48th Ljubljana Jazz Festival

This year's Ljubljana Jazz Festival will be taking place at Cankarjev dom from the 28th through the 30th of June.

"Bringing together big names in international jazz, Ljubljana Jazz Festival traditionally attracts music lovers from both Slovenia and abroad. The forthcoming 48th edition of the Festival will feature artists such as Tomasz Stanko, Matthew Shipp, Bill Laswell, Nils Petter Molvaer, Vlatko Stefanovski, Omar Sosa and several others."

Via Ljubljana.si

Midsummer Night on the Ljubljanica River

We're not really sure if this is anything to get excited about, but apparently there will be some kind of procession of decorated boats heading down the Ljubljanica tomorrow evening starting at 10pm.

Ljubljana Street Theatre

Ljubljana's Ana Desetnica festival is an annual festival of street theatre, now in its 10th year. This year's festival will feature numerous performances by international street artists and will take place from 27 June 'til 1 July at various open air locations. So if you happen to be wandering about in Ljubljana's old town be sure to keep your eyes open for clowns, circus performers, actors, jugglers, fire eaters, musicians, dancers, and other unexpected surprises!

Marilyn Manson in Ljubljana

Well, the Marilyn Manson concert is indeed happening in Ljubljana tonight. Passing by the Krizanke concert complex earlier today, it was a bit strange to feel the ground outside rattling during the rehearsal. Curiosity got the best of us and we almost managed to sneak inside for a closer look but unfortunately got turned back by the guards at the inner gate. Parked outside the complex were two huge trucks and a couple of tour buses belonging to Manson's ground crew.

Ljubljana Festival 2007

Ljubljana Life Magazine has just published an overview of this year's Ljubljana Summer Festival:

"Most performances will take place at the Križanke summer theatre, an architectural jewel and a rather unique complex designed by the famous Slovenian architect, Jože Plečnik. Other performances will also take place high above the city at the Ljubljana Castle, as well as at the traditional and more intimate Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, and also at the vast and modern Gallus Hall of the Cankarjev dom Centre.

The Ljubljana Summer Festival will be very generous to opera lovers this year. Six opera performances will greatly enrich the musical atmosphere of the metropolis during the long hot days of summer. The Festival will start (July 2nd, additional performances on July 4th and 5th) with the new co-production by the Ljubljana and Maribor Opera Theatres of Borodin's work Prince Igor."

Via Ljubljana Life Magazine

Ljubljana Attracting More and More Visitors

"Slovenia's capital is attracting a growing number of visitors from the country and abroad. According to statistics released by the Ljubljana Tourist Board on Wednesday, 6 June, tourist info points in Ljubljana recorded 69,079 visitors in the first five months of the year, up 33% year-on-year.

In May alone the number of visitors stood at 20,288, which is up 41% over the same month last year."

Source: STA

Aussie wins Slovenia Big Brother Contest

An Australian contestant on Slovenia's popular Big Brother reality TV show has claimed the grand prize this weekend:

"HE'S got a Big Brother house right at his doorstep, but Aussie Andrej Novak travelled all the way to Slovenia to compete on the reality TV series - and won.

The 27-year-old Gold Coaster took home €75,000 ($120,000) on claiming the top prize in the Central European nation's first BB series.

Novak, who has a Slovenian background, spoke mostly English in the house because he didn't feel confident using the native tongue.

Always a scene stealer, he was one of 12 housemates who entered the 300sq m house in the capital Ljubljana on March 17."

Source: News.com.au

Summer Museum Night

This year's Summer Museum Night in Ljubljana will take place on 16 June from 10am til Midnight:

"Museum Summer Night, an annual summer event organised by Ljubljana's museums and galleries, will feature a programme of workshops, demonstrations, film screenings, concerts, etc. concluding with a party held at the International Graphic Arts Centre, located in the Tivoli Mansion (Grad Tivoli). Admission to all museums and galleries will be free"

Via Ljubljana.si

Update:
Apart from looking at the museum exhibitions until late in the evening, visitors will also be allowed to engage in various activities such as fine art workshops for children, students, and adults, lectures and performances, films and video presentations, as well as guided visits, music, etc.

