Carmina Slovenica

The vocal theatre 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.

Carmina Slovenica has been invited to art events of the highest esteem such as the World Music Days (organized by the ISCM), Festival d’Automne á Paris, Prototype New York, Moscow Easter Festival, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Ruhrtriennale, the European Symposium on Choral Music (organized by the IFCM), Steirischer Herbst, Holland festival, Polyfollia, America Cantat, Kunstenfestivaldesarts Brussels, Golden Mask, Europa Cantat, Nuit de Choer Brusseless, Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen, Lublin Theatre Confrontation Festival, Melbourne Festival, InternAtional festival Beijing, Choir Olympics, etc. Carmina Slovenica has been invited to art events of the highest esteem such as the World Music Days (organized by the ISCM), Festival d’Automne á Paris, Moscow Easter Festival, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Ruhrtriennale, the European Symposium on Choral Music (organized by the IFCM), Steirischer Herbst, Holland festival, America Cantat, Kunstfestival Brussels, etc.

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. Carmina Slovenica 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 top awards at international choral competitions, participation in various international projects, recordings made for many radio and television stations, 18 CDs, 3 DVDs 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 ensemble‘s remarkable reputation.

Choregie projects Toxic Psalms, Placebo, Vampirabile, Rusalki, From Time Immemorial..., Scivias, and many others have been received with high praise, and Carmina Slovenica and Karmina Šilec received many international prizes.

Carmina Slovenica performs with an artistry that inspires audiences and critics alike and stands as a model in the international choir movement

Vocal theatre

Each new Choregie project signed by Karmina Šilec is an expedition into the field of the unknown and the unexplored. Artistically her projects deal with deep research of music for voices, parallel different types of music and various musical eras; by merging the old and the contemporary they create new, exciting contexts in music. They also constantly reintroduce Slovene, contemporary and old, unknown authors. Within the uncompromising frame of the highest standards they continuously prove that vocal ensembles can be outstanding, versatile artistic bodies - superb artistic instruments which are constantly opening up new creative spaces.

With her boldness, provocativeness and erudition that bears no comparison Karmina Šilec transformed various vocal ensembles into superior artistic formations of the highest rank. She expanded the field of choir, chamber and solo singing to reach unimaginable extensions of the most complex creative space of an all-encompassing multi-form work of art. Based on thorough research she created a whole range of conceptual, stylistically and thematically perfected projects, among them Vampirabile, Scivias, Spixody, Adiemus, Stripsody, CS Light, From Time Immemorial, Rusalke, Pleading for words, Is there one who would not weep, etc. The dimensions of these projects surface in multi-disciplinary stage performances which logically compliment the musical tissue and permeate with basic elements of musical theatre – the concept of Choregie.

Many productions have received awards; for example, in 2008, Šilec received an award from the International Theatre Institute "Music Theatre Now" in the category Music beyond opera.

http://www.carmina-slovenica.si/en/ http://www.karminasilec.com