Between 20 June and 3 September Ljubljana's signature summer festival will cater to a variety of tastes in an eclectic mix of performances, piquing the interest of fans of Disney-inspired musicals or appreciators of hedonistic cantatas. Opera, ballet, classical music and theatre remain the pillars of the country's largest summertime festival, but the list goes on.

One of the highlights of the 71st Ljubljana Festival will be choreographer Edward Clug's rendition of Carmina Burana, which premiered to critical acclaim in 2021 and now returns to Ljubljana in a sold-out performance.

Classical music performances include the Boston Symphony Orchestra with soloists on 1 September, and the 28 August performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Opera buffs or fans in the making can look forward to two mid-July performances of Madama Butterfly by the Venice-based Teatro la Fenice. A regular guest at the festival, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko will perform on 11 July together with her husband, Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov, and two more soloists.

Also returning to Ljubljana as part of the festival will be Maria Pages, one of the most internationally renowned Flamenco artists in the world, with her latest choreography, De Scheherezade. Along with many other dancers and musicians she will perform at one of the festival's main venues, the amphitheatre-like open-air theatre Križanke.

Theatregoers have a small but impressive array of plays to pick from, as the festival hosts Slovenian takes on classics Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Ravishing of Lol Stein, as well as La Fura dels Baus, an iconic urban theatre group from Spain, and two of its productions, including the world premiere of its immersive production To Be or Not to Be.

There will be a homage to rock giants Pink Floyd and a performance of Hans Zimmer's scores by the Ukrainian Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Khmelnitsky Philharmonic and soloists. Fans of musicals are in for a treat too, having two to enjoy: the Zagreb-based Komedija Theatre's Beauty and the Beast and Slovenia's The Water Man.

Several singer-songwriters will perform at the festival, including Tomaž Domicelj, who has left a huge mark on the Slovenian pop scene during his almost 60-year career. A gala tribute to him in Congress Square will open the festival.

The entire festival programme is available here.