Slovene National Opera and Ballet Theatre Ljubljana
Slovenia's national opera and ballet company, in an 1892 house enlarged by a 2011 annexe.
The house was built between 1890 and 1892 as the Provincial Theatre, to a neo-Renaissance design by the Czech architects Jan Vladimir Hrasky and Anton Hruby, the latter trained with the Viennese theatre specialists Fellner and Helmer. Allegorical figures of Comedy and Tragedy by Alojz Gangl crown the front. German-language performances moved to a new building in 1911, leaving the theatre to Slovenian companies, and opera and ballet have been staged here ever since.
The company traces its continuous life to the reopening of the Slovenian stage in 1918-19, with the first independent ballet production staged the following spring. Opera and ballet ensembles now share the house with their own orchestra and chorus. Between 2008 and 2011 the building was overhauled to plans by Jurij Kobe and Marjan Zupanc, who added an annexe that roughly doubled its floor area and provided rehearsal rooms, workshops and modern stage machinery behind the historic front.
Highlights
- Neo-Renaissance auditorium of 1892 with Alojz Gangl's allegorical sculpture outside
- Resident opera and ballet companies with their own orchestra and chorus
- Annexe of 2011 by Jurij Kobe and Marjan Zupanc, roughly doubling the floor area
- Season of opera, ballet and matinee performances from autumn to early summer
