Event Date: Nov 29, 2022
Event Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Koper Music school Hall
Music inspiring by Lara Willewaldt's poetry
Water has no colour, but in nature, it takes almost the entire colour spectrum. Let us think of a rainbow, which is created by the refraction of the sun, or the sea, which is just a reflection of the sky. We also talk about the colour of water on a symbolic level, which is not necessarily a reflection of its physical appearance, but mainly of our attitude towards it.
PROGRAM:
Jošt Juhant (1995) in Melani Popit (1998): Black
Matej Kastelic (1994): Red
Lan Podletnik Ašič (2002): Orange
Žiga Čopi (2002): Yellow
Martin Vasle (2002): Green
Krištof Strnad (1999): Blue
Klara Mlakar (1999): Violet
Federica Lo Pinto (1997): White
PERFORMERS:
Hana Žvagen, flute
Luka Vovk, clarinet
Gašper Okorn, franch horn
Timotej Willewaldt, violin
Manca Kosmač, viola
Nuša Planinv, cello
Petja Pogačnik, double-bass
Andraž Malgaj, akordeon
Martin Vasle, guitar
Matej Kastelic, vocal, shruti box
Federica Lo Pinto, vocal
Djembe: Martin Vasle, Jošt Juhant, Federica Lo Pinto, Žiga Čopi, Ivan Nikonov, Lan Podletnik Ašič
The reciter: Sara Ognjanovič
Conducting, conceptual and artistic direction: Lara Willewaldt
Interview: Lara Willewaldt and Timoteju Willewaldt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrksX0mcEUo
"Black personifies a certain depth, intimacy. It is a space, a shelter, a safe harbour. Its basic characteristic is the absence of all colours, which in its emptiness creates a greater fullness than other colours. Black is a warm embrace, like night, which covers the earth like a gentle blanket."
Lara Willewaldt
"The composition Black foreshadows upcoming compositions and offers the performers time to reflect and internalize the material. Its design is simple: following the example of the song, the performers move from one improvisational cell to another, the material of which is not connected to the other compositions. It is the same with black, "non-colour", which is both an absence and an over-saturation of hues. Thus, it is always different in composition, although our perception is always the same - a colour that we distinguish when we cannot distinguish any other."
Jošt Juhant and Melani Popit
Jošt Juhant (1995) studies composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of prof. Vita Žuraj. Before he decided to study, he played the cello and double bass, and before starting his studies, he started playing the piano. He mainly composes instrumental music for chamber ensembles. In 2020, the RTV Symphony Orchestra performed his first orchestral composition Tris. He is interested in music of all styles, genres and forms.
Melani Popit (1998) has been fascinated by music since childhood. He is finishing his 1st year of master's studies in composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana with prof. Uroš Rojko. She is particularly interested in composing modern music, which brings new sound colours to the world of music. Her works are performed at concerts of the Academy of Music and outside of it (Biennale of contemporary music in Koper, Zavod Zvokotok, Glasbena mladina Ljubljana...). While studying, she teaches music at the Edgar Willems Music Center, where she also completed the Willems Pedagogical Diploma.
Red changes me. It expresses strength and self-confidence, but it also hides warmth and love. She always sneaks up when you need her to strengthen and inspire you. It maintains stability, belonging, carries you forward, to the end and beyond.
Lara Willewaldt
"The poem Red appealed to me just as a color, but at the same time, as a composer, I am fascinated by the lucid flow of what is communicated through the words. In addition to the cello and clarinet, the protagonist in the band is a vocalist who sings on the background of the bordun instrument - Shruti box. The composition is written without sheet music, the musicians are given interval ratios in addition to the text, indicated by numbers written above the individual syllables of the words. The rhythm is free, but the duration of individual notes or syllables is determined by the sound and intensity of the interval vertical per pedal tone."
