 Aug 10 - Aug 27

 Radovljica

The 42nd iteration of the early music festival in the north-western town of Radovljica will see ten concerts with a programme focusing on 17th and 18th century music.

Most of the concerts will be held at the Radovljica Manor, two at St Peter's Church in Radovljica and one at the Church of Annunciation in Velesovo, which is known for its organ.

The opening concert on 10 August will see the Dutch ensemble Castello Consort play chamber music from the court of Leopold William of Austria in 17th-century Brussels and Italian sonatas published in Antwerp.

The festival's 20-member Baroque Orchestra will be joined by five soloists on 12 August to perform the 17th century oratorio by Alessandro Stradella that recounts the story about the beheading of St John the Baptist.

Dutch musician Menno van Delft will give a recital on the clavichord on 13 August, playing music from the Rococo period by the sons and disciples of Johann Sebastian Bach as well as by Mozart.

In a rare chance the festival audience will be able to hear Dhrupad, the oldest genre of North Indian classical music which traces its roots back to the Vedas.

Uday Bhawalkar, a leading vocalist of the genre who has played an important role in its global recognition, will perform in Radovljica on 14 August.

Two days later Une soirée chez Proust will transport the audience back to the salons of early 20th century Paris with songs by Ravel, Fauré, and Reynaldo Hahn performed by British tenor Nicholas Mulroy and pianist Alisdair Hogarth.

The Slovak Ensemble ad Fontes, featuring Slovenian violinist Mojca Gal, will play Baroque and folk music from Slovakia, including Hungarian and Hanák dances, on 18 August.

The next two evenings, counting as a double bill, will see the eminent French cellist Christophe Coin play six suites for unaccompanied cello by Bach.

The concerts on 22 and 25 August will be dedicated to Baroque music from the Slovenian port town of Koper; the first will hear music from the Koper Cathedral and the second the Franciscan chants written at monasteries in Koper and Piran in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The festival will wrap up on 27 August with a concert by Giovanna Baviera, a Luxembourg-born musician of Italian and Irish background, who has developed a personal approach to reviving the historical practice of singing to the viol.

Free shuttle services will be available from Ljubljana and Kranj to all the concerts. For more details, visit the festival's website here.