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2020 Choirs

The Saint Nicholas Choir Litija - Litija, Slovenia

 

The St. Nicholas Choir Litija has been joining together more than fifty singers from central Slovenia. The choir has been enriching Slovenian and international choral scene with its strong creative energy for the past twenty years. Under the guidance of their conductress Helena Fojkar Zupančič the singers have taken on genres like gospel, spiritual music, folk music, pop, chants, and many others.
The choir’s home is in a small local parish in Litija that is situated about half an hour drive to the east from the capital of Slovenia. Its most recent notable achievements from competitions all around Europe include first places in categories of polyphony, folk music and sacred music in Rimini International Choral Competition, Italy (2018), a golden plaque and all-around second place in the 24th competition Naša pesem in Maribor, Slovenia (2016), second place in the categories of polyphony and folk music, and the audience award for the best choral in the international choir competition in Tolosa, Spain (2016) and overall first place in the international choral competition in Derry, Ireland (2015).
To commemorate the choir’s 20th anniversary in 2017 they added two new CDs to their collection. The first one, entitled Puer est natus / Dete je rojeno, contains Gregorian chants. The second one, entitled JAZZLICE, consists of twelve jazz arrangements of Slovenian Christmas. The collection, that previously consisted of folk songs CD Eno drevce, sacred music CD Sacra religio and Slovenian adaptation of John Rutter’s Christmas songs CD titled John Rutter - Božična luč, expanded to the total number of five.
Most recently in May 2019 the choir performed Beethoven’s 9th symphony with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Choir Megaron. The choir also responded to the invitation of the MiTo music festival that took place in Milano and Torino, Italy, in September 2019. The singers performed one concert in each of the two cities.

 

Helena Fojkar Zupancic

Helena Fojkar Zupančič completed her musical education at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She works as a choral conductor and vocal teacher at the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium of St. Stanislav's Institution. She leads the St. Stanislav Girls' Choir as well as the St. Nicolas Choir Litija and the 100-member (Re)Mixed Choir of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. Her choirs excel in sophisticated vocal technique, profound breadth of musical repertoire, a rich sound quality and original interpretation. Most recently she presented Slovenian choral singing with her St. Stanislav Girls' Choir at the 11. World Symposium on Choral Music 2017 in Barcelona and the American Choral Directors Association’s National Conference 2019 in Kansas City, America. She enjoys delving into a variety of music genres, researching the unknown and finding new approaches to familiar repertoire. She is very popular among singers as a conductor who knows how to inspire and find joy through music.

 

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