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ZBOROVSTVO
10. INTERNATIONAL CHORAL COMPETITION
MARIBOR 2009, SLOVENIA
Maribor, 17.-19. April 2009
COMPETING CHOIRS
Rome, Italy
CORO FEMMINILE EOS
Conductor Fabrizio Barchi
EOS Female Choir
EOS Female Choir was founded in 1995 as the Children Choir Primavera and is conducted by Fabrizio Barchi in cooperation with Mario Madonna. It is composed of 25 girls aged 16 to 25.
Their repertoire includes compositions of different periods from Middle Ages to nowadays, with the main focus on the contemporary music.
EOS Female Choir carries on an intense concert activity throughout Italy. The choir participated in national choral competitions and received numerous awards: second prize at the National Competition of Choral Singing "Cittŕ di Zagarolo" in 2004, third and second prize at the National Choral Competition "Guido d'Arezzo" in 2004 and 2007, two second prizes at the National Choral Competition of Vittorio Veneto in 2005 and 2008 together with a special prize for the best programme and a special prize for the category "Ancient Veneto Melodies", first prize at the XI National Choral Competition "Settimio Zimarino" in Vasto and at the VIII National Choral Grand Prix "Francesco Marcacci" in Teramo in 2006.
In summer 2008 EOS Female Choir made its debut on the International scene winning the third prize at the XVI International Music Festival of Cantonigros.
Helsinki, Finland
AKADEMISKA SĹNGFÖRENINGEN
Conductor Kari Turunen
Akademiska Sĺngföreningen
Akademiska Sĺngföreningen, The Academic Male Voice Choir of Helsinki, was founded in1838 and is the oldest active choir in Finland. To the Finnish nation, it was a symbol of the national awakening throughout the 19th century.In 1848, Finland´s national anthem was performed for the first time by AkademiskaSĺngföreningen.
The choir of today has approximately 60 members and is conducted by Kari Turunen. They perform frequently on concerts in Finland and on concert tours abroad. Recently, Akademen have visited Norway (2002, 2008), Sweden (2002, 2004, 2006), France(2000), Germany (1999), Canada and US (2005).
In 2000, Akademen participated in two international choral competitions, the Madetoja Competition in Helsinki as well as the Florilčge Vocal de Tours Competition in France, where they received second and third prize.
The Madetoja Competition held in 2005 in Lahti brought a third place for Akademen in acompetition of high standard. Since 1995, Akademiska Sĺngföreninen has released 5 CDs.
Jakarta, Indonesia
BATAVIA MADRIGAL SINGERS
Conductor Avip Priatna
Batavia Madrigal Singers
Batavia Madrigal Singers (BMS) is one of the leading vocal ensembles in Indonesia, which was founded in 1996. In 2001 BMS won three awards from the distinctive International Choral Competition, Florilege Vocal de Tours, France - the winner of Free Programme category, the third prize in Vocal Ensemble and a special award from Minister of Culture of France for the Best Interpretation of French Composition.
BMS was invited to several music festivals such as: the 6th International Choral Festival in Taipei, Taiwan in 2004, Pollyfolia Choral Festival in Normandy, France in 2002 and 2006, Macau Music Festival in Kanazawa in 2006 and 2007. At the latter they recorded a CD with works of Weberwith the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Japan.
In 2009 they are invited to have concerts in Slovenia, Hungary and Austria.
Dublin, Ireland
THE MORNINGTON SINGERS
Conductor Orla Flanagan
The Mornington Singers
The Mornington Singers is an award-winning mixed voice choir based in Dublin, Ireland and conducted by Orla Flanagan. The thirty-five singers come from all over Europe and further afield.
The choir's repertoire is broad, with a particular focus on a cappella repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries.
Awards include 1st prizes at Cork International Choral Festival and Lyric FM Choirs for Christmas. In 2007, the Mornington Singers choir celebrated its 10th anniversary with a tour to Newfoundland for Festival 500 and has recently toured in Italy and Estonia.
The choir recorded its second CD, Solas, in 2008 to great critical acclaim.
Projects for 2009 include a film soundtrack recording in January, an appearance with Andrea Bocelli in Dublin in March, a June concert series celebrating the Mendelssohn bicentenary, and the Irish premieres of works by Eric Whitacre and Julian Anderson.
