Bienale Koper
EMBERS: Slovenian Philharmonic choir
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Event Date: Dec 4, 2024

Event Time: 8:00 pm

Location: Protokolarno-prireditvena dvoran sv. Frančiška - Koper St. Francis church

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Price: 5€-10€






Concert in collaboration with the festivl Šelestenja
Zavod za mladino kulturo in turizem Koper / Koper Youth, Culture and Tourism Centre




PROGRAM
On the occasion of Aldo Kumar's 70th birthday

Aldo Kumar studied music pedagogy and composition in Ljubljana after graduating from the Jurij Vega high school in Idrija. Most of the time he worked as a freelance composer. He is currently a full professor at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television at the University of Ljubljana. His compositional opus includes choral, solo, chamber, vocal-instrumental, stage and film music. He constantly collaborates with various conductors and recreaters (Marko Letonja, Simon Krečič, Milko Lazar, Bojan Gorišek, Anton Nanut, Uroš Lajovic, Ana Erčulj, Simon Robinson, Marko Munih, Matjaž Šček, James Judd, David de Villiers, Patrick Fournillier, Loris Voltolini , En Shao, David Harman and many others). His compositions were performed on many Slovenian and foreign concert stages. The Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra also regularly perform the works of Aldo Kumar on their tours abroad (tours in South America and China). He is the founder and leader of the music group Anbot. As a stage music composer, he wrote and recorded music for more than 100 stage productions. He works with all the most important theater creators in our area. He is the author of music for many feature films and documentaries. He has received many awards for his work, including the Kozin Award (2021), the Prešeren Fund Award (2010), the Golden Bird (1984), the Sterijev pozorja award for stage music (1987), the first award for film music at the Montagna International Film Festival in Trent (2000), Slovenicum ensemble award, APZ Tone Tomšič award and as many as three Borštnik awards for theater music (2003, 2004 and 2005). His choral compositions have become the permanent repertoire of many choral ensembles and have been performed on all continents of the world.

The beginnings of organised choral activities in Slovenia can be found in the work of the predecessors of the Slovenian Philharmonic. We know that the Philharmonic Society had its own vocal ensemble with which it presented concerts from the end of the eighteenth century onwards. In the nineteenth century, at a time of strong national aspirations, the central Slovenian music organisation Glasbena matica founded its own choir, whose members also performed successfully abroad. After the Second World War and the dissolution of Glasbena matica, the choir was revived as part of the Slovenian Philharmonic. In 1976, the professional choral tradition was interrupted for some time, until 1991, when the Slovenian Chamber Choir was re-established as an association of special social importance. This choir has been operating under the auspices of the Slovenian Philharmonic since 1998. The choir was led by Mirko Cuderman for two decades. From 2012 until the present day, Martina Batič, Borut Smrekar and Gregor Klančič have respectively served as its artistic directors. In addition to the most prominent Slovenian conductors, the choir has also been conducted by many renowned international artists, such as Eric Ericson, Tõnu Kaljuste, Grete Pedersen, Kaspars Putniņš, Günther Theuring and Stephen Layton. As part of its subscription series, the choir prepares concerts of a cappella and vocal-instrumental music, as well as regularly collaborating with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in the performance of vocal-instrumental works. As the only professional concert vocal ensemble in Slovenia, the choir devotes a great deal of attention to the preservation of the Slovenian musical heritage. Since 2016, the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir has been a member of the European Network of Professional Chamber Choirs TENSO.