A new statue of conductor and composer Gustav Mahler is to be unveiled at noon on Friday 1 July 2011 in Dvorni trg.

One of the greatest conductors of his time, he has also become recognised as one of the greatest composers of all time.
In fact it all began in Ljubljana, when the 21-year-old talented musician arrived to take up his first conducting post at what is now the Slovenian Philharmonic. A year later, he went out into the wide world in which he created musical history, comprised of monumental symphonies.

130 years later, Ljubljana remembers him with pride and a permanent memorial in the immediate vicinity of the Slovenian Philharmonic. Ljubljana Festival has worked especially hard for this, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth and the centenary of his death last summer with performances of his 2nd and 5th symphonies, thereafter with a year-long Mahler project in Ljubljana prepared in partnership with the Slovenian Philharmonic and RTV Slovenia. As part of the Days of Music, Ljubljana Festival put up a portrait of Mahler in Mesni trg, a piece of work by Bojan Kunaver, who has produced a whole series of statues of the great artist.

Ljubljana Festival is also paying tribute to Gustav Mahler in the 59th summer festival. It opens with his 8th symphony (3 July in Congress Square), enriched with the ballet What Love Tells Me performed by the Béjart Ballet from Lausanne (6 and 7 July).

The statue of Gustav Mahler, created by sculptor Bojan Kunaver, cast by Roman Kamšek, will be unveiled by Mayor Zoran Janković, conductor Uroš Lajovic and general director of the Ljubljana festival Darko Brlek.