Outstanding success of St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir at the 53rd International Choral Contest in Spain

St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir Proudly Representing Slovenia

The contest took place in Tolosa from 28th October­–1st November 2022 and brought together the best choirs in the world manily to enjoy choral music. St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir under the conductorship of Helena Fojkar Zupančič went into competition with eleven excellent adult choirs from Europe, USA and Mexico and won second place in both categories, polyphony and folklore. This is by all means an unprecedented success, considering St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir is a high school choir.

This is how the headmaster of The Diocesan classical Gymnasium Rihard Režek, M. Sc. reflected upon this extraordinary achievement: »First I wish to congratulate to you, dear Helena for your energy, heartiness and professionalism which you share with St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir and St. Stanislav’s Institution. Immediately after this I pay tribute to the girls – to all together as well as to each and every one of you. Nourish the beauty and the good in yourselves, keep up the good work, but never forget to enjoy it. This will allow you to continue to delight and embrace with your voices all those who walk by your side. « He also thanked gratefully to Marjetka Kozmus for her full and professional backing as well as Tina Tandler for her wholehearted support in this project.

The girls’ perspective of the D-day, Sunday, 30th October 2022 runs as follows: “Sunday was the most important day. The morning mental preparation is as important as the voice preparation, since any contest is among other a test of being able to keep inner peace and concentration. Having tested the acoustics of the hall, we got ready for the evening by putting on the concert dresses and applying some make up. As the third choir to sing in the contest we stepped on the stage in an energetic manner and already with the first accord we sounded jovially and determined. Our singing was fantastic and the public applauded loudly and cheered enthusiastically.”

One of the impressions of the winning singers speaks for itself: “I have to say that it has not been easy for the last few weeks in school, as the exam season started. But it was worth scarifying some hours of sleep and better grades, as the contest has been unforgettable. I feel grateful for all sea views, rehearsals and in particular for the fellow singers. However, I am most thankful for the moments, when we assumed we would not make it, but providing mutual support enabled just about anything we could wish for.” / Lily Schweiger Kotar/

Some clips from the contest can be seen at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTYc7Zoy6Mc

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

Standing Ovations for La Damnation de Faust © FB Ljubljana Festival

In the line with the above Faust’s quote by Goethe the community of St. Stanislav’s Institution is extremely proud to announce that both St. Stanislav Youth Choir of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium and Megaron Chamber Choir participated at one of the highlights of the 70th Ljubljana Festival, namely in the opera La Damnation de Faust by Hector Berlioz under the baton of Charles Dutoit, presently one of the most esteemed conductors. The impressive performance took place on 15th July, 2022 in Cankarjev dom, Slovenia’s main cultural and congress centre.

At the time when this extensive vocal-instrumental work was written, it was considered eccentric, nevertheless, Berlioz dealt with an ever-green theme of the price of the human soul based on Goethe’s play. Both the above-mentioned choirs under the conductorship of Damijan Močnik had the honour of rehearsing and learning from two other Slovene choirs, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the phenomenal quartet of soloists: the French mezzosoprano Sophie Koch (Marguerite), British tenor Charles Workman (Faust), Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea (Méphistophélès) and British baritone Ashley Riches (Brander). This offered a unique opportunity for the choirs to show their strengths in acting with their voices and ability to sing in French. St. Stanislav Youth Choir and Megaron Chamber Choir – congratulations on the amazing perfomance! You definitely fed the audience’s imagination, both with musical and life matters./Lily Schweiger Kotar/

St. Stanislav Youth Choir of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium on a tour in Trenčin, Slovakia

St. Stanislav Youth Choir of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium in Trenčin

St. Stanislav Youth Choir of the DCG hit the road after a long break and spend some choral quality time from 24th-27th June 2022 in Trenčin. The singers under the conductorship of Damijan Močnik, mostly rehearsed for evening concerts and sang at masses, which took place in Ilova and Trenčin.

It was especially touching to meet welcoming students and stuff from Piaristické gymnázium Jozefa Braneckého /Piaristic Gymnasium Jozef Braneckého, with who the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium has had a long tradition of common music making and fruitful cooperation. That day started with the choir participation in the liturgical singing in the parish church of Narodenia Panny Marie/The Birth of The Virgin Mary. The highlight was definitely the joint concert of the school’s Choir Piarissimo and St. Stanislav Youth Choir. The enthusiastic audience applauded loudly and both choirs wrapped up the evening with Nech ten chram, which has become almost a hymn of joyful friendship between both schools and nations.

Apart from singing, the tour was the time for the graduates of The DCG to bid goodbye from the choir, for everybody to unwind a bit while sightseeing or enjoying the last day visit in an aquapark. The most promising thought remains though that the Slovaks are to be hosted next year in Ljubljana. We are looking forward to it!/Marjetka Kozmus/