From 16 to 18 April 2023, I was invited to the Ljubljana Academy of Music, Slovenia, as a guest lecturer on instrumentation and to hold instructional rehearsals. Miha Rogina, who teaches saxophone at the academy and also studied conducting at the mdw, directs the school’s wind orchestra.

Prof. Rogina invited me to join two conducting students (from the orchestral conducting class of Simon Dvoršak) in leading an instructional rehearsal with the wind orchestra, in which we explored the “Symphony for Wind Orchestra” by Paul Fauchet.

The topic of my lecture the following day was “Arranging, Scoring, and Composing for Concert Wind Orchestra”, in which we discussed various approaches in the area of wind music. Once again, a central topic was how articulation can be interpreted and implemented in wind ensembles playing with multiple musicians to a part.

Finally, I talked about the Fauchet Symphony and its historic scoring, as a number of the instruments called for, such as the ophicleide (a conical-bore keyed brass instrument), no longer exist in their original form. This is also important background information in view of modern-day performance practice.

The wind-ensemble scene in Slovenia is very similar to that of Austria, and the architecture of the city of Ljubljana, formerly part of the Habsburg Monarchy, also reminds the visitor of the history it shares with Austria.

I felt very much at home here, with the exception of the language, whose sound differs from that of Slovak or Czech.

My last visit to Ljubljana was about ten years ago, when I was a student singing in Vienna’s Singverein choir, and even then, I felt quite comfortable in this small capital city, which boasts a very active arts scene. Highly recommended!