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Convergences

The extraordinary festival belongs to the most anticipated events of musical life in Slovakia

Convergences bring concerts of chamber music to enrich the musical tradition of the Slovak metropolis. The international music festival was established by a prominent Slovak violoncellist Jozef Lupták. You can find the full program HERE.

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The introduction of the festival will belong to the serious and important topic of the Holocaust and the stories of the people affected by it. The festival will open on Sunday, September 10, with a talk by Dr. Dr. Agaty Schindler, who is the only one long-term engaged in researching the work and fates of musicians silenced by fascism.

The evening will be complemented by the program Songs from the Camp by the Mojše Band ensemble with compositions by prisoners of the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp, arranged by Michal Paľek.

The Bratislava program will also include the acting couple Eva Matejková and Marián Slovák in the role of narrators, as well as the well-known Chassidic Songs project by Rabbi Baruch Myers, cellist Jozef Lupták, accordionist Boris Lenk and violinist Miloš Valent.

Božidara Turzonovová and František Kovár will complete the music by reading from Jiří Langer’s book Nine Gates.

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The second weekend of the festival, September 16-19, will feature three exclusive Scandinavian multi-genre concerts. The well-known Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and the Slovak experimental guitarist David Kollar are united by the desire to discover new places between jazz and the contemporary avant-garde, they are among the prominent figures of the European music scene, and their collaboration brought several award-winning recordings.

On Saturday, September 16, they will play the Sense of Destiny concert in Bratislava’s A4-space of contemporary culture, where the Czech-Slovak quartet Škvíry & Spoje will also perform and christen their debut double vinyl.

On Sunday 17/09, Arve Henriksen will present himself again, this time with the Swedish-Norwegian vocal Trio Mediæval, they will present the Rímur program in the Franciscan Church, combining Scandinavian spiritual and folk music with improvisations. The trio, which has already performed on the world’s most prestigious stages (Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center), toured Europe and the USA this year. In 2009, she received a Grammy nomination, but the wider public may know the musicians thanks to David Lang’s song Just, which appeared on the soundtrack of Paolo Sorrentino’s film Youth.

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Concerts of the International Chamber Music Festival Convergences will offer all of Janáček’s major chamber opuses, including both autobiographically tuned string quartets with the subtitles ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’ and ‘Intimate Letters’, which will be heard in the interpretation of the continuators of the traditions of the Czech Quartet School, the Zemlinsky Quartet.

The invitation to the Convergences was accepted by Jan Jiraský, who recorded Janáček’s complete piano work. Twice: on a modern instrument and on the composer’s own piano. You can also look forward to excellent Slovak artists: soprano Adriana Kučerová, violinist Milan Paľa, cellist Jozef Lupták, pianist Ivan Šiller and others. Interesting will be the introduction of modifications to the songs ‘Nursery Rhymes’, ‘Youth’ and ‘On an Overgrown Path’.

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The guest of the Norwegian-Slovak Convergence Building Bridges project throughout the year 2023 is the exceptional Norwegian improviser, composer and violinist Nils Økland. Together with accordionist Boris Lenko and clarinetist Braňo Dugovič, they created a concert that builds bridges between Slovak, Norwegian, Roma, Jewish music and the musicians’ original work. Double bass player Robert Ragan and singers Gabriela Kováčiková and Åsne Valland Nordli (NO) will join as guests.

At the same time, the evening will also include first-class Norwegian jazz performed by the Nils Økland Band, composed of: Nils Økland – Hardanger violin, viola d’amore, Rolf-Erik Nystrøm – saxophone, Sigbjørn Apeland – harmonium, Håkon Mørch Stene – percussion. The position of double bass player will be taken by the legendary Norwegian musician Arild Andersen, whose name needs no introduction to jazz lovers.

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The third festival weekend will belong to timeless chamber music and rarely performed compositions. On Friday, September 22, during lunch, the festival together with the Emil cafe will offer a musical and gastronomic experience in the courtyard of the Mirbach Palace. Music of many flavors will be presented by violinist Ján Kružliak and cymbalist Ľubomír Gašpar.

In the evening, Prayers and Dreams will be played in Klarisky – mystical music by the Grammy Award winner, Argentinian-American composer Osvald Golijov (Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind) and the French classic of 20th century music by Darius Milhaud (Jacob’s Dreams). The demanding part of Golijov’s composition was studied by Slovak clarinetist Branislav Dugovič.

The Bratislava night of chamber music has been part of festival traditions for years, this year all its parts will be held on Saturday 23 September in the Primate’s Palace. Once again, the music marathon will not tire you, but will surprise you with rare musical experiences. The first concert will be the compositions of the laureates of the 3rd year of the Konvergencii composition competition Juraj Gažmerčík, Šimon Lučenič, Marek Fóra and Adam Štefunk.

This will be followed by a tribute to the musical genius of the 20th century György Ligeti (1923-2006) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth at the Beneš-Ligeti-Sollima concert. The evening will close with rarely performed chamber works by Frank Bridge and Benjamin Britten. The soloists of the evening will be Slovak pianist Nora Skuta and Spanish oboist Eduardo Martínez Caballer.

The festival program also includes a concert for children and parents – Jobusovky chamber music will be performed on Sunday, September 24, by Branislav Jobus, Slavo Solovic and other performers.

The final event of Convergences will be a concert by world-famous Dutch artists, violinist Isabelle van Keulen and pianist Ronald Brautigam, who are among the most inspiring personalities in the world of classical music, on Sunday 24 September in the Moyzes Hall.

Violin sonatas by César Franck and Francis Poulenc will be complemented in the second part of the concert by Beethoven’s wonderful Piano Trio no. 1 in D major, Op. 70 “Geistertrio”, in which cellist and artistic director of the festival Jozef Lupták will perform.

You can buy tickets by clicking on the image: