Artistic committee

The Artistic Council is composed of five internationally renowned Slovenian conductors and composers.

MARTINA BATIČ graduated from the University of Ljubljana Academy of Music in 2002. She pursued her choral contucting studies in Munich with Professor Michael Gläser, obtaining a master’s degree with honors in 2004. She has attended numerous masterclasses all over Europe. From 2004 to 2009, she conducted the choir of the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana. In 2009, she became the conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir and assumed its artistic leadership from the 2012/2013 season until December 2017. In 2006, she won the first prize in the prestigious Eric Ericson international competition for young choir conductors. In recent years, she collaborated with the Danish Radio Choir and the Danish Vocal Ensemble, the German Chamber Choir, the Bavarian Radio Chorus, the ChorwerkRuhr vocal ensemble, the Norwegian soloists’ choir Det Norske Solistkor, and has also been regularly collaborating with the Swedish Radio Choir, the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, the RIAS Chamber Choir, the Netherlands Radio Choir, the Flemish Radio Choir, the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, the South West German Radio choir, and others. Moreover, she regularly prepares concerts with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Jaap van Zweden, Gianandrea Noseda, Emmanuel Villaume, Markus Stenz, Mikko Franck, James Gaffigan, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Emmanuel Krivine, Franz Welser-Möst, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and others. From autumn 2018 until spring 2022, she was the conductor and artistic director of the Radio France Choir in Paris. She was awarded the 2019 Prešeren Fund Prize for her interpretative achievements – the highest award of the Republic of Slovenia for achievements in the field of arts.

AMROŽ ČOPI (1973) studied composition and piano at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. He is composer, conductor, music motivator and artistic director of International Youth Choirs Choral festival Koper. Already as a young teacher he would encourage his students to create choral music and in time, he became the mentor of Slovenia’s youngest generation of composers. With his choirs, he has stimulated the creation of new works and his collaboration with aspiring composers and creators always proves prolific. His original works, recorded on four CDs, regularly appear on stages around the world. His compositions are published by Astrum and Sulasol. Čopi has led many a Slovene choir and achieved enviable results at home competitions (15 gold plaques) and internationally (26 first places). Currently, he conducts the KGBL Chamber Choir and APZ UP, both ranking among the top Slovenian choir ensembles. In 2014 he was awarded with the Gallus Medal, the highest award in the field of musical activity in Slovenia and a prestigious national award Prešeren Fund Prize. He is regularly invited to act as a member of the jury at various choral events and competitions, and is often involved in choral music seminars as a lecturer.

Born in Trieste (Italy), Stojan Kuret graduated conducting from the Music academy, University of Ljubljana and piano from the Giuseppe Tartini Music Conservatory in Trieste, where he has been professor since 1983. Already during his studies he established the children and youth choir of the Glasbena matica Trieste (1974-1991). For ten years he had been the artistic director and conductor of the renown APZ Tone Tomšič choir of the University of Ljubljana (1992-2002). It is with this choir and Vokalna akademija Ljubljana (2008-2019) that he reached prestigious international artistic achievements (three-times finalist and twice the winner of European Grand prix for choral singing in 2002 in Arezzo and 2010 in Varna). In 1984 he received the Gallus commendation for extraordinary achievements in music. He received the Commendation of the city of Ljubljana and the Golden commendation of the Public fund for cultural activities of the Republic of Slovenia. In 2003 he was chief conductor of the Chamber choir of RTV Slovenia – National Radio and Television Choir) for two years. In 2011 in Arezzo (Italy) he received the prestigeous Guidoneum award for the successful and creative work with Vokalna akademija Ljubljana. In 2012 he received the Prešeren foundation award, the highest national recognition in culture. In 2017 he recived the Highest Golden Commendation of the Public fund for cultural activities of the Republic of Slovenia for his creative and successful work for choral development in the national choral music. As lecturer, Stojan Kuret has been a frequent guest at seminars home and abroad (Music accademy Budapest, Riga and Ljubljana). He is a regular member of juries at the major international choral and choir conductor competitions.

DAMIJAN MOČNIK lives in Cerklje, a small town in Upper Carniola, Slovenia. He completed his musical study at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in 1991 (studio of Professor Dane Škerl) where he won the Prešeren Award for the outstanding student symphonic composition. He improved his knowledge of conducting by studying abroad, including coaching with famed Swedish conductor Eric Ericson. Močnik is the choral conductor and music teacher at the Diocesan Classical Gimnazija in Ljubljana. Recipient of many awards at national and international choral competitions, his approach toward both conducting and music education is marked by passion and innovation. His two decades of conducting includes leadership of significant choral ensembles such as the France Prešeren Academy Choir from Kranj, Slovenia, and the Andrej Vavken Female Church Choir of Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia. With these two choirs he has won several awards at national and international choral competitions. Močnik’s compositional efforts are mainly devoted to the human voice. His musical language, inspired by carefully selected texts, is based on innovative rhythmic and melodic ideas. His melodies often reveal roots in plainchant or Slovenian folk music. Such fluid melodic concepts allow Močnik to create a variety of polyphonic, polytonal and polychordal structures in his choral scores. His choral works have been preformed by choirs and vocal ensembles throughout the world, including The World Youth Choir (Gary Graden), The London Sinfonietta Voices (Terry Edwards), St. Jacob’s Chamber Choir Stockholm (Gary Graden), Singer Pur (Regensburg), Opus 7 (Seattle, USA), Chamber Choir Ave Ljubljana (Andraž Hauptman), APZ Tone Tomšič Ljubljana (Stojan Kuret), Missouri State Concert Chorale (Guy B. Webb), The Cardinal Singers of the University of Louisville (Kent Hatteberg), and many other choirs from Europe, USA, Japan and Taiwan. Internationally, his scores are published by Augsburg-Fortress, Minneapolis / U.S.A., Carus-Verlag in Stuttgart / Germany, and Ferrimontana Publishing House in Frankfurt / Germany.

KARMINA ŠILEC has brought freshness and originality to the world of music and theatre. As a theatre director, conductor and composer she has projects with various companies, drama and opera houses, festivals and ensembles worldwide. As author – director she has developed unique artistic concept – Choregie. With »Choregie – vocal theatre« she has brought freshness and originality to the world of music and theatre.  Karmina Šilec has received the International Robert Edler Prize for her exceptional contribution to the world choir movement, two international awards by Music Theatre Now, the Prešeren Award; and together with her companies: the Golden Mask theatre award and more than 20 other international awards at choir competitions. In 2017 she was nominated for the prestigious Europe Theatre Prize – New Theatrical Realities (EPTR).  Her ensembles and projects have been performed on stages and festivals of the highest esteem, such as the Ruhrtriennale (DE), Prototype Festival NYC (USA), Festival d’Automne á Paris (FR), Holland Festival (NL), Moscow Easter Festival (RU), Dresdner Musikfestspiele (DE), Golden Mask (RU), Melbourne Festival (AU), Operadagen Rotterdam (NL), Radial System V Berlin (DE), Auditorium, Rome (IT), Steierischer Herbst (AT), Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space (JP), St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall (RU), Polyfollia (FR), Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Teresa Carreño Theater (VE), Teatro Colon (AR),  Esplanade (SG), etc., as well as for EBU and Eurovision. She works as an artistic adviser for choral music, gives lectures to conductors and is often lecturer at universities and symposiums worldwide, a jury member or member of artistic committees at festivals and competitions. In 2018/2019 she was a fellow at Harvard University/Radcliffe Institute for advanced study, currently she is artist-in-residence at Stellenbosch University Institute for advanced study.