Here is the full list of museums and galleries in Ljubljana taking part in the event (apologies in advance for not translating the titles from Slovene, but if you're thinking of visiting any this weekend, it would be helpful to know the Slovene names anyway ;-)

Arhitekturni muzej Ljubljana, Bežigrajska galerija 1 in 2, Cankarjev dom, Društvo likovnih umetnikov Ljubljana, Galerija Ars, Galerija Fotografija, Galerija Hest, Galerija Hest 35, Galerija Kresija, Galerija Škuc, KUD France Prešeren, Ljubljanski grad, Mala galerija, Mednarodni grafični likovni center, Mestni muzej Ljubljana, Moderna galerija Ljubljana, Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenije, Narodna galerija, Narodni muzej Slovenije, Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije, Mestna galerija Ljubljana, Muzej športa, Slovenski etnografski muzej, Slovenski šolski muzej, Tehniški muzej Slovenije, Zavod za kiparstvo v Grubarjevi kiparski galeriji, Železniški muzej Slovenskih železnic.

Ljubljana Summer Festival 2007

The Ljubljana Summer Festival will take place from 26 June through 14 September. The festival offers a very rich and diverse musical programme featuring well-known artists from across the globe.

"Ljubljana Festival is Slovenia's oldest event of its kind. Its beginnings date back to 1952, when the Ljubljana Tourist Society organized the first Tourist Week to be followed a year later by the first edition of Ljubljana Festival. Every year, the Festival, organised by the Festival Ljubljana event management company, attracts about 50,000 visitors from Slovenia and abroad.

Highlights of this year’s festival will include performances by State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Marjana Lipovšek, Vadim Repin, Krzysztof Penderecki and many others."

More information is available at: www.ljubljanafestival.si.

Via Ljubljana.si

National Gallery Displays Model of Giotto's Chapel

Ljubljana's National Gallery has opened an exhibition of the famous early Italian Renaissance artist Giotto, along with six of his contemporaries. The exhibition, which lasts until September 30, includes a 1/3 scale model of Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel in the Italian city of Padova,

"The model preserves well the beauty of Giotto's masterpiece, said Davide Banzato, the head of the Padova Civic Museums. He added that Giotto was the central arts figure in the Italian city in the 14th century.

"Giotto painted over 700 square metres of the Scrovegni family chapel. One of his most striking images is on the arched ceiling, which he embellished with more than 800 stars on a blue background."

Via GCO

Iron Maiden Starts European Tour in Ljubljana

British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden, started its summer European tour at Ljubljana's Bezigrad stadium on Saturday. The current tour marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the band's seminal album "The Number of the Beast". Their first album, "Iron Maiden" was released in 1980, and quickly rose to the top of British music charts. During Saturday's concert in Ljubljana the band played songs from their latest album "A Matter of Life and Death" as well as many older hits.

Little Slovenia, part of the Big Fiber Dream �

Om Malik, a well-known technology industry figure, has published an interesting article about Slovenia's plans for deploying fiber optic cables directly to individual homes in the country:

"Slovenia is one of those tiny nations you may have heard off but may have difficulty finding on the map. Independent for about 16 years, the country with a population of over 2 million was carved out of the old Yugoslavia. Despite its diminutive size, it is one of the important players in the fiber-to-the-home revolution that is slowly sweeping the world.

The local incumbent, Telekom Slovenije, has launched a project, F2, a massive fiber to the home project that will get 50,000 Slovenian homes fiber-based broadband access. That may not sound like much, but it still is an important piece that adds to the overall FTTH deployments worldwide, which are slowly and steadily increasing."

Anyone who is interested to find out more about Telekom Slovenia's plans should checkout the interesting commentary at the end of the article.

Source: GigaOM