These words by Helena F. Zupančič, the conductor of St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, rounded off the Gala Concert that took place on 19th April 2017 in St. Stanislav’s Institution. The house was full; almost 800 listeners enjoyed every minute of it, awarding the choir and the prominent guests with standing ovations. No wonder – all performers showed an enviable level of artistry, taking the audience on a music trip from classics to rock, from vocal to instrumental, from Slovene to foreign, from well-established pieces to novelties. Among these, the following songs need to be mentioned: Chilcott’s God of the Open Air, Močnik’s Jerusalem/Yerushalayim and Lebič’ Nekaj je v zraku /Something is in the air/. The concert featured the following guests: WildArt, the winners of the show Slovenia’s Got Talent 2016; internationally renowned vocal ensemble Ingenium Ensemble; (Re)Mixed Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium and the programme host Carmen L. Oven.

The event was much more than a fundraising concert for St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir to travel to Barcelona and participate in the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music in July 2017. The concert marvellously mirrored youth’s beauty, energy and commitment to a common goal. This was a topmost event in terms of content, music and technical qualities. One of the girls from St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir posted the following impressions after the concert:” We all feel contented and thankful. I am still overwhelmed by tonight’s beautiful melodies, incredible energy and heavenly feelings, that still resound inside me. /…/ We feel grateful to all those who came to the concert and support our endeavours, helping our dreams come true. /…/ “.

Helena Fojkar Zupančič says St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir will definitely make a remarkable difference in Barcelona. The goal of the concert was helping the choir to get there. I cannot find more appropriate words to top off this writing than by using the verses of Freddie Mercury’s Barcelona. We had the pleasure of listening to it in the interpretation of (Re)Mixed Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium with two splendid soloists, Marta Močnik and Miha Klemenc:

»Let the songs begin
Let the music play
Make the voices sing
Start the celebration
And cry – Come alive
And shake the foundations from the skies
Ah, Ah, Shaking all our lives …«

/Lily Schweiger Kotar/

 

Ambassador Sean O’Regan visited St. Stanislav’s Institution on 20^th April 2017. He met with third year students and discussed several topics, including his role and duties as a diplomat, work experience in Slovenia and other countries he has served. He also spoke some Irish and taught the class a few basic phrases. The ambassador answered a variety of students’ questions. They were most interested in how ambassador’ work affects his family life. After a coffee break with the headmaster and some English teachers, he was given a guided tour of the school by one of the students, which offered a revealing insight into school history, programme, curriculum and student life. Possible options of student exchange with an Irish high school were discussed. The meeting was organised by Tatjana Jarc, teacher of English at the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. / Ajda Kok, year 3/

On Thursday, 20th April 2017, St. Stanislav’s Institution will welcome the Irish Ambassador H.E. Seán O’Regan. He will meet some third year students and have a discussion on the diplomatic relationship between Ireland and Slovenia, Brexit, a job of a diplomat and other topics. He will also take a tour of St. Stanislav’s Institution. This is his first visit to St. Stanislav’s Institution and the school community is looking forward to the occasion. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

Team Škofijci revival – Katarina Grad, Lara Meglen, Petra Vidmar, Tomaž Rode (year 4) and Matej Urbančič (year 2) –  along with their mentor Tadej Rifel, Ph. D. attended a prize trip to Frankfurt from 4th – 5th April 2017 as the winning team of this year’s Generation Euro competition in Slovenia. Mrs. Sanja Pregl, a representative of the Bank of Slovenia, accompanied us on behalf of the organizers.

After a joint breakfast, we went to the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB), where we first met with a former student of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, Timotej Homar, Ph. D., who works in the field of bank supervision. This was followed by lunch and a guided tour of the main building of the ECB. We also attended the celebration of the issuance of the new 50 € banknote. In the afternoon, a tour to the city was arranged, unforgettable for its excellent guidance. The day ended with dinner out and an informal gathering with participants from other countries.

