(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 11 MAR - An open cultural platform where music, theater, cinema, dance, and contemporary visual arts meet and engage in dialogue: this is how the 74th Ljubljana Festival was presented, with its program unveiled today in Trieste. The Slovenian capital is preparing to host performances by national and international artists from June 21 to September 8 at venues including Congress Square, the Križanke Summer Theater, Cankarjev dom, and the Slovenian Philharmonic. The program, it was explained, "skillfully combines tradition and contemporaneity," "appeals to a diverse audience, and offers space both to established artists and to new artistic voices." Highlights include Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville with Venice's Teatro La Fenice on July 15 and 16. Also on the program, in preview, is the musical Mamma Mia!, directed by Jug Radivojević, on June 5 and September 4, while the festival will open with Puccini's operatic masterpiece Turandot, performed by the SNG Maribor Opera Ballet on June 21. Direction, set design, and choreography are by Filippo Tonon, while Simon Krečič will conduct the orchestra. This will be followed by performances from Slovenian musician Neisha on June 26 and Slovenian electronic music pioneer Miha Kralj at Križanke on June 28. Early July will feature the festival's 29th International Art Colony, aimed at opening a creative dialogue among artists from different cultural backgrounds. Other summer events include the musical Evita, produced by the Maribor National Theatre, from July 6; jazz performances by trumpeter Terence Blanchard and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who with the E-Collective project will pay tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane on July 7; and concerts by Spanish pianist Leo de María on July 17, the Berlin Nonet on August 12, and Chinese American pianist Yuja Wang on September 1. The festival will close on September 8 with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic conducted by Robert Treviño, featuring violinist Lana Trotovšek. (ANSA).