Ateliers for children and teen choirs
Music festivals are generally aimed at adults, but what about children and teenagers? The Europa Cantat Festival welcomes you all!
This is a festival for learning, growing, connecting, and simply enjoying the moment. This is no competition so anyone is cordially invited to join, be it as individual singers, as groups (of friends, of singers from a choir, as a family) or as a choir (if the whole choir is interested in coming and making an additional performance at the festival).
As already pointed out – the Festival isn’t intended only for adults. A big part of the programme is aimed at children and teen choir singers. Here is a short overview of the ateliers, designed especially for them.
LEVEL A ATELIERS (all)
An atelier for children (up to 12 years) who are animal-lovers (In fact, who isn’t?) During the 4 days with Marleen De Boo, a Belgian conductor, you’ll bring out the animal in you and transform your practice room into the ‘singing safari’.
Hirvo Surva is an Estonian professor and a conductor with many years of experience. Since 2019, he has been the Chairman of the Estonian Choral Association. His atelier is dedicated to boys before mutation. Within 4 days, you’ll intertwine singing and moving with different rhythms and musical genres. In other words, tonnes of fun!
Mother Earth – the inspiration to move young singers aged between 12 and 18. The atelier will be led by a Danish couple – Tine and Christian Fris-Ronsfeld, who have dedicated their lives to music. Tine is a well-known singer, composer and arranger, while Christian is the artistic director of Mariagerfjord Choir School, one of the most remarkable schools for contemporary music in Europe.
Another atelier for the youngest (U12). This time it is a 6-day atelier with a repertoire of traditional and original songs from the Mediterranean countries. ‘’We will dance and sing!’’, promises Gloria Coma Pedrals, a Spanish award-winning children and youth choirs’ conductor.
A very free, improvisation-based philosophy of creating music together. Interested? The don’t miss the atelier for singers aged between 12 and 18 with Soila Sariola from Finland.
LEVEL B ATELIERS (sight-reading and preparation required)
Today the world connects wirelessly. Still, this isn’t the only connection. In a 4-day atelier, Lyn Williams from Australia will try to connect singers aged between 12 and 18 through music by Ambrož Čopi and Dan Walker.
Are you into movies? Well, who isn’t! But what’s even better is the film music! This will be the main topic of B2, led by Sanne Valvanne, an innovative conductor and the founder of the Sing & Shine choirs from Finland. For children up to 12.
Children in opera? On stage?! Yes!
This is a most unique opportunity for singers between 10 and 15 who would like to try themselves in the world of opera!The 8-day atelier will be led by Teri Dunn, the artistic director of the Canadian Children’s Opera Company.
LEVEL C ATELIERS (auditions and preparation required)
The children up to 12 years will focus on the passing nature of beauty, the silence, and the relationship between all sentient beings, all under the leadership of Yoshihisa Matthias Kinoshita.
Romance, nature and beauty inspire the conductor Petra Grassi from Trieste, Italy. She will conduct an atelier for young singers between 12 and 18 years, with an emphasis on the English, German and Slovenian composers of the 19th and the 20th centuries.
Each atelier will close with a performance (after 4, 6 or 8 days), which will consist of the repertoire rehearsed in the atelier.
Foto: Jana Jocif
Parents, teacher, conductors, youth – don’t miss the unique opportunity for any young singer! To learn from the best world-renowned mentors isn’t something that happens every day.
Teachers and conductors: you can apply with your children or youth choir. During the atelier (9 am– 12 pm) the children will be looked after by both the mentor and the volunteers helping at the atelier, so you may join the ateliers that interest you. Tasty meals and music concerts aside, let’s not forget the great evening performances! The festival will be an amazing experience for anyone, especially the children.
Parents: you can come to the festival as a family – in the morning you take part in an atelier, take your children to the music kindergarten and in the afternoon, you are welcome to attend concerts around the city, explore the city centre or simply relax on the banks of the Ljubljanica river and harmonize with the festival.
NB! U27 ticket holders get a special festival discount on the festival fee. More about that – soon!
Stay healthy,
Your Festival Team
