Lojze Lebič FAUVEL'86

Dear spectators, welcome to the online performance of Fauvel ‘86 - a vocal-instrumental scenic composition, composed by Lojze Lebič - performed by the Academic Choir Tone Tomšič of University of Ljubljana. Fauvel ‘86 is an extensive vocal-instrumental piece that was written for the Academic choir Tone Tomšič of University of Ljubljana for its 60-year anniversary in 1986. It is based on the comprehensive medieval work Roman de Fauvel from the 14th century. Supposedly, it originated secretly in the French court circle of state officials as a critically-societal tale of an everlasting tournament between good and evil. Roman de Fauvel is extraordinarily important for the musicological science as well, since it contains more than a hundred melodies that are of great importance for understanding the evolution of medieval music.

This recording was made at the premiere performance on the 18th of May 2019 in the Gallus Hall of Cankar Centre in Ljubljana.

LINK to de recording on YouTube channel

(Published by permission of APZ TT)

Lojze Lebic (1934)

FAUVEL '86

Vocal-instrumental stage story for mixed choir, soloists, instruments, percussion and sound recordings

Libretto: Jelena Ukmar Lebič after "Roman de Fauvel" (14th century)

Translations of texts: Janez Menart and Milan Jesih

Conductor: Jerica Bukovec

Choreographer: Nina Fajdiga, Milan Tomášik

Set designer, costume designer: Jasna Vastl

Performers:

Tone Tomšič Academic Choir of the University of Ljubljana (choir)

Luka Ferrini (piano)

Izidor Erazem Grafenauer (lute)

Franci Krevh and Matevž Bajde (percussion)

Tomaž Sevšek (organ)

Votes in the clip:

Boris Cavazza (Fauvel)

Polona Vetrih (Fortuna)

Aleš Valič (narrator)

Academic Choir Tone Tomšič of the University of Ljubljana

Akademski pevski zbor Tone Tomšič University of Ljubljana unites students from all departments of the University of Ljubljana, which share a great love   of singing and an unceasing wish to perform at the highest artistic level.

The choir continues the tradition of the Akademski pevski zbor v Ljubljani (Academic Choir of the University of Ljubljana) founded in 1926 by France Marolt, which consisted of male singers only. In the years between 1938 and 1940 Marolt also conducted the Female Academic choir. After the cultural silence held during the Second World War, the choir recommenced its activity, this time as a mixed choir under a new name, Akademski pevski zbor Tone Tomšič. The choir has always been led by recognized conductors such as: France Marolt, Radovan Gobec, Janez Bole, Lojze Lebič, Igor Lavrič, Marko Munih, Jože Fürst, Jernej Habjanič, Stojan Kuret,Urša Lah and Sebastjan Vrhovnik. Since October 2015 the choir is led by Jerica Bukovec.

Since its beginnings APZ Tone Tomšič has been guiding Slovenian choral singing, not only as far as its performance and techniques are concerned, but also due to its choice of programme. The choir’s repertoire includes works from all musical periods, while special attention is paid to modern choral music. APZ with its commissions and competitions encourages both young and already acknowledged Slovene composers to create new pieces and with first performances of their works furthers the recognition of Slovene choral music at home and abroad. The choir performs all over Slovenia, participates in vocal-instrumental projects (C. Orff: Carmina Burana, G. Verdi: Requiem, G. Puccini: Messa di Gloria, J. Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem, A. Nordheim:   Wirklicher Wald, L. Lebič: Zgodbe/Fables), records pieces for Slovenian National Radio (RTV Slovenija) archives and organises educational seminars for choral conductors (mentors: Peter Hanke, Jesper Grove Jørgensen, Denmark and Ragnar Rasmussen, Norway).

The choir lives up to its reputation with successful performances at many festivals and competitions both in Slovenia and abroad. APZ Tone Tomšič’s greatest international achievements are its victories on prestigious Grand Prix competitions (Tours: 1980 under Jože Fürst, 1984 under Jernej Habjanič and 1999 under Stojan Kuret; Gorica: 2001 under Stojan Kuret; Varna: 2001 under Stojan Kuret and 2007 under Urša Lah, Arezzo: 2012 under Sebastjan Vrhovnik) and the two victories on the Grand Prix of Europe in 2002 in Arezzo under Stojan Kuret and in 2008 in Debrecen under Urša Lah.

In 2016, under the artistic guidance of Jerica Gregorc Bukovec the choir attended two competitions. In July the choir competed on Festival Internacional de Música de Cantonigròs (Spain), where it achieved first place in the category of folk song and second place in the category of mixed choirs. In September of the same year the choir also performed at the Rimini International Choral Competition in Rimini (Italy), where it achieved gold medals in the categories of sacred music, folk music and mixed choirs. The newest splendid competitive result of the choir is from the spring of 2018. On April 23rd, 2018 the choir has won an all in all 3rd place, a gold plaquette and 2 special prizes at the National choir competition Naša pesem in Maribor.

In 1996 the APZ Tone Tomšič received the highest national commendation, the Zlati častni znak svobode Republike Slovenije, for its many achievements and contributions on the national level. In 2000 the choir also received the Plaque of the city of Ljubljana and in 2003 the Zlati znak Javnega sklada Republike Slovenije za kulturne dejavnosti.

Jerica Bukovec, conductor

Jerica Bukovec graduated at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. During her studies in Ljubljana, she spent a year in Malmö in the choir conducting class of Dan-Olof Stenlund. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, where she finished her masters degree under the tutelage of Anders Eby. She continued to study with Eby for an additional year. During her studies in Sweden she performed with a group of sixteen professional musicians, recorded and held concerts with the Swedish radio choir, Berlin radio choir and the Stuttgart Kammerchor and was, in her last two years in Sweden, the conductor of three Stockholm based choirs – Chamber choir KFUMs, Stockholm chamber choir and male choir Stockholms Studentsångare. She was the artistic director of the Slovenian Chamber Choir Ave for four years. Since 2015 Jerica Bukovec leads the APZ Tone Tomšič Univerze v Ljubljani. She has collaborated with the Chamber choir of RTV Slovenija and the Slovenian childrens choir. In the last season she participated with the ensemble for modern music MD7 and performed with the Slovenian chamber theatre on the chamber opera Božji delec by Pavel Mihelčič for three singers and four percussionists. Since 2019 she is also participating with the Choir of the Slovenian Philharmonics as a part of their vocal subscription programme.

Amongst Jerica Bukovec’s achievements are also third place in the Europa Cantat competition for young choir conductors in Ljubljana (2009), and being amongst the three finalists of the Eric Ericson competition in Stockholm (2010). On the Rimini choir competition (2016), she was awarded the best conductor award.

She has been rewarded for her talent with various scholarships, amongst which are four scholarships from the Royal Academy of Music (Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien) in Stockholm, as well as the scholarship of the Ministry of Culture in Ljubljana and the scholarship of Glasbena matica Ljubljana. She also received the Eric Ericson and the Dan-Olof Stenlund scholarships.