The next day was more learning-oriented, with a morning lecture on bank supervision in the EU and a discussion with experts. The group photograph and lunch were followed by the culmination of our two-day trip: a conversation with the President of the ECB, Mario Draghi. Besides answering a few questions on monetary policy, the president highlighted the values of the EU and the importance of the euro for its unity. Next on the schedule was the award ceremony. We were really proud to receive the award from the hands of President Draghi! This marked the end of the event. Four team members promptly left for Rome, where we joined the rest of the graduates on the excursion. The other three participants spent a few remaining hours in the city. /Tomaž Rode, year 4/

View the video of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC-EXhPPaN0

 

Warmly welcome to the gala concert which will be presented  in the sports hall of The Alojzij Šuštar Primary School in St. Stanislav’s Institution /Štula 23, Ljubljana/ on 18th April 2017 commencing at 7.30 pm. The concert will feature St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir  of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium anf its conductor Helena Fojkar Zupančič and the prominent guests: WildArt, the winners of the show Slovenia’s got talent 2016, the top internationally renown vocal ensemble Ingenium Ensemble, (Re)Mixed Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, including two soloist Marta Močnik Pirc and Miha Klemenc with a band and the programme host Carmen L. Oven.

This a fundraising concert in aid of St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, who is participating in the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music in July 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. World Symposium on Choral Music is the biggest event of the type in the world, taking place every three years, each time on the different continent. The girls have been chosen among 146 applied choirs from all over the world to join the 24 performing choirs in Barcelona. St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir is besides Carmina Slovenica Choir from Maribor, Slovenia the second Slovene choir ever to take part in this prestigious choral event. Tickets  (to buy call Tina Tandler at +386(0)1 58 22 245) are limited due to the capacity of the venue, and are expected to sell out – so book early to avoid disappointment! Please consider attending the Gala Concert when forming your itinerary.

Make a plan to be with us and support St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of the DCG in their artistic endeavours. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium gave a successful season ticket concert on 29th March 2017 in a full house in Sokol Hall in the ancient town of Škofja Loka.

The choir presented fourteen songs, among which three were premiered, namely: Jerusalem by Damijan Močnik, My First Angel by Ambrož Čopi and God of the Open Air by Bob Chilcott. The evening was spectacular, the performance mature and convincing.  D. Močnik, who had the pleasure of listening to his premiere live,  was enthusiastic about the interpretation and congratulated warmly the choir for the ecxellent job. The audience aplauded loudly, thus thanking the choir for such an outstanding choral event.

The last Teaching Learning Activity as a part of the project Art Nouveau – Art Renouveau, Erasmus +, will take place from 2nd – 8th April 2017 and is organized by one of the partner schools Mallinckrodt Gymnasium in Dortmund, Germany. The participants will first get to know the characteristics of Art Nouveau movement in the region, in particular in Dortmund, and then participate in various artistic workshops, thus learning the techniques of the period and adding a personal modern touch to the artefacts. Students and teachers from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Rumania, Scotland and Slovenia are to join in. The mentor of the project at St. Stanislav’s Institution is Alenka Battelino, teacher of English.

Arrival day, Sunday, 2nd April 2017

We came to Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport at 5.30 in the morning and checked in our luggage. Our plane took off at 7.05 and we arrived at the Frankfurt Airport 10 minutes ahead of schedule. We collected our luggage and went to McDonald’s to have breakfast. Then, after a rather lengthy halt, we left the airport at 1.09 pm. We drove through German countryside and arrived at the Dortmund Central Railway Station at 15.30 where our host families were already waiting for us. In the evening, they accommodated us in a hospitable way. We went to bed quite early because we were tired of the long journey. /Martin, year 2/

 

Day One, Monday, 3rd April 2017

As usual, the first day was dedicated to getting to know each other, welcoming speeches and drawing up programme plans. It happened to be a farewell day for the graduate students of Mallinckrodt Gymnasium. To celebrate the occasion the school was turned into a circus and the rest of the students bid good-bye to the graduates in amusing and original ways.

It was an early start, though. Accompanied by our host students the participants attended the opening ceremony including the school orchestra, presentations about Dortmund and Germany as well as the principal’s speech. A warm welcome was followed by a coffee break after which the students showed us around their school and at noon we had lunch. After that, we were divided into several mixed groups and students showed us around the city. In the late afternoon we gathered by the Phoenix Lake where we took some time off and talked about our first day in Germany.

Day Two, Tuesday, 4th April 2017

6:00 The first thing that I think about, when I hear the sound of my alarm in the morning, is how much I want to go back to sleep. The second thing is that I`m in Dortmund and it`s the second day of my exchange already. I guess time really does fly when you`re having as much fun as we are.

