The vocal ensemble Carmina Slovenica with its artistic director Karmina Šilec is noted for its innovative programming which explores works from the forefronts of the contemporary music scene. With »Choregie – vocal theatre or theatre of voices« Carmina Slovenica is introducing a concept which incorporates contemporary music, drama, movement and other stage elements.
With this concept of vocal theatre the ensemble performed on stages worldwide – from Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space to the Teresa Carreño Theatre in Caracas, from Hong Kong Cultural Centre to Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Carmina Slovenica has been invited to music events of the highest esteem such as the World Music Days (organized by the ISCM), Moscow Easter Festival, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, the World Symposium on Choral Music (organized by the IFCM), the European Symposium on Choral Music (IFCM), Polyfollia, America Cantat, Choir Olympics, Europa Cantat etc. Many productions have been awarded on different occasions, lately in 2008, when Karmina Šilec received an award from the International Theatre Institute "Music Theatre Now" in the category Music beyond opera.
The main aim of the ensemble and its artistic director is a continual search for new music and new fields of work which has already shown results in a wide repertoire it has today; from early and ethnic vocal music to the latest avant-garde. The choir with its characteristic sound and wide-ranged virtuosity is the ideal ensemble for different repertoires - from a cappella music of all genres to vocal instrumental projects.
Concert tours in almost all countries of Europe, the USA, Canada, Africa, Central and South America, Japan and China, many highest awards at international choral competitions, participation in many international projects, recordings made for many radio and television stations, 14 CDs and 1 LP produced, excellent reviews of the ensemble's performances by musical experts and critics ... all these achievements speak for themselves and confirm the choir's highest reputation.
Carmina Slovenica performs with an artistry that inspires audiences and critics alike and stands as a model in the international choir movement.
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PLACEBO or Is There One Who Would Not Weep Stage concert in 14 tableaux
Concept, scene and direction: Karmina Šilec
Light design: Andrej Hajdinjak Costume design: Belinda Radulovič Movement: Karmina Šilec, Kaja Lorenci
Eia mater, fons amoris! – Hail, mother, source of love!
Man surmounts death, the unthinkable, by postulating instead – in the stead and place of thought as well as death – maternal love. That love, of which divine love will be no more than a not always convincing derivative, mother love as the primitive shelter that guarantees the survival. The representation of the maternal is established on the site of that tempered anguish known as love.
A meditation inspired by the suffering of Mary, Jesus's mother, during his crucifixion, and by the medieval text The Sorrowful Mother Stood.
Performing: Carmina Slovenica, Sabina Cvilak, Bernhard Landauer, Jožica Avbelj, Olga Kacjan, Slovenian Chamber Choir, Marko Hatlak, Karmen Pečar, Musica Cubicularis, Renata Vereš Klančič, Kaja Lorenci etc.
Music: G. B. Pergolesi, J. S. Bach, J. Cooper, A. Vivaldi, P. Vasks, G. Bryars, K. Šilec
Union, Maribor, 12 and 13 January 2012, Festival Choregie aka Choregie Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, 21 January 2012 Cankarjev dom, 22 January 2012, Vocal Subscription of the Slovenian Chamber Choir
Production: Carmina Slovenica Coproduction: MARIBOR 2012 – European Capital of Culture, Slovenian Philharmonic, Cankarjev dom
PERSPECTIVE EAST, 2011 PLEADING FOR WORDS, 2011 MIRACLES, 2011 RUSALKE, 2010 VERTICAL THOUGHTS, 2010 NA JURIŠ IN THE MOOD, 2009 AMERICAS, 2008 CS LIGHT, 2007
NA JURIŠ IN THE MOOD!
From marches to swing
Author of the project and conductor: Karmina Šilec
Guests: Slovenian Armed Forces Orchestra, Big Band
Na juriš in the mood! with music from the time of the fight against fascism. From music of pre-war Paris, Jewish, French, Russian and Italian partisan songs, American swing and blues to Slovenian and Bosnian partisan songs. From Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Kiss me Good Night, Sergeant Major, Lili Marlen, Remember Pearl Harbor, Je suis swing to Hej brigade and Na juriš.
FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL…, 2006
(co-produced with Opera and Ballet of Slovenian National Theatre Maribor)
Some simplified artistic creations from ancient times always surprise us by the violence of contemporary expression. As if they had been created unconsciously and outside any cultural or stylistic - aesthetic framework. The musical world of project follows an archaic seclusion beyond space and time. The music of From Time Immemorial does not tend toward a stylistic aesthetic option. In the foreground there are magic and symbolism. The music moves between vitality and aesthetic reticence, old-fashioned polyphony and the technique of clusters, between the trivial and the emphatically artistic, the spiritual and the naturalistic.
