane by the 18-year-old Helena Wanda Blazusiakówna on 26 September 1944. In the third movement, the composer used a Silesian folk song about a mother and son, which in the last verse asks "why did you kill my beloved son?".

The concert will be conducted by Marjan Grdadolnik, with artistic words by Tone Kuntner, and the solo part will be sung by soprano Mojca Bitenc. The concert event will be held first in Logatec in the sports hall and in Ljubljana at the Church of St. Jozef on 5 and 6 November 2022. The voluntary contributions collected will be donated to help young musicians who found a safe haven in Slovenia before the war in Ukraine.

The concert is honourarily sponsored by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor.

SIMPHONIC ORCHESTRA CANTABILE was first presented to the public in spring 2011. It was initiated by Professor Marjan Grdadolnik and the founding members. After more than ten seasons, it has become well-known both at home and abroad and is boldly devising new programmes. The orchestra has featured both top artists and young promising solo instrumentalists as soloists.

Project Music for the future as a messenger of peace, humanity and the idea of European integration

MUSIC FOR THE FUTURE is the title of the artistic-humanitarian project with which the organisation The Slovenian Youth Orchestra proved that the process of integration of refugees from Ukraine is also possible through art. Especially when it comes to a group of people who are active in the same sphere, and consequently share the same needs, life and professional perspectives. They have used the power of music to connect the young newcomers to our environment, presenting them to the public through concerts and organising them into a symphony orchestra - as a key form of activity, cooperation, networking and integration.

From 6 March 2022 until today, 142 young musicians and their mothers have been evacuated and most of them integrated into our living space. Today, these young people are being educated here and are enrolled in primary and secondary music schools and the Ljubljana Academy of Music. They have all been attending Slovenian language courses since the beginning and are practically independent after half a year in Slovenia.