Slovenia Tour 2024
Dear TCC Community,
I’m Michael Denomme, a member of the TCC artistic staff and co-tour manager for our recent tour to Slovenia. I'm delighted to share my reflections on the incredible journey we all experienced together.
The Toronto Children’s Chorus, its choristers, staff, and chaperones were wonderful ambassadors of not only TCC, but of Canada as well - Bravissimo. Our Chamber Choir was invited to Slovenia to perform as guest artists with the Slovenian National Children's Choir, conducted by Damijan Močnik, and what an honour this was. As part of this amazing invitation, TCC was able to partake in social activities, workshops, rehearsals, and most importantly, concerts in collaboration with the Slovenian Choristers. We are so humbled to have performed in such beautiful and historic spaces, and made not just music, but memories too.
The first few days of our tour were spent in rehearsals, both alone and as a massed choir with the Slovenian National Children's Choir.
These days were all spent on the campus of St. Stanislav Institute, where we were so warmly welcomed during our stay in Slovenia. We are eternally grateful for the hospitality, friendliness and collaborative nature of the entire Slovenian community that we met while at St Stanislava. In particular, we are extraordinarily grateful to the staff members and conductors that worked so hard to make our stay enjoyable during the entire week.
We were even able to participate in their social activities, where choristers were split into groups to play sports and other games, and make crafts. This was such a great chance for our choristers to mingle with and meet the Slovenian singers. Their kindness and welcoming attitude was on high display, and many of our choristers built amazing relationships during these few days.
After working so hard in rehearsals for the first three days of the tour, our kids were ready to perform - and perform they did! On July 3rd, we entered the performance section of our tour, marking the first of four days of concerts in four different stunning locations.
Both our TCC choristers and the Slovenian National Children's Choir embarked on a journey up Sveta Gora, to Bazilika Svetogorske Matere Božje (Basilica of the Queen of Svetogorska).
This concert was outstanding, and the draw of both choirs filled the entire church.
This beautiful space was an ideal setting to begin our tour. We can still feel the chills when we think of how beautiful "Salve Regina" sounded with these beautiful high ceilings and hard stone floors.
Our second concert was arguably the most important moment for us while on tour. This concert was held at the Slovenian Philharmonic hall, which is the oldest philharmonic hall in the country, representing a rich history of musical excellence since 1701. It was such an honour to perform in this space knowing the history and importance of that venue.
This hall even employed the legendary Gustav Mahler for a short time during the beginnings of his career.
This beautiful hall was a fantastic backdrop for us to sing in. We had a difficult time singing with our jaws on the floor because of the beauty of the hall! Right in the heart of Downtown Ljubljana, this hall is like stepping into the past, where you feel totally disengaged from the outside world. We felt the silence, and welcomed in the break from the hustle and bustle of the busy city that lay just outside the doors.
Our performance was extremely well received by the Slovenian audience. Many of them spoke of our excellent intonation, dedication to storytelling, and passion for the music. Taking in the applause from this concert was such a special moment for us. As we watched the audience stand and cheer for us, we had so much pride for our hard work, and for our commitment to the TCC. We were even greeted after the concert by a very special guest: the former Prime Minister of Slovenia, Alojz Peterle.
After the concert, we found another statue of our good friend Mahler, and decided to take a large group selfie to commemorate the moment. We then had a wonderful pizza dinner. Some of our kids thought they were celebrities 😎
The next day we travelled back to the downtown core for our third concert. For this performance we had another special opportunity to share the stage with the outstanding St. Stanislav Girls' Choir, directed by Helena Fojkar Zupančič.
This concert was held at the amazing Academy of Music, which is a branch of the University of Ljubljana.
This concert was attended by some of the most influential musicians, composers and conductors in all of Slovenia, and they all were impressed by TCC's mature sound and professionalism throughout the performance.
This concert was truly spectacular, and concluded with a reception where our two choirs mingled and shared baked goods that the girls choir had made for us. Ask us about the lemon squares… SO GOOD! We are so grateful to the St. Stanislav Girls' Choir for welcoming us with such open arms, and we were honoured to be able to share the stage with them.
Our fourth and final concert day had us travel about 2 hours away to a very small town called Brežice; but before we did that, we were lucky enough to take in a few of the sights on the way. We first stopped at the beautiful Bogenšperk Castle.
The team loved hearing about the storied history of this beautiful castle.
We continued our bus ride to Brežice shortly after, where our staff was sure to make good use of their time.
After a power nap, we arrived at the absolutely stunning Knight's Hall located in the Brežice Castle. This fantastic hall has artwork surrounding the audience, including a depiction of the four elements in each of the four corners of the room. We felt it was a very fitting piece of art to have around us as we performed the musical depiction of the "Elements", written by Katerina Gimon, as a part of our concert.
While this performance was exciting for us, it was also bittersweet, as it not only marked the end of our tour performances but also the last time many of our choristers would be singing with the TCC. We are so proud of all of our choristers, but particularly those who are moving on after this season. We will miss you all so much, and we can’t wait to see how you all continue to succeed and grow in your future endeavours.
First we visited two caves, Predjama and Postojna. These two cave systems were magnificent and more massive than you’d expect from the photos.
After the caves, we spent a day exploring the Slovenian countryside, visiting Bohinj Lake and hiking to Savica Waterfall, eating lunch at Bled Lake, visiting Bled Castle, and finally making our way to Blejski Vintgar Gorge. We were so happy to be invited at the Gorge to sing along the walking path, the tourism office was so excited that they even posted our singing on their own Facebook page!
This was also the day we had our celebratory dinner at Pizzaria Kaval!
Our very last day in Slovenia was spent exploring the beautiful city of Ljubljana. Our choristers really enjoyed having some free time to explore the shops and cafes along the downtown core, and even meeting another group of Canadian travellers.
We then had to say goodbye to many of our choristers as they deviated from the tour, and the others packed their rooms up at St Stanislav. We were so sad to leave, but thankful for the amazing journey that we were all so lucky to be a part of.
It is hard to believe that the tour is now over, and impossible to put into words just how spectacular this tour was for all of us. I personally feel that my life has been changed from being able to witness such excellent choral singing, by us and by the other choirs. As a member of the Chamber Artistic Team, I can confidently say that we are so proud of how the Chamber Choir behaved, performed, and represented Canada while in Slovenia. You were excellent singers, performers, and most importantly great friends to each other and to every person you met along the way. Bravo, Brava, and Congratulations on a fabulous tour for 2024.
- Michael Denomme