The Maribor Festival has developed from a festival of baroque music, organised for the first time in 1963 by the Concert Management Maribor. Under the artistic directorship of the pianist and professor Janko Šetinc the festival was held in 1994 with its concept and name changed to Music September. It then expanded its venues to other places around Maribor (Ptuj, Slovenj Gradec, Dornava, et cetera) and gradually became one of the major classical music festivals in Slovenia. Janko Šetinc, the Music September’s conceptual project leader, was succeeded as the Festival’s artistic director by the horn player Radovan Vlatković, one of the most renowned chamber musicians in the world. The Music September distinguished itself by its refined selection of programme, high-level performance (internationally acclaimed chamber musicians performing at the Festival) and above all by its unique approach to organisation. The invitations to the Festival were not sent out to chamber ensembles with their concert repertoire being pre-defined but rather, in the majority of cases, to top musicians – soloists who then created ensembles in Maribor according to the programme selected by the artistic director.
The year 2008 added a new dimension and a new name to the Festival, i.e. the Maribor Festival. Under the leadership of Richard Tognetti, exceptional violinist, conductor and composer, the Festival retains its own production and festival-specific programmes and ensembles. The number of concerts has increased and in addition to chamber music concerts, the programme also contains symphony works following the introduction of the Maribor Festival Orchestra.