Matej Kastelic
Matej Kastelic (1994) began his musical education with piano lessons, and later attended KGBL in the class of Črt Sojar Voglar, piano with Maja Faganel and singing with Janko Volčanšek. In high school, he received the student Škerjančev award. At the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, he is attending master's studies in the class of prof. Uroša Rojka, majoring in composition and music theory. For his works, he received prizes from the competitions of the Tone Tomšič Academy of Music, the Maribor Academy of Music, the OBALA Koper, the University of Primorska and the Chamber Choir of the Academy of Music. He participated in theater music at the festival Borštnik's meeting. His works were also performed by the KGBL Chamber Choir, the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir, the State Choir of Latvia, the Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the HRT Choir. He is currently a teacher at the lower music school and a ballet and modern dance accompanist at KGBL.
"Orange is sending me around in circles. That relaxed carefreeness washes over you on a summer evening. It is a passion. The wind waves your hair as you run lightly along the whitewashed streets to the sea. There is the burning sun on the shoulders and the smell of salt. That relaxed carefreeness takes you to dance."
Lara Willewaldt
"Orange inspires in me the search for oneself and the path to salvation from one's own vicious circles to the final purification in the light. The journey is colourfully illustrated in the song itself, and condensed into a few musical thoughts in the composition."
Lan Podletnik Asič
Lan Podletnik Ašič (2002) is a first-year composition student with prof. Vito Žuraj at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. In 2021, he graduated from the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet in the class of Prof. Line by Sojar Voglar. He obtained his lower musical education as a violinist in the class of prof. Sidike S. Bravničar in Tartini Music Studio. He also learned to play the piano and trumpet from Dr. Damian Valentinuzzi. Already at a lower level of musical education, he embarked on a path as a composer, which he consolidated and outlined more clearly at the Ljubljana Conservatory. Here he also joined the KGBL Chamber Choir and began working with the composer and conductor Ambrož Čopi. In 2019, at the final concert of the Conservatory's composers, he performed his own composition Jutro with the students' chamber orchestra, and was placed in the role of conductor. Two of his pieces were performed at last year's Youth Music Festival in Radovlji: the composition "Sanje" and the composition with the original graphic title, which was also created entirely by himself. He collaborates with excellent musicians who perform his compositions at various concerts, as well as with other artists, such as the internationally renowned Slovenian painter Nik Anikis Skušek.
"Yellow feels me. Like a warm spring sun, it embraces the body until it softens the heart. It brings both light and change. It takes you through the meadows to the sea, from the sea to the hills and on to the city and from there to the sky. In its softness, it brings change when it feels that change is needed."
Lara Willewaldt
"In poetry, I felt the mapping of my musical path so far. With a tonally meditative beginning, the composition acts primal and radiates light. After the intro is over, a processed soundtrack that leads the track to new material joins the physical instruments. The material, elaborated with modern compositional techniques and sound recordings, leads the composition into a total split, but after all the uncertainty; it merges with the main theme and, through the combination of already used sound recordings, ends in harmony and takes the listener back to meditative infinity."
Žiga Čopi
Žiga Čopi (2002) constantly surprises with its versatility and creativity. At the age of four, he enrolled in the violin and later, because of his desire to play polyphonically, he enrolled in the guitar at the GŠ in Koper. After completing music school in the violin, he continued his studies on the double bass, and the guitar became his main instrument at the Koper Art High School. In addition to his classical education and graduation performance, he worked and created in the field of popular music, where he co-created original music in the duo Rosppik with a mixture of jazz and pop. As a member of the children's and youth choir, he got to know high-quality work and modern vocal literature as well as getting to know the capabilities and breadth of creativity for vocals. Cooperation with the youngest generation of composers and work in the Chamber Choir of KGBL and APZ of the University of Primorska stimulated in him the desire to deepen his own knowledge in this field. He is currently attending the first year of composition at the Academy of Music. He won prizes in many international singing competitions and first place in the TEMSIG competition. Among other things, in 2021 he performed with an independent program at the festival "Ars e femmina - Mariji Trandafil u čast" in Novi Sad.
