Karmina Šilec, conductor and director - author

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Karmina Šilec, conductor and director - author

Karmina Šilec is a conductor and director - author, artistic director of Carmina Slovenica and new music theatre Choregie

Photo: Dejan Bulut
Photo: Borut Peterlin

Photos for media

Photos for media <em>Photo: Borut Peterlin</em>

Photo: Borut Peterlin

press (hi-res)

Photos for media <em>Photo: Dejan Bulut</em>

Photo: Dejan Bulut

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Tone Stojko</em>

Photo: Tone Stojko

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Arhiv CS</em>

Photo: Arhiv CS

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek</em>

Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Ivan Vinovrški</em>

Photo: Ivan Vinovrški

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Darja Štraus Tisu</em>

Photo: Darja Štraus Tisu

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Dejan Bulut</em>

Photo: Dejan Bulut

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Dejan Bulut</em>

Photo: Dejan Bulut

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Marko Vanovšek</em>

Photo: Marko Vanovšek

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Marko Vanovšek</em>

Photo: Marko Vanovšek

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Marko Vanovšek</em>

Photo: Marko Vanovšek

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Jože Suhadolