Majestic Joint Performance of The Poles and Slovenes
Each of the final three days of our tour in Poland was a unique experience despite the somewhat monotonous schedule: breakfast, practice, lunch, practice, free time, concert. On Thursday night our music sounded off the walls of St. Florian Basilic in Cracow’s city centre, whereas Friday’s concert took place in Miechow. There we performed at the festival of the University of the Third Age, therefore our singing and playing were often interrupted by enthusiastic cheers of elderly ladies. :) Saturday finally came – that was the big day we had all been expecting for the entire week. After packing all our belongings and leaving the hotel, we had some more time to explore Cracow and enjoy the wonderful weather. As the evening was quickly approaching, we could all feel adrenaline working through us and as the final rehearsals weren’t what we had expected, our nervousness was getting only worse. However, our conductor and mentor advised us to relax, do our best and enjoy the good acoustics. The Divine Mercy Church was packed and full of expectation. After the Polish choir, it was time for the Slovenes to perform. After orchestra’s Concerto Grosso in B flat major by Georg Friedrich Handel the choir performed their varied palette of songs that included everything from Slovene folk melodies to spiritual pieces. What all of us had really been anticipating was actually the joint performance of all Polish and Slovene choirs and orchestras. John Rutter’s Mass of the Children was absolutely magnificent – the interlacement of fast and slow, joyful and melancholic intricate melodies created by the choirs, the symphonic orchestra and the soprano and baritone soloists touched everyone’s hearts and resounded in our ears throughout the magical evening. Still touched by the majestic last chord of Rutter’s masterpiece it was time for us to leave Poland and return back home. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with such talented young musicians, to make new friendships and get an insight into the Polish culture and lifestyle. I am sure every one of us could agree that each concert was a new unforgettable adventure. We are looking forward to playing music with our Polish friends in the future Music to Life exchanges. /Anja Tršek, year 4/
Rehearsals are an Important Part of Any Music Tour
The second reporting from the music tour to Poland runs as follows: on Monday 8th October 2018, we said goodbye to Zakopane and proceeded our journey to Krakow. In the morning we drove to Wieliczka, where we visited the famous salt mines. We could see the underground corridors, learn about the history of mines, touch and taste rock salt and even sing in the fascinating concert hall the chapel of St. Kinga. Its carved walls and floors as well as chandeliers were absolutely impressive. In late afternoon hours we finally made it to our main destination, Krakow. Some students left with their host families, while the rest of us had lunch at the hotel. We spent the evening walking down the picturesque main square of Krakow and singing to people in the streets.
The next morning the orchestra and the choir made their way to the Polish conservatory where we had separate rehearsals. Later, the Polish students guided us through the Old Town and surprised us with some interesting legends about Krakow. During our free time we took some pictures, had a cup of coffee or one of the delicious famous doughnuts, maybe took a carriage ride and keenly absorbed Krakow’s lively life. The relaxed afternoon was followed by two intense hours of rehearsal for Rutter’s Mass of the Children, which we will perform on the main concert on Saturday. The start was chaotic as about 150 energetic musicians couldn’t concentrate and just kept chatting. However, by the end of the rehearsal, some parts of the magical melodies sounded quite promising.
On Wednesday morning we had some joint rehearsals again and were excited about the progress we had managed to make so far. The Slovene orchestra and the choir got on the bus once more and drove to Nowy Sacz, where we had our third concert. Having performed versatile melodies in the beautiful Town Hall, we had dinner and returned to Krakow to get some sleep for the rest of our busy tour in Poland. /Anja Tršek, year 4/
The String Orchestra and St. Stanislav Youth Choir of The Diocesan ClassicalGymnasium will take part in the Erasmus+ exchange Music to Life program from 5th – 14th October 2018. This will be a return the visit to the Polish students who visited St. Stanislav’s Institution in May 2018. Approximately 90 students and teachers got on the bus and set off at around 10 in the evening.
On Saturday morning we arrived to our first destination, Zakopane, a smaller city and famous winter resort. Excitement visibly filled us with energy and hid our lack of sleep caused by the night drive. After settling in our hotel we had some free time which most of us used to take a walk around the lovely town or hike up a small hill right above our hotel in order to enjoy the breath taking view of Zakopane. Saturday afternoon was the time for our first short concert in one of the local churches. The friendly audience gave us a huge round of applause and eagerly asked for another song although we weren’t too satisfied with our performance. We spent the rest of the evening exploring Zakopane by taking a walk through the city center, enjoying local food and live music in small cosy cafes.
On Sunday morning both the orchestra and the choir participated at the holy mass. After that, we impatiently waited to see what “lunch with a surprise” on our programs meant. We were more than thrilled to see horse carriages waiting for us! Local coachmen took us to a big meadow where Polish girls dressed in national costumes welcomed us with their traditional music. They set up fires on which we grilled our lunch while singing Slovenian and Polish songs. In the end we all sang to the melodies of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love as one. This was a wonderful introduction to our least favourite part of the day – practice. We spent the rest of the afternoon working on our pieces and were proud to see some major improvement as hours passed.
All of us are having a wonderful time and are looking forward to our departure to Krakow where we’ll finally meet our Polish friends once again. /Anja Tršek, year 4/
The traditional international sport event took place from 24th – 28th September 2018. Apart from the Slovene and Dutch teams, there were also high school students from The Czech Republic, Germany and Italy. The event was the fourteenth in a row, this time dedicated to floorball with 21 matches taking place. The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium took the second place, while the Czech team won the tournament. Next year the hosting school will be the one of the winners in The Czech Republic. /Tea Obrč, exchange coordinator/
The second teaching learning activity for students and teachers in the Erasmus+ project Eurostronomia took place from 16th – 22nd September 2018, uniting 33 young astronomy enthusiasts from Germany, France, Portugal, Scotland, Romania and Slovenia. Three teachers and eight students from St. Stanislav’s (5 from Teh Diocesan Classical Gynasium and 3 from Alojzij Šštar Primary School) took part: Tadeja Drašler, Martin Čokl, Matej Urbančič, Špela Plevel, Eva Jeraj, Ana Julija Prešeren, Eva Jocif, Filip Marinšek, Zala Vintar, Sara Lesar and Alenka Battelino. We participated in numerous amazing workshops, listened to fabulous speakers (e.g. prof. Martin Hendry, LIGO), watched highly interesting documentaries and movies on latest discoveries in the field of astronomy, danced Ceilidh, tried Scottish food, experienced a real Scottish storm and so much more. Mr Čokl had a workshop on constructing Mars Rover and Mrs Battelino had a workshop on East-West Space Race.
It was another wonderful experience working in the inspiring environment of good friends. We all appreciated wonderful hospitality and the perfect job done by the organizing team at Wellington School. We all look forward to our next project meeting which will take place in Macedonia between 6th – 11th July, 2019. /Alenka Battelino, project coordinator/
St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir at Europa Cantat in Talin
St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium under the conductorship of Helena Fojkar Zupančič visited Estonia from 31st July to 4th August 2018, where it represented Slovenia at the biggest European choral convention. Being organized every three years, this unique festival usually brings together more than 4000 singers, conductors, composers and choral managers from Europe and elsewhere for 10 days of singing enjoyment. It was an honour for the choir to be presented with the festival flag, which was brought to Slovenia, as Slovenia is the hosting state of the next Europa Cantat 2021.
The prime event was the concert given in Talin with some prominent guests, such as the honorary consul of The Republic of Slovneia in Estonia Tõnis Tamme, deputy major of Ljubljana Dejan Crnek, many conductors, composers and choral singers from all over the world. »Majestic, unforgettable, mastery and inspiring …were only some superlatives used by the audience to describe the above mentioned concert in Talin. It is every singer’s wish to sing in front of the audience that breaths with the choir from the first to the last chord and rewarding it with a loud and long applause. It was an absolute joy for the girls to be a part of this heartwarming singing event. See you all at the next Europa Cantat in 20121 in Ljubljana, Slovenia! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/
Inspiring environment & good friends – both to be found in Targoviste, Rumania
From 7th to 11th July 2018 the second Transnational project meeting of the project Eurostonomia, Erasmus+ took place in Targoviste, Rumania. Two teachers and two students from St. Stanislav’s took part: Martin Čokl, Anton Križnar, Aleks Kaapre Rehtijärvi and Alenka Battelino.
This is the first time that students participate in project meetings so that their voice will be also heard throughout the project. This time they were working on composing guidelines for all future Erasmus+ students. They presented their findings at the plenary meeting held on the last day of the meeting. According to the coordinator of the project Mrs Susan Coontz (Wellington School, Scotland) they accomplished their work with excellence and contributed greatly to the success of the meeting.
We enjoyed the hospitality of the partner school Colegiul National Constantin Cantacuzino. All the partners participated in reviewing the activities realized in the first year of the project and intensively planning the activities for the second year. The feedback of national agencies were discussed. The stargazing activity was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather conditions. We visited the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Science and Technology from Valahia University of Targoviste and Museum of Human Evolution and Technology in Paleolithic, Stelea Monastery,”The Royal Court” Museum, Townhall and Old City Center.
It was another wonderful experience working in the inspiring environment of good friends. We all appreciated generous hospitality and thorough organization of the managing team at Colegiul National Constantin Cantacuzino. We all look forward to our next teaching learning activity which will take place in Scotland between 16th and 23rd September 2018. /Alenka Battelino, project coordinator/
Presidential Palace on the Open House Day, Photo STA
The President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor, issued an order for the conferral of a State Decoration of the Republic of Slovenia on 8th June 2018 to SILA-IWCL International Women’s Club Ljubljana and Magazine Gasilec. Ana Šubic, a student of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium and the 2018 national winner of the international translation contest Juvenes translatores was invited by the Office of the President of the Republic to read the orders and translate a couple of thank you speeches.
Ana enjoyed every minute of it, especially the relaxed attitude of the organising team and the solemnity of the event. “On stage I felt quite nervous before translating, eventually I calmed down. The protocol is really strict there.”, she added. The school community congratulates Ana for her excellent translation work in the presidential palace and wishes her all the best in facing further translation challenges! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/
With the above words, Ana Šubic, a third year student of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium and a national winner of the 2017-2018 translation contest Juvenes Translatores, concluded her speech delivered on 10th April 2018 in front of a vast audience of contestants, parents, teachers, translators and other EU officials on the occasion of the award ceremony in the Charlemegne building in Brussels. Among 28 winners from EU member states, only three were invited to give a speech, Ana among them. It was delivered partly in English, partly in Slovene and Ana enjoyed every minute of it, as she put it.
Her speech emphasised the exceptionally favourable living conditions that the young Europeans enjoy today. “Let’s consider numerous education possibilities and our skills. This is a winning combination that not every young person can achieve. We did not earn it, it was bestowed upon us and it is our duty to deal with it responsibly, thus showing the world the opportunities have not been in vain. We, the joung Europeans, shall make an all-out-effort, study well and work for the benefit of mankind. Maybe we will translate a wonderful novel, be the first to talk to a doubtful person, help people who are lost in every sense of the word, we may invent something new. We shall love and lead an active life with a sparkle in our eyes to make this world a better place. By doing so, we will try to justify the opportunities and skills bestowed upon us.” You can listen to the rest of her meaningful speech at 38th minute using the following link: https://business.facebook.com/translatores/?ref=py_c
Ana attended the award ceremony in Brussels with her mother and her mentor Irena Bolta, teacher of German at the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/
Filmmakers Benjamin, Vid, Amadej and Timotej from left to right
Timotej Cvirn, Amadej Pavšič, Benjamin Poljanc and Vid Kregar joined the international contest The World of 7 Billion, which is a project of the population education program that focuses on human population issues. Among 3000 high school videos theirs received an honorable mention. Since 1975, the program has developed curricula to complement students’ social science instruction about human population trends and their impacts on natural resources, environment and human well-being.
Student competitors have been asked to create a video about human population growth that highlights one of the global challenges and the above mentioned students have chosen the topic of feeding 10 billion highlighting the subtheme of food waste. Taking on this challenge and finding solutions require understanding, but above all cooperation and creativity. Timotej, who is the heart and soul of the project, believes the population issue is in fact a burning one, explaining: “It’s important to start solving the problems now, if we start solving them when we hit 10 billion, it might be too late.” The production is entirely nonverbal, which enables even non-English speakers to get the message. “Brainstorm to get a good story. You can film the video with a smartphone, but you need a good message.” Indeed, well done guys!