I manage to get ready and greet the Bulgarian girl that´s staying with the same family as me, and soon we are all on the bus to school, and our host, Mareike, is showing us all the famous buildings we can see from the window.

8:00 Although I love the friends I have made so far on this exchange and my host, it`s lovely to hear the sound of my mother tongue – Slovene again. I quickly join in the group to chat about our host families and people from other schools. That is until a lady announces that we are supposed to leave for workshops very soon. I follow the instructions and join my group in light painting, where me and my Slovene partner Gabrijela have a lot of fun while creating a host of images with different lights and patterns.

11:00 A short break and much needed coffee with croissants after dancing around the school basement with different colourful lights. Chatting with friends while watching the German seniors dressed up as different historical personalities walking around school. After the second part of our workshops, we meet in the forum where we have a singing lesson and although it`s hard, we do try our best at singing Ode to Joy in German. After that, we gather in Mensa (the school cafeteria), where we enjoy our lunch and free time.

13:00 Soon we gather on two different buses, headed to Zeche Zollern, a colliery with many Art Nouveau elements. After a very interesting tour (that our guide managed to do in only an hour), we climb to the top of the building where we get an amazing view of the whole city lying in front of us. After a few necessary group photos, we are already heading home.

16:00 The weather is amazing and the company is even better, so the day is perfect for a trip to the city park. And that is exactly what we do – we buy some food, find some comfortable seats by the lake and enjoy the sunshine. It`s really amazing how people from 5 different countries can have so much in common when they start talking and having fun.

22:00 After a long day, I`m grateful for a warm bed that awaits me in my room and an amazing host family that makes sure I`m as comfortable and happy as I can be. /Jerneja, year 2/

 

Six third year students (Jan Bitežnik, Bor Moškon, Benjamin Potočnik,  Aljaž Smole, Miha Smrtnik and Matija Trobiš) embarked on a fun mission of filming some trick shots, thus pulling off some impressive moves in the gym as well as outside the school.  At their invitation, even some teachers joined in!  This task was a project work, which took five months to be completed in the present from. By doing so, participating students and teachers defied the laws of physics almost at every turn. The most time consuming was the shooting of the basketball trick from the climbing wall in the school gym. The best part of it is that students obviously enjoyed the whole thing. Indeed – all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

Enjoy watching the video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m31XdiMJTo

 

The traditional exchange with three Slavic Gymnasiums is taking place from 15th – 20th March, 2017. This year Piarist Lyceum from Krakow hosted students of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium Piarist Gymnasium from Trenčín, Slovakia and The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Traditionally, students exchange their knowledge of singing as well as of all three Slavic mother tongues, namely Slovak, Polish and Slovene. This year the meeting honoured the 1050th anniversary of Poland’s baptism and thus the students dug into the beginnings of Christianity in their homelands.

On their way to Krakow, the students had the opportunity to visit the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz – the tragic remainder of human evil. The journey continued to Częstochowa, which is today a symbol of hope, due to the mid-17th century resistance against the Swedish invaders who attempted to capture the local Jasna Góra monastery.  The choirs performed individually, however, the visit ended with a joint concert of all three choirs in the Krakow Philharmonic, where the singing event was marvellously rounded up by Handel’s Alleluia. Five members of the language group also presented their research work on the beginning of Christianity in Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. /Marko Kunavar, year 3/

 

The team of DCG students (Matej Urbančič, Katarina Grad, Petra Vidmar, Lara Meglen and Tomaž Rode) is the winner of the Slovene part of The European Central Bank (ECB) international competition entitled Generation  €uro. It took place on 16th March 2017 in the Bank of Slovenia and joined the teams of 26 Slovene high schools from all over the country.  This is the second consecutive win for the DCG team at this competition.

The competition offers an opportunity to the generation that grew up with the concept of Euro, to learn about the monetary policy, its relationship with economy and broaden the knowledge of central banks functioning. The jury recognised in the team’s presentation profound and conceptual understanding of a rather complex problematics of the Eurozone monetary policy. As a reward, the DCG team will travel with their mentor, Tadej Rifel, Ph. D., and the representatives of the Bank of Slovenia to the ECB Seat in Frankfurt. There, Mario Draghi, the President of ECB, will congratulate the DCG team. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/