Friday 21/10 | Florarium Medievale - Today! | Concert for accordion and voice
Klemen Leben, accordion | Maria Leben, soprano
Why do we call musical instruments instruments? Well, because they are tools (from latin
instrumentum: tool, an implement). And what would be the use of those musical tools?
To imitate the human voice or - to be more precise - to imitate the singing.
Singing or to sing would be the first thing that comes to mind to Maria and Klemen when
it comes to describing this concert. It is obvious that a soprano sings and that an accordionist
plays. But could an accordion, a musical machine if you will, do more than just playing: to play in a
singing manner?
The concert aims to answer in the affirmative, namely by presenting a “singing” chamber
music of equal partners, where music will be alternating between several axes:
- the axis of time:
renaissance music — folk inspired music — contemporary music
medieval texts (Boethius, Eugene of Toledo) — folk texts — poetry of the 20th century
- the axis of life:
soprano (soul) — accordion (animated/soulful machine) — music box (soulless machine)
- the axis of creation:
composed — improvised a.k.a. real time composition
All that might sound rather complicated. Luckily that is not the case! Maria and Klemen will
present a sound and meaningful program, showcasing musical diversity and artful beauty. As a
cherry on the top: a premiere of a new piece by renowned composer Uroš Rojko.
PROGRAM
Klemen Leben (1983) From Paths and Fairytales:
· White Fairytale
· A Path
John Dowland (1562/63-1626) Come Away, Come Sweet Love
Fine Knacks for Ladies
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) Zodiac: Sagittarius
Uroš Rojko (1954) 6 Quotes by Ivan Cankar (A’ Εκτέλεση)
Improvisation over a Slovenian theme The Clouds Are Red
Lojze Lebič (1934) Medival Garland:
· Clarity of Thinking (Severinus Boethius)
· Nightingale (Eugenius of Toledo)
Municipal Theater "Aneton"
time 21:00
Ticket: €10/€7 reduced
Single ticket for the three concerts: €20/€15 reduced
(pre-sale: Horodentro, Katholikon 4)
Why do we call musical instruments instruments? Well, because they are tools (from latin
instrumentum: tool, an implement). And what would be the use of those musical tools?
To imitate the human voice or - to be more precise - to imitate the singing.
Singing or to sing would be the first thing that comes to mind to Maria and Klemen when
it comes to describing this concert. It is obvious that a soprano sings and that an accordionist
plays. But could an accordion, a musical machine if you will, do more than just playing: to play in a
singing manner?
The concert aims to answer in the affirmative, namely by presenting a “singing” chamber
music of equal partners, where music will be alternating between several axes:
- the axis of time:
renaissance music — folk inspired music — contemporary music
medieval texts (Boethius, Eugene of Toledo) — folk texts — poetry of the 20th century
- the axis of life:
soprano (soul) — accordion (animated/soulful machine) — music box (soulless machine)
- the axis of creation:
composed — improvised a.k.a. real time composition
All that might sound rather complicated. Luckily that is not the case! Maria and Klemen will
present a sound and meaningful program, showcasing musical diversity and artful beauty. As a
cherry on the top: a premiere of a new piece by renowned composer Uroš Rojko.
PROGRAM
Klemen Leben (1983) From Paths and Fairytales:
· White Fairytale
· A Path
John Dowland (1562/63-1626) Come Away, Come Sweet Love
Fine Knacks for Ladies
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) Zodiac: Sagittarius
Uroš Rojko (1954) 6 Quotes by Ivan Cankar (A’ Εκτέλεση)
Improvisation over a Slovenian theme The Clouds Are Red
Lojze Lebič (1934) Medival Garland:
· Clarity of Thinking (Severinus Boethius)
· Nightingale (Eugenius of Toledo)
Municipal Theater "Aneton"
time 21:00
Ticket: €10/€7 reduced
Single ticket for the three concerts: €20/€15 reduced
(pre-sale: Horodentro, Katholikon 4)
Klemen Leben
Klemen Leben is an accordionist, composer, improviser, pedagogue, researcher, and strong advocate for
meaningful contemporary music. He studied accordion with Prof. Ivan Koval and Prof. Matti
Rantanen at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music Weimar and Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
Momentarily he is a doctoral student at the Doctoral School at the University of Arts Helsinki
(Sibelius Academy).
