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Europa Cantat Festival Is Coming

From 17 to 22 July, Ljubljana will host the International Choir festival Europa Cantat 2021, which will be held in hybrid form due to the COVID-19 pandemic – with events online and live. The festive opening of the festival will take place on Saturday, 17 July at 21 pm in Cankarjev dom with a musical spectacle directed by Matej Filipčič. The audience will be addressed by the President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor, who is also the honorary patron of the festival, and the Minister of Culture Vasko Simoniti. The event will be broadcast live by TV Slovenija 1 and ARS, Radio Slovenia third channel.

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The International Festival, which is hosted by a different European country every three years and attracts local and foreign audiences, is organised by the Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities (JSKD) in cooperation with the European Choral Association. The festival has been financially supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Ljubljana.

The festival is part of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The educational core of the festival will take place entirely on the web TV Europa Cantat, offering the chance to listen to live concerts performed by international stars and top Slovenian bands at Congress Square, Novi trg, in the Slovenian Philharmonic Hall and the Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre.

World Choir Stars in Ljubljana

During the festival, Ljubljana will host some outstanding musical ensembles from abroad, which will present different styles of music. On the programme are the German band Singer Pur that has been contributing to musical interpretation of various musical styles for 25 years, the stylistically intriguing Danish 3}a cappella pop band Postyr and the top male barbershop quartet Ringmasters from Sweden.

Cycle Dedicated to Slovenian Choral Singing

This year's Europa Cantat Festival pays special tribute to the richness of Slovenian choral activities, which is one of the most popular mass forms of amateur culture in Slovenia with national professional choirs achieving outstanding international success. A number of excellent choirs will present works of Slovenian composers in the Listen to Slovenia concert cycle. We will listen to the night of domestic youth choirs, the popular Perpetuum Jazzile, the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir, the St. Stanislav Girls' Choir, the Megaron Chamber Choir & Chamber Choir of Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana.

As part of the EuroChoir and the joint National Youth Choirs projects, many young singers from all over Europe will meet in Ljubljana, who will live and practice the programme jointly during festival days and then present it at final concerts.

Europa Cantat Web TV

During the event, the Europa Cantat web TV will be in operation, available on the festival’s website.

It will broadcast a rich educational music programme every day between 08h00 and 18h00. Those interested will be able to get acquainted with choral literature, virtually attend a one-day singing workshop, follow interviews with choral experts and listen to studio concerts, while various short videos will present natural beauties of Slovenia to the foreign audiences.

Choral Photo Promenade exhibition in Jakopič Promenade

The Choral Photo Promenade exhibition will be on display in Jakopič promenade until 1 August. In addition to the exhibited photographs of choral music in the open-air gallery, all other photographs submitted to the photo contest for the exhibition will be displayed on the festival website. The exhibition has been financially supported by Ljubljana Tourism.

Source: Festival Europa Cantat