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AVE Chamber Choir (Slovenian: Komorni zbor Ave) was founded in 1984 in the Ljubljana-Vič parish as the Ave Vocal Group (Vokalna skupina Ave). Under the artistic direction of the founder Andraž Hauptman, the group soon crossed the threshold of the local parish and won audiences at home and abroad with its high-quality reproduction of diverse choral music. At the same time, it expanded into a chamber choir, in which singers sing from all over Slovenia and abroad. The choir has successfully participated in numerous national and international competitions and festivals and has given concerts in Slovenia and on tours abroad.
AVE Chamber Choir received a good number of awards and recognitions for his performances. The choir won one or more first prizes in as many as 13 choral competitions. The choir received its last international recognition as a finalist in the prestigious choral competition for the Grand Prix of Europe 2010 in Varna, Bulgaria, after it won the International Choir Competition in Maribor in the spring of 2009. AVE is the winner of the City of Ljubljana Award (1994), the Prešeren Foundation Award (1994), City of Ljubljana Plaques (2000) and Silver Award of the Association of Cultural Societies Ljubljana (2002).
As a demonstration choir, AVE Chamber Choir participated in several international choral music seminars and an international competition for young choral conductors. The choir has worked with renowned conductors Eric Ericson (Sweden), Gary Graden (Sweden) and Martina Batič (Slovenia). The AVE Chamber Choir has recorded several cassettes and CD's with different themes, and most recently released a double CD "Ave Live" with recordings from some recent concerts and competitions.
In the 2002-2003 season, Branka Potočnik Krajnik took over the Artistic Direction, and the choir entered its third decade again under the Artistic Airection of Andraž Hauptman. Between May 2011 and September 2015, the choir was led by Jerica Gregorc Bukovec, and in October 2015, the choir was taken over by Associate Professor Marko Vatovec.
At the invitation of the Slovenian Philharmonic, the choir performed the concert "Skladateljica" in November 2012 as part of the Vocal subscription. For more than two decades, AVE has been one of the most recognizable choirs in Slovenia and Europe, looking to the future with an unquenchable desire to perform excellent choral music. |
