Summer 2008 and season 2008/09
Summer 2008

The summer activities started in May, when Marina was a guest at two festivals: 3rd Pera Piano Festival in Istanbul (Turkey) and the Banja Luka Biennale (Bosnia). At the first one she gave a recital with a Slavic programme (Janaček, Szymanowski, Chopin, Škerjanc, Matičič), held a one-day master-class and was a member of the international competition at the competition. At the second one she was again invited as a jury member at the international competition for pianists.

On June 5th she played in the small hall of the Slovenian Philharmonic (Ljubljana) a programme of pieces by Slovenian composers in the cycle Music out of Oblivion, organized by Glasbena matica (Jurij Mihevc, Franc Šturm, Karol Pahor, Dane Škerl, Vilko Ukmar).

On June 29th her project idea was realized at the Summer in the Old Town Festival (Ljubljana): Brahms' Liebesliederwalzer for 4 singers and piano 4-hands. Beside Marina the performers were Katja Konvalinka (soprano), Barbara Jernejčič (mezzo-soprano), Fritz Steinbacher (tenor), Christian Kofmel (baritone) and Stanislav Krotilov, piano.

From July 1st to 16th she was at the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora, Minnesota (USA). There she was active as a piano pedagogue, performed in four concerts (programme including Beethoven Sonata Op. 102/1 for cello&piano together with Victor Uzur, professor at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City). She also introduced to a group of interested students her special method for physical and mental/emotional relaxation

From July 27th to August 4th she was at the International Terra Magica Music Festival in Poreč (Croatia), held her master workshop "The Hidden Potential" at the Summer Academy and gave a recital in the Basilica with works by Beethoven, Szymanowski, Pahor, Škerjanc and Franck, recorded for the Croatian Radio (studio Pula).

From September 3rd to 14th she was a guest of the Hopes, Talents, Masters Festival in Dobrich-Albena (Bulgaria), where she taught, adjudicated in the jury of the international competition, and played at the Gala Concert.
 

Season 2008/2009

Marina's concert season commenced in Ljubljana on November 4th, when she played a full evening programme of new pieces by Slovenian composers as part of the Concert Atelier cycle of the Slovenian Composers Society. She premiered Tadeja Vulc, Dušan Bavdek, Uroš Rojko, Urška Orešič and Pavel Šivic.

On November 15th she gave a recital in Munich (Germany), organized by Notenpunkt and held at the Institute Bencic Concert Salon. Programme: Beethoven (op. 31/3), Chopin (Fantaisie Op. 49) and Franck (Prelude, Choral and Fugue).

Next she went to Serbia. On November 20th she appeared in Novi Sad, at the Mirror Hall of the Town Hall. The concert was presented jointly by the Slovenian Society Kredarica and Jeunesses Musicales of Vojvodina. On November 22nd she was invited by the Faculty of Musical Arts in Belgrade to give a master-class for pianists and on the 25th she played a recital at the Gallery of Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Concerts with violinist Volodja Balžalorski followed - in Copenhagen (Denmark). On December 10th they were guests of the Danish Society for Russian Music and on the 12th they played at the Russian Society for Art and Science. Programme included Janaček, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Dvořak as well as Slovenian composers Vilko Ukmar and Nenad Firšt.

The year ended with a special accolade as Marina was awarded the Betetto Prize 2008 for outstanding artistic achievements by the Society of Slovenian Musicians. The Award Ceremony was on December 22nd on the premises of the Slovenian Writers' Association.

January / February 2009 were in the sign of travelling in the USA. Marina visited:

  • January 25th Long Island (New York) with a short recital, a lecture and a master-class at the L.I.Conservatory
  • January 29th, Middletown (New Jersey), with a evening recital at the Public Library
  • February 8th/9th Davis (California) with a master-class at the Private Music Studio Sakabe
  • February 15th, Oxford (Ohio) with a recital at the Miami University
  • February 16th Cambridge (Massachussets) with a master-classom at the Longy School of Music
  • February 19th Chicago (Illinois) with a recital at the University of Chicago
 
Back in Ljubljana, she appeared on stage again on April 14th, when she played a Chopin recital in the Knights' Hall (Križanke) as part of the Festival Spectrum.

From May 4th to 11th she was in Istanbul (Turkey) as a guest of the 4th Pera Piano Festival, giving a recital and a master-class before joining the international jury for the pianists' contest.

In the first half of 2009 her programmes included works of standard repertoire and pieces by Slovenian composers: Beethoven, Chopin, Franck, Szymanowski, Schubert (Sonata op. 42), Pahor, Škerjanc, Vulc, Matičič.

 

 

 

 

 
 
[ Back ]