In 2008 Karmina Šilec won an international award in a worldwide competition for the creators of new opera and music theatre by Music Theatre NOW/ International Theatre Institute for this performance.
'NA JURIŠ IN THE MOOD!
From marches to swing
Author of the project and conductor: Karmina Šilec
Guests: Slovenian Armed Forces Orchestra, Big Band
Na juriš in the mood! with music from the time of the fight against fascism. From music of pre-war Paris, Jewish, French, Russian and Italian partisan songs, American swing and blues to Slovenian and Bosnian partisan songs. From Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Kiss me Good Night, Sergeant Major, Lili Marlen, Remember Pearl Harbor, Je suis swing to Hej brigade and Na juriš.
VAMPIRABILE, 2000–2005
Nations recognize each other in their mythologies that make them look so oddly similar! This is why contemporary composers like to draw from mythical motives, producing quite diverse musical works, some of which turn out to be their most outstanding works of art. Selecting from among the finest contemporary composers from all over the world – contemporary in time, their spirit and approach – Karmina Šilec came up with a selection of works on the subjects one tends to associate only with ancient past. They are locked in the chest with the rest of cultural heritage, yet they keep crawling out by stealth, from colossal national epics to miniature abracadabra’s. They epitomize an infinite pool of imagination, though never for its own sake, without a meaning and a purpose.
Vampirabile was performed at World music days 2003 organized by International society of contemporary music (ISCM). Karmina Šilec has been awarded with the Award of Prešeren fund for this program, the most significant cultural award in Slovenia.
SLOVENIAN SOUNDS, 2001–2008
Slovenian Sounds features works from the treasury of the Slovenian vocal art, including works of some of the most distinguished Slovenian contemporary composers, either their original compositions or their arrangements of folk music. Program was awarded by the Ford Motor Company Conservation and Environmental Grants Award in 2001.
SCIVIAS, 2003–2005
Chants from different religions and traditions. Chant is not an obscure musical ritual. It is an important tool used by people everywhere to heal their bodies, quiet their minds, and bring sacred into their lives. Chant is the music of the cosmic spheres as well as the natural expression of our consciousness. Chants serve many purposes: they tell stories, as in the tale of Lord Rama from great Indian epic the Ramayana; they cast out diseases, as in the healing chants of the Siberian shaman; they befriend the snake spirits of the Australian aborigines; they accompany the honey gathering ritual of Central African pygmies; or are voiced as the Gregorian plainsongs of the Christian worship service. Scivias was commissioned by EBU European Broadcasting Union as a part of program “Discoveries”
MUSICA INAUDITA, 2002–2003
Musica Inaudita – Latin for “music not yet heard” – encompasses works by cloistered women composers from the 9th to the 17th centuries, from Kassia of Byzantium to the nuns from Lombardia, from the prophetess Hildegard to Mexican Baroque female musicians. The program reflects various contrasts between the spirituality of the Eastern and Western church, between the temperaments of the European Medieval music and the South American Baroque and between contemplative choral chants and brilliant polyphony. Musical forms include Gregorian chants, medieval organums, baroque motets, and accompanied sacred vocal music. The program was presented in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican in October 2002.
AMERICAS, 2008 With the interpretation of several musical styles the program of the project Americas gives a wide overview of the rich musical heritage of both Americas. The program consists of several thematic parts: spiritual, gospel, traditional music of the indigenous people, Latin American music, jazz, contemporary music and music of the singers like Bette Middler, Nat King Cole, Connie Francis, Andrews Sisters.
CS LIGHT, 2007–2008
Project CS Light has been created in desire to experiment with voices, percussion instruments, body movements and different feelings while performing and listening to musical expressions of the present - minimalist music. Repertoire of minimalist music chosen for CS Light was written by distinguished composers - not only from the cradle of the minimalist music, the U.S.A, but also from other musical environments, such as the Baltic and Scandinavia.
DRUM CAFÉ, 2006
The project Drum Café is a fresh selection of music for voices and percussion instruments. The repertoire is variegated and coloured with ethnical atmosphere of European north and south in their characteristic vocal techniques. The programme consisted of diverse musical works: from Ukrainian ethnical solo voice with quartet of percussion instruments, the Swedish ethnical duet with timpani, Indian singing to vigorous Balkan ethnical music. Avant-garde compositions of chamber music for voices and percussion instruments were also interwoven into the rich musical tapestry.
