Slovenian pride Alenka Gotar is limbering up for the Eurovision Song Contest well beyond the confines of Europe, with a major tour of Japan with the Maribor Opera and Ballet.

The tour will take Alenka and the company to Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo, and together they will cover such greats as Mendelssohn, Sarasat, Mascagni, Mozart, Verdi, Gounod, Lehar, Rossini and Bellini. The tour will conclude in Tokyo with performances of Lakme on 23rd and 25th of April, in which Alenka sings in the role of Rose.

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Alenka, fresh from recent TV appearances in Croatia and FYR Macedonia, will be riding high following recent news that she topped official OGAE fan polls in both Spain and Portugal, and is in second place behind Belarus in an early pan-OGAE round-up. On May 10th, she will be hoping to become the first Slovenian artist to successfully pass through the Eurovision semifinal to the grand event on Saturday. In the meantime, she continues her duty along more classical lines before her return in time for rehearsals in Helsinki.