Page 324 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes | Composers’ Societies Past and Present
In 1972 the Ensemble was also invited to Belgium, where it gave con-
certs in Ath, Antwerp and Brussels. It returned to Brussels in 1976 during a
tour of West Germany. A year later the programme performed at that time
was released as an LP. The Ensemble’s long list of performances abroad also
included Slovakia, specifically a concert in Bratislava in June 1965. That ap-
pearance reciprocated a concert by the Bratislava ensemble Hudba dneška
in Ljubljana a year earlier. In a similar manner, the Ensemble repaid a Lju-
bljana Festival appearance by the Cluj-based ensemble Ars nova and set off
on a tour of Romania. Performances in neighbouring Austria included con-
certs in Klagenfurt in 1969, 1972 and 1978 and in Vienna in 1970. The En-
semble also performed in Paris in 1971 and in Sofia in 1968. In July 1977 the
Ensemble visited Sweden at the invitation of Swedish composer Folke Rabe
(1935–2017) and gave seven concerts.
In February 1980, after almost two years of preparations and negotia-
tions, the Ensemble set off on a tour of Iraq, the originally planned tour of
Iran having fallen through for political reasons (the proclamation of the Is-
lamic Republic following the return of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979). Poor
audience response meant that the tour of Iraq was not fondly remembered
by the Ensemble. 13

Festival appearances

The Slavko Osterc Ensemble also performed at numerous international fes-
tivals of contemporary music. However the Ensemble did not appear at
the concerts of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM).
It did leave a mark on various Yugoslav festivals of contemporary music.
These included Radenci, a festival “on home turf”, and, most importantly,
14
the Jugoslovenska muzička tribina (from its founding in 1963 until 1977). It

13 “Despite the fact that we had deliberately prepared a programme that was as popular
and diverse as possible, it proved unsuitable for the Iraqi audience – with the exception
of the concert for Europeans living in Baghdad. An Iraqi audience [at that time] would
probably not have accepted anything from our cultural sphere, especially not in such a
poorly organised tour. The tour was physically extremely demanding but the members
of the ensemble went through with it, throughout its duration and in relation to the
Iraqi side, with the awareness that they were representing our country and our culture
in a friendly nation.” Ivo Petrić, “Poročilo o turneji Ansambla Slavko Osterc v Iraku
od 3. do 10. 2. 1980,” personal archive of Ivo Petrić.
14 From the founding of the festival in 1963 until 1968 and, following a four-year break,
from 1972 until 1981. The Ensemble also performed at the Ljubljana Festival in 1967,
1971, 1976 and 1977. See also: Ivo Petrić, “Domača ustvarjalnost na ljubljanskih kon-
certnih odrih,” Sodobnost, no. 11 (1966): 1157–8.

324