O SUCCESORESS, 2005 (with Symphony orchestra of National Radio and TV of Slovenia)
O Successores is a unique combination of east and west. It's the music of the past and the present. The music of Arvo Pärt, one of the most eminent composers of our age, and the sound of vocal mediaeval music of the western and eastern churches, the early polyphony of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are timeless, eternal and open. Being more than a century apart, their sharing of common aesthetic values is amazing. At the same time, they are in constant confrontation as seen in Pärt's vocal drama Yearning of a Deer.
BALKANIKA, 2005
From their knowledge of profound variety, the Balkan people place the art of song at the pinnacle of artistic expression. Their genius in this field - fruit of thousand years - long story of tears and suffering - draws its nourishment from roots than go back to another world: Byzantium. The thousand year-long traditions of Balkan songs suffered from all the tribulations of a history marred in blood - to be followed by the nightmare of five centuries under the Ottoman yoke. A wonderful synthesis is offered in the Balkanika program: elements of fabulous archaism, of popular song from the past with jazz improvisation of our time.
ADIEMUS 2004
(with Orchestra da camera Chile, 2003 and International orchestra Chorus Instrumentalis) Karl Jenkins’ popular vocal-instrumental work Adiemus belongs to a sort of symphonic music with a touch of ethnic music. To define Adiemus is the best way to denote it as a “new age” or “progressive” music. Adiemus is formed of a many different kinds of melodies, distinctive harmonies and minimalistic repetitions of musical themes, that Jenkins shaped into an expanded choral work.
CD Americas, 2011 Pleading for words, 2011 Balkanika, 2011 Musica Inaudita 2, 2010 Na juriš in the mood!, 2009 Drum cafe, 2009 Musica Inaudita, 2008 Vampirabile, 2007 CM1 - Chamber music 1. 2006 Citira - Slovenian choral opus II., 2002 Times and places, 2001
Following the sun, 1998
Druml’ca - Slovenian choral opus I., 1997 Dream a dream, 1996
More a tale than reality, 1995
artistic director: Carmina Slovenica
Choregie - new music theatre
!Kebataola!- ansamble
Karmina Šilec has brought freshness and speciality to the world of vocal music, opening new spaces of expression, persuasiveness, intensity of experience, and communication.
In “Choregie" - vocal theatre”, with innovative interventions, she has opened wider artistic spaces and set trends towards complex multi-media events.
Her staged productions incorporate music, drama, movement and other stage elements. Her latest stage productions include Scivias, Stripsody, Vampirabile, Rusalke, Vertical thoughts, From time immemorial, CS LIGHT, Striposdy 2, Adiemus, and Slovenian sounds – productions performed on international festival stages and broadcast by EBU and Eurovision.
With extended vocal technique and interdisciplinary performances, Karmina Šilec creates concerts that thrive at the intersection of music and movement, sound and light, image and object, in an effort to discover and weave together new modes of perception.
In selecting avantgarde repertoire, her ground breaking exploration of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in and of itself, expands the boundaries of vocal concert performances, creating landscapes of sounds. As conductor she has projects with various ensembles: Carmina Slovenica choir, Symphony orchestra of National Radio of Slovenia, National Opera and ballet in Maribor Slovenia, Slovenian National Project Choir, ensemble !Kebataola!, Orchestra Chorus Instrumentalis and many ensembles worldwide.
Karmina Šilec performed on concert stages worldwide – from the Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana to the San Francisco Symphony Hall, from the Teresa Carreńo Theatre in Caracas and to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre or Teatro Colón and has been invited to the music events of the highest esteem such as World Music Days (organized by ISCM), World and European Symposium for Choral Music (organized by IFCM), Eastern Festival in Moscow, Dresden Musikfestspiele, Polyfollia, America Cantata, Choir Olympics, Europa Cantat, etc..
Her permanent ensemble - Concert choir Carmina Slovenica is one of the ensembles of the world choir movement.
She also works as an artistic adviser for choral music, gives lectures to conductors and she is regularly a guest conductor, jury member or member of artistic committees at festivals and competitions.
She was awarded with ITI award in category Music beyond opera, international Robert Edler Prize for Choral Music, 2001 received the Award of Prešeren fund for the project “Vampirabile and with more than 20 other international awards.