Klemen Leben is actively playing as soloist and chamber musician in Europe and North America
and has received widespread acclaim for his performances at prestigious festivals and venues
(Salzburger Festspiele, Music Biennale Zagreb, Konzerthaus Berlin, Semper Oper Dresden, KKL
Luzern, Waldbühne Berlin, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Helsinki Music Centre and others). He played
with prominent orchestras such as Kammersymphonie Berlin, Mozarteum Salzburg, Staatskapelle
Weimar, RSO Slovenia and Prague Philharmonic under renowned conductors including Christian
Thielemann, Marco Armilliato, Ville Matvejeff, En Shao and Michael Sanderling.
His „exceptional concert“ at the 28th Music Biennale Zagreb (April 2015) has been praised as
„the best moment“ of that year‘s edition of this renowned festival of contemporary music.
He is a winner of several international competitions – the most prestigious of them the 46th
accordion competition Klingenthal 2009 – and records for many broadcasting companies (ORF,
Deutschlandradio Kultur, SWR, ZDF, RAI, HRT, RTV Slovenia and others).
His repertoire covers a wide range of musical styles: from Renaissance to original contemporary
music for accordion. An important part of his musical activities is cooperating with composers
(Aho, Hosokawa, Katzer, Lebič, Pintscher, Rojko, Šenk and others), resulting in a notable number
of premieres.
Believing that musicianship requires more than performing, Leben is also active as an improviser
and a composer. His works, ranging from works for solo instruments, chamber music to orchestral
music, are performed internationally. Leben‘s composition „Formula magica“ (fl, ob, sax, pno, acc,
vlc) has been awarded 3rd prize at the 7th int. competition for composers preArt in Basel (CH).
Klemen Leben was teaching 2010/11 at the FRANZ LISZT Academy of Music in Weimar. In
September 2011 he was appointed Professor of Accordion at the Conservatory of Music and
Ballet Ljubljana. Since October 2012 he has been teaching at the Academy of Music Ljubljana.
Leben is also internationally active as a jury member at renowned accordion competitions.
https://klemenleben.com
Maria Leben
After graduating in music pedagogy from Academy of music FRANZ LISZT Weimar soprano Maria
Leben began studying singing and obtained the Bachelor of music at the Academy of music
Detmold in the class of Prof. Heiner Eckels and Prof. Lars Woldt. She finished her Master studies
under the guidance of Prof. Pia Brodnik at the Music Academy of Ljubljana. During her studies she
constantly strived to improve her singing and attend masterclasses and worked with renowned
musicians such as singers Margreet Honig and Claudia Rüggeberg, stage director Eja Tolpo and
conductor and pianist Ralf Gothoni.
Her versatility is reflected in her extensive repertoire which includes compositions from early
Baroque, great Oratorios and Passions by Bach and Händel right up to the contemporary works
such as Milton Babbitt‘s solo cantata Philomele.
Operatic experience was acquired at the productions of the academies, where she sang Die
Zauberflöte (Pamina), Il matrimonio segreto (Elisetta) and Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna) as well as
with Detmolder Kammerorchester (cond. Alfredo Pearl) where she has sung Bubikopf (Ullmann:
Der Kaiser von Atlantis). As a soloist she performed with the Orchestra of Opera Ljubljana
(Offenbach, Olympia) and with the Slovenian Philharmonic (Mozart, Königin der Nacht).
One of her passions – chamber music – led to cooperations with various ensembles and the
initiation of modern chamber music compositions by musicians such as N. Šenk, T. Bajželj, T. Vulc,
U. Pompe, L. Füršt, K. Zeynalova and K. Leben.