Page 25 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

The Coexistence of the Social, the Professional and the Artistic
The most important initiative from this period is the DSS Concert At-
elier, launched in late 1966 at the instigation of composer and then secre-
tary Darijan Božič. The idea behind the initiative was to combine contem-
porary creative explorations in music and art and give young musicians
the opportunity to perform concerts – at which at least half the works per-
formed would be by Slovene composers – in the Society’s new hall. The At-
elier’s first concert, on 21 November 1966, featured the mezzo-soprano Eva
Novšak and the pianist and composer Ljubo Rančigaj. Before the concert,
an exhibition of works by the sculptor Peter Černe and the printmaker Jan-
ez Boljka was officially opened in the Society’s premises. Following an in-
troductory address by Jakob Jež, the musical evening in the packed hall
proved to be a big success. 13
Many Slovene musical works commissioned by the Atelier team re-
ceived their premiere performances in the context of the Concert Atelier
series, while numerous works by international composers were also per-
formed in Slovenia for the first time. One interesting fact to which sever-
al writers have drawn attention is that in the 1960s, a period in which other
concert organisers were grappling with empty seats, the Society’s hall was
packed tight for Atelier concerts. Although “packed” is a relative term, giv-
en the hall’s small capacity, this consideration should be balanced by the
fact that the audience capable of appreciating programmes of this kind was
necessarily limited.
Other important aspects of the Atelier include the strengthening of co-
operation with performers at concert presentations and the promotion of
contemporary music. In view of the fact that, by 2005, more than 570 Slo-
vene soloists and around 70 foreign soloists, along with around 70 Slovene
ensembles and 20 foreign ensembles, had appeared in concerts of the Con-
cert Atelier series, the question arises as to how often works that were per-
formed for the first time as part of this series subsequently appeared on
concert programmes in other venues. Research to date has not provided an
answer to this question.
An additional attraction in the early years of the Atelier’s activity were
the accompanying exhibitions, whose openings coincided with concerts.
Unfortunately, owing to the Society’s difficult financial position, these
came to an end in the second half of the 1990s – a period in which the Soci-
ety’s concert activities almost dried up too. It is, however, worth asking why

13 Anon., “Koncertni atelje DSS,” Bilten DSS I, no. 6 (1966): 5.

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