World Music Days is a festival with a long tradition; Slovenia will host the 80th edition. Can you tell us something about the origins of this festival?

It was in the Cafe Bazar in Salzburg in 1922 where outstanding composers of the time, such as Paul Hindemith and Anton Webern, met and came up with the idea for organizing a festival that would move from one country to another and provide a place to meet once a year to exchange information. Until then, there was only one festival of contemporary music, the chamber music festival in Donaueschingen, which all those gentlemen attended. That same year they organised a small-scale festival, today called the ''zero festival''. The first World Music Days were not organized until August the following year. At the time, the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) was established with its headquarters in London; it is now based in Amsterdam. Since then, the festival has been held in a different city every year, except during World War II.

The World Music Days is, as you have mentioned, organised by the ISCM or one of the national sections of the society. Slovenia joined the ISCM in 1992 and was rather quickly given the chance to organize the festival. The competition must have been fierce...

The competition was quite fierce indeed. I have been following the festival since 1993. I was then in Mexico City merely observing and gathering experience. I told no one officially that we could stand as a candidate, although I had been playing with the idea at the time. I officially put forward the proposal in Essen in 1995. I was heard out, but there was no response. I persisted the next year in Copenhagen, where my idea was accepted in a rather condescending way, as if to say that we are not fit to stage the festival. I was quite determined at the 1997 session of the ISCM General Assembly in Seoul. I told the meeting that we are up to the job and that they should not underestimate small countries, because we are all equal in the association. I asked for five years of preparations and my proposal was accepted. Our candidacy was backed unanimously in Manchester in 1998.

The festival will run under the motto "New Music for the Third Millennium". Does this mean that the music performed at the festival has been composed in this millennium?

No. As a composer I am aware that landmark events as a rule happen at the beginning or at the end of a century. The timing is fortunate, given that some works were composed just before the end of the century and have not been performed in the new century, some were composed in 2001, that is in this millennium. We are premiering them for an audience living in the new millennium. The motto has also been adopted by musicologists meeting at the festival and they will combine it with the issue of globalisation. Eight acclaimed contributors will be pondering upon what the future will bring: whether music will make further progress, towards a greater abstraction, or will it maybe draw nearer to the people as it seems, at times, to be loosing touch with audiences.

That is related to my next question. What do you think the response of the audience will be? It is a belief of many people that contemporary music is not as melodious as, for example, Mozart or Tchaikovsky.

We have had this in mind too. We will not perform only music that is extreme in its expression; music has broader dimensions, so it is not just the extreme that would be taken as a guidance of the World Music Days. This is the very reason why we decided to have three opening events, which has never happened before. The first event, featuring chamber and choral music, will be held at Predjama Castle in the afternoon, while in the evening there will be two events at the same time: the official gala opening concert at Cankarjev dom, and the event dubbed Light and Music, a very modern, contemporary show, yet tailored to those who love music. This means that we have deliberately avoided extremes. These will manifest elsewhere, as for example in the fact that both events will start at 8.03 PM (i.e. 20.03), alluding to the year 2003.

The programme lists concerts featuring compositions by more than a hundred authors from some fifty countries, members of the ISCM, and most are from Slovenia. Is this a special privilege of the host country?

It is, however, we need to realize that some Slovenian compositions have been selected by an international jury, while there are also those that we have chosen ourselves or commissioned to our composers. To put it short: it is an internationally established practice that the section organizing the World Music Days has some advantage in the way it promotes its works. It is not defined how many compositions should be Slovenian, so we made the decision ourselves. It is quality that matters. I also believe that we have used the opportunity very well, although not all composers had their chance.

There are quite some Slovenian performers who are highly acclaimed abroad. What about Slovenian music? Is it recognized, is it featured in concert programmes?

Considering that we have not done enough for the promotion of our music, the World Music Days is an opportunity to make our music more widely known. There are obviously several composers who get to have their music performed, however the word "Slovenia" gets lost in this huge mass of compositions.

Nevertheless, given that music is a universal language, it does not matter where it actually comes from.

Exactly. It may come from anywhere and there are quite some composers who have their music performed in more than twenty countries.

What about the previous festivals, following 1992, when Slovenia joined the ISCM?

Individual compositions had been performed. I can therefore not say that Slovenian music is widely known. This is the very reason why we set about organizing the festival.

To return to the festival itself. It will be held at venues across Slovenia, some of the events will overlap, yet the bulk of the events will be concentrated in Ljubljana. What else, apart from concerts, will be going on over during the festival?

There are actually only a few events that will overlap. This will be the case with music films, which are a novelty. As the programme is extensive, I am aware that it will be physically impossible to see all the events. There will be music installations, musicological symposiums, five exhibitions - a major one will showcase written images of music in Slovenia, that is manuscripts. There will also be a display of portraits of Slovenian composers by Saša Šantel (1883-1945) and editions of the Slovenian Composers' Association. Moreover, the ISCM General Assembly will be in session. A lack of funds has unfortunately prevented us from putting up a music fair or a concert by the ensemble Modern, for which we had to substitute with local performers. But it is good that they should be given a chance to introduce themselves.

Some of the concerts will coincide with the repertoires of our concert halls and will therefore require admission fees. What will then be available for the broader public?

Almost all concerts have an admission fee. The broader public will be able to enjoy the installations, the Light and Music multimedia show, and the exhibitions.

This year's festival will introduce the award for best ballet music.

There are actually two awards, one for an outstanding composer under 35, conferred by the Hong Kong-based CASH foundation, and the other for ballet music; the latter is really a novelty. Why ballet? Because it is the only genre involving music and performing that has no problem with language and works in an international environment. The award - it will be conferred by the Slovenian ISCM section - will be symbolic: a crystal cube with a palaeolithic flute as the emblem of this year's festival, a creation of the glassworks school of Rogaška Slatina.

How well has your programme been received abroad? Who do you think will attend the festival?

Given the response we have received, I have the impression that it has been raising considerable expectations abroad. I can tell you that a great number of solos and ensembles had offered to perform at the festival for free after the programme was finished. We obviously followed the well-known formula: if you do not know the ensemble, you could misfire. The majority of composers whose works are listed in the programme will certainly come. A strong interest in the festival has particularly been shown within the nearby countries - Austria, Italy and Croatia.