"Green makes me glow. A colour feels and sails through the earth. It grounds, calms, embraces with its long branches. Because of her, I bloom, grow, breathe, and give off energy to other people. He gives me flowers and paints me with them; I fall asleep among them to rest."
Lara Willewaldt
"The composition Zelena is basically based on the tone E, because it is the most represented letter in the word. The poetry itself is full of words that sound very beautiful to me, it is very calm and constructed in such a way that the music itself spilled onto the paper. The line-up is quite unusual, but I think it captures the radiating atmosphere well: the cello is a colourful red thread, the flute served me as a gentle element in the calm verses, the harmonica paints a great feeling, and behind the guitar is my signature. The colour green is on my skin because we have a special relationship, I simply see something in it that no other colour has."
Martin Vasle
Martin Vasle (2002) started playing guitar at the age of seven at the OE KGBL in the class of prof. Eve Hren Fras. In 2017, he continued his guitar studies at the intermediate level of KGBL in the class of prof. Igor Sajet. During high school, he started composing and since this school year, he is a student of composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of prof. Marko Mihevac. As a choir singer, he has been singing in the KGBL Chamber Choir and Ivan Cankar's Vocal Group since 2018. In 2017 and 2020, at the TEMSIG competition in the guitar duo category, he won a gold plaque, 3rd prize, and another gold plaque and special recognition for his composition, which he played in the competition as a duo with Matevž Šivic. He also won four gold plaques in the 2020/21 school year at the international IMMCC competition in Maribor, including one first and one second prize. In recent years, he has written several compositions mainly for various vocal and guitar ensembles.
"Blue widens my view. It expands like an endless ocean in my body. There it echoes like waves that sink to the forest and merge with the green. The sun illuminates it so that it does not darken like during a storm."
Lara Willewaldt
"Blue has always resonated with me and calms me, gives me stability. This is exactly what I wanted to conjure up in the song and at the same time capture the verse "blue opens my eyes". The whole composition is like a kind of meditation, a process of knowing and discovering yourself, your vibration. This journey concludes with the initial thought, makes sense of the beginning, and summarizes the entire journey."
Kristof Strnad
Krištof Strnad (1999) has been in contact with music since childhood. He started his schooling at GŠ Brežice with piano, and later with singing. After finishing high school, he continued his musical career by studying music pedagogy at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where after two years he transferred to study composition in the class of prof. Janija Golob. In 2018, he wrote his first piece, an adaptation of the folk song Zrejlo je žito, for mixed choir. He is a member of the MePZ Viva Brežice, which regularly performs his novelties under the baton of Simone Rožman Strnad. He has also collaborated with renowned composers and conductors such as Ambrož Čopi, Damijan Močnik, Helena Fojkar Zupančič and others. Last year, he won the Prleška Suite competition with the composition Na nebu zvezde sevajo, he was also the conceptual leader of the project "Outside the Frame", where together with Klara Mlakar and Matej Kastelic, he portrayed Old Slavic deities in music for a mixed choir and folklore group. In February of this year, his Lux et Tenebrae was performed at the academies in Ljubljana, Budapest and Zagreb. He is also a prize-winner of the Our Song competition, where he presented himself as the conductor of the MePZ Viva Brežice and became an assistant of the choir, which he will also take over in October.
"Violet blows me around. It sets the internal balance, lowers the depth, and increases the height. My breath expands and sinks into the earth. Time stops. Thoughts stop. I stop."