The choir looks forward to its first trip to the Maribor Choral Competition. For further information, visit http://www.MorningtonSingers.org.
Riga, Latvia
YOUTH CHOIR OF THE LATVIAN ACADEMY OF CULTURE "SOLA"
Artistic Director Kaspars Adamsons
Conductors Kaspars Vevers, Rudolfs Bacans
Youth choir of the Latvian Academy of Culture Sola
Youth choir of the Latvian Academy of Culture Sola was founded in 1998.
The repertoire of Sola is diverse, consisting of compositions from different music genres such as folk music, sacred music, contemporary and original choral works, renaissance music and even jazz.
On various occasions the choir gives concerts accompanied by an orchestra, different musicians and soloists, as well as with other choirs performing music for the double-choir.
Almost every year choir Sola takes part in the national or international competitions to amass its experience for further development.
During the year Sola prepares approximately 5 different programmes, takes part in various singing events and performs on festive occasions. In this way the choir can realize its creative potentials and raise the artistic quality, as well as gain new experience.
The choir is proud of the Latvian choir tradition and is always happy to present it in other countries.
As of 2004 Kaspars Adamsons is the artistic director of the choir Sola working together with conductors Kaspars Vevers and Rudolfs Bacans.
Debrecen, Hungary
CANTICUM NOVUM CHAMBER CHOIR
Conductor Ágnes Török
The Canticum Novum Chamber Choir
The Canticum Novum Chamber Choir was established in 1989 in Debrecen, its conductor is Ágnes Török. The members of the choir are mostly students of the Debrecen University, Music Faculty.
The endeavour of the Canticum Novum Chamber Choir is to sing pieces of music which are
performed on-stage very rarely. The members of the choir feel that their first-rate vocation is to make the audience get to know the contemporary Hungarian pieces of music. Some references of the latest choral works were written directly for the Canticum Novum Chamber Choir.
The Canticum Novum Chamber Choir is the degree choir of the students majoring in choral conducting at Music Faculty and it participates in the degree concerts of the students majoring in composition at the Ferenc Liszt University.
The Canticum Novum Chamber Choir has been taking part in the cultural life of Debrecen since its establishment and has already given several concerts in many European countries and has achieved good results at international competitions.
Szeged, Hungary
VICTORIA CHAMBER CHOIR
Conductor Ádám Cser
The Victoria Chamber Choir
The Victoria Chamber Choir was founded by the Hungarian university and college students in September 1998. Former conductor at the National Opera, now music director at the National Theatre in Pécs, Miklós Cser was invited to conduct the choir.
The repertoire of the choir consists mostly of renaissance and contemporary music. Composer of the choir, Ádám Cser has composed a number of pieces for the Victoria Chamber Choir. He has also been conducting the choir since 2003.
The choir received the second prize at the 7th International Choral Competition in Budapest in 1999 and the first prize at the Kodály Zoltán Hungarian Choral Competition in the category of chamber choirs in 2000. Later on in Arezzo, the choir was awarded special prize in the category of contemporary music, the second prize in the category of polyphonic music and the first prize for performing renaissance choral music.
In autumn 2006, the choir received the first prize together with the Swedish Sofia Vocal Ensemble choir at the 2nd Harald Andersen International Chamber Choir Competition organized in Finland with a jury made up of the genre's most distinguished figures, such as Frieder Bernius, Stephen Cloebury and Tonu Kaljuste. In September 2008 the choir won the second prize and the special prize for renaissance music in Arezzo Poliphony Competition.
Buchurest, Romania
THE ACADEMIC CHOIR "DIVINA ARMONIE" - UNESCO CLUB
conductor Cristian Marius Firca
The Academic Choir Divina Armonie - UNESCO Club
Founded in 1997, the academic choir Divina Armonie - UNESCO Club is an artistic ensemble including Romanian and foreign students, which aims at promoting young talented people passionate about vocal chamber music or classical symphonic music.
