Darko Brlek

Ljubljana – The concert of Russian soprano Anna Netrebko at the Ljubljana Festival remains scheduled for 26 September, the festival’s director and artistic director Darko Brlek said on Wednesday after the Ukrainian community in Slovenia called for its cancellation with last week’s petition signed by more than 700 people when the appeal was presented.

The festival will open in Congress square in grand style with a rendition of Carmina Burana by the theatre group La Fura dels Baus.

Russian composer giants will be honoured by the St Petersburg Philharmonic orchestra at the beginning of July, while conductor Valery Gergiev, will return to Ljubljana with the Mariinsky Theatre to close the festival.

The performance will be held as part of the 65th Ljubljana Festival and will feature Beethoven's Violin Concerto performed by Zukerman, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of the second half of the 20th century.