Lara Willewaldt
In her music, Klara Mlakar (1999) focuses on researching the human voice, subtle musical structures and the capabilities of instruments. She studies composition at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (Germany) in the class of prof. Markus Hechtle and prof. dr. h.c. Wolfgang Rihm, where she went after graduating in composition and music theory at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of prof. Vita Žuraj. She is a member of the KGBL Chamber Choir led by Ambrož Čopi. Her compositions are performed by prominent musical names: Slowind, Ensemble Recherche Freiburg, Kammerchor der Christuskirche Karlsruhe, Chamber String Orchestra of the Slovenian Philharmonic, KGBL Chamber Choir, APZ Maribor, APZ University of Primorska, MePZ Sv. Nikolaj Litija, VIVA Brežica, UL Academy of Music Chamber Choir, UL Academy of Music Girls' Choir, Sonc festival and others. Recently, she drew attention to herself in the world of choral music with a special award for a promising composer under the age of 25 for a composition performed at the Naša pesem 2022 competition; with a special award for the best composition written by a composer born after January 14, 1997 at the International Choir Competition in Preveza (Greece); with the first prize in the folk category at the APZ Maribor choral composition competition - Let's go, let's go now; with the first prize at the 2nd competition for new compositions Aegis Carminis 2021 and with a special prize for a promising young female composer born after 1996; with the first prize for the composition Sneg pada at the 2nd competition for choral compositions of MePZ Obala Koper.
"White colour is born as a combination of all other colour spectrums. My white's journey begins within it, displaying all the shades of the rainbow. The musical motifs of the previously presented compositions are reborn, intertwining and merging with each other until the flickering of pure white colour that disperses in space and suddenly disappears into infinity like a glimpse in the dark night."
Federica Lo Pinto
Federica Lo Pinto (1997) graduated from the Koper Art High School, majoring in accordion with prof. Erika Udovič Kovačič. In 2015, she was admitted to the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where she graduated in 2018 in composition and music theory under the tutelage of a composer and clarinetist. prof. Uroša Rojka. He is currently continuing his studies with the same professor on a second-level master's study program. She perfected her solo singing skills for six years with prof. Tanja Grlica and one year with prof. Andrej Makor at GŠ Koper. She has been a member of various choirs for many years, with which she regularly participates in national and international competitions. From 2014 to 2016, she was the assistant conductor of the vocal group Vocal Drops, and since October 2017, she is the choirmaster of the children's choir Vesela pomlad. Since 2016, she has written several vocal, instrumental and vocal-instrumental works, with which she successfully presents herself both in Slovenia and abroad.
Lara Willewaldt (1998) is a versatile artist, but she is most active as a choir singer and choir director. She was already deciding between painting and music at the end of the ninth grade, when she attended the art course of the academic painter Brina Torkar, but her love for music won at that moment. Painting tempted her again in the 3rd year of high school, when during art education classes with prof. Beatriz Tomšič Čerkez created while listening to music. She further deepened her desire and passion at a painting course (again) with the academic painter Brina Torkar, who opened the door to the abstract world of creation even more for her. After matriculation at KGBL, she decided to study choral conducting at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where she graduated in the class of Sebastjan Vrhovnik, and is now continuing her master's studies with prof. Mark Vatovac. She spent last academic year on an exchange in Spain, in the Basque Country, where she gained many new experiences and opened up even more possibilities for music creation. The warm Spanish culture left a strong impression on her, which is also reflected in her current artistic activity. As a choir director, it is a great pleasure for her to collaborate on projects with different choirs and to meet new people, but she definitely likes it best when she can create music on stage with her choirs and give her heart to the audience. She has been leading the choir of the Pegius Faculty of Law for four years, and last year she also led the men's choir Triglav. As a singer and assistant, she works with prof. Mark Vatovec at the Girls' Choir of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, with prof. Tone Potočnik at the Choir of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and with prof. Ambrož Čopi at the KGBL Chamber Choir. She participated in many competitions with all the aforementioned choirs, and in 2020, as a conductor from the APZ of the University of Primorska, she took part in a regional competition of choirs, where they won a gold plaque with distinction, and Lara received the award for the most promising young conductor. Her poetry began to be created purely by accident, as a collection of thoughts that arose during the train ride home. Over time, it has developed into something that fills her emotionally, but at the same time leaves her empty and without restless thoughts. "I would describe my poetry as quite abstract, emotionally charged and sincere. Many times it's just a kind of flow of thought that is carried over from line to line and doesn't break until the end of the poem, but the theme touches on life, nature, the people around me, and their and my feelings. But sometimes what just happens is what comes from the heart at the moment. The Color cycle came about as randomly as most others.