It is part of Cavalerii Daciei Foundation. So far, the choir has launched 7 musical albums and has participated to numberless festivals, tours and international competitions. They performed in Italy - Siracusa, Catania, Francofonte (1999), Greece - Argos, Orestikos, Kfissia (2000-2002), Republic of Moldavia - Chisinau (2002), Turkey - Ankara (2005), winning the first prize in the mixed choirs section, Thesalonic (2006) and Bulgaria - Varna (2007).
The choir can proud itself with the staging of complex musical pieces such as Requiem by W. A. Mozart, La Traviata by G.Verdi, Stabat Mater by G. Rossini and has benefited from media exposure on national television, radio stations and in different newspapers.
Ljubljana, Slovenia
KOMORNI ZBOR AVE
conductor Andraž Hauptman
Chamber Choir Ave
Chamber Choir Ave was founded in 1984 as a vocal group and soon developed into one of the leading chamber choirs in Slovenia and Europe. The choir's conductor since its establishment until today is Andraž Hauptman.
The choir successfully participated at several national and international competitions, festivals and concert tours in Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Macedonia, Egypt, Greece, South Africa, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Vatican, Denmark, Argentina, Chile, Estonia, Luxemburg and Finland.
They won several prestigious awards and high places at different competitions, including the Grand Prix Competition, Tours in 1997 and extremely demanding competition Harald Andersen, Helsinki in 2006. The most recent victories are in Tolosa 2007 in the category of vocal groups and in Spittal 2008 in both categories.
Chamber Choir Ave is a winner of City of Ljubljana Award 1994, City of Ljubljana Plaquette 2000 and the Prešeren Fund Prize 1994.
Litija, Slovenia
ZBOR SV. NIKOLAJA
Conductor Helena Fojkar Zupančič
The St. Nicholas' Choir Litija
The St. Nicholas' Choir Litija was founded 11 years ago as a church choir in the Litija parish and consists of almost 50 singers. The choir performed successfully at the numerous concerts in Slovenia and abroad and also at the choral competitions where they received the highest awards. Their repertoire includes mostly sacred music as well as different musical styles. Since its foundation the choir's conductor is Helena Fojkar Zupančič.
Numerous renowned Slovene and foreign musicians worked with the choir, such as David de Villiers, Paul A. Smith and others.
The St. Nicholas choir recorded two CDs Sacra religio and Božična luč ( Christmas Light ) and performed new compositions written by the renowned Slovene composers Ambrož Čopi, Ivan Florjanc, Nana Forte, Damijan Močnik, Peter Šavli and Črt Sojar Voglar.
Tolosa, Basque Country, Spain
KUP TALDEA
Conductor Gabriel Baltes
KUP Taldea
The choir KUP Taldea was founded by a group of young musicians who wanted to enjoy in choral singing and with it also achieve high standards. They began singing together in the spring of 2003 under the guidance of a renowned conductor Gabriel Baltes, a professor for choral conducting at the Music School Musikene in San Sebastian.
Having higher musical education in the fields of conducting, singing and different instruments and under the guidance of Gabriel Baltes they are able to perform demanding repertoire.
In 2007 they published their first CD and in 2008 competed for the first time at the International Choral Competition in Tolosa where they received the third prize in the category of folklore. KUP Taldea regularly performs in Spain and across Europe.
Falun, Sweden
FALU KAMMARKÖR
Conductor Tony Margeta
Falu Kammarkör
Falu Kammarkör, Falu Chamber Choir, was formed in 1984 and is a mixed choir with a broad repertoire, ranging from classic profane and sacred music to folk music, opera and jazz.
The choir has performed together with some of the most prominent musicians in Sweden: folk musicians, vocalists, conductors, professional Swedish and foreign orchestras and instrumentalists.
It has produced a CD with Christmas Carols and made several tours both within Sweden and abroad.In April 2006 the choir competed at the International Choir Competition in Riva del Garda, Italy with great success, winning Gold Diplomas in two categories and a special prize for best performance of a contemporary piece.
In September 2007 the choir achieved great success, winning the first prize in the category of secular music and the second prize in the category of sacred music as well as the Grand Prix Grieg at the International Choir Festival in Bergen, Norway.
In the occasion of the International Competition Maribor the choir is planning a concert tour to Slovenia to visit the native country of the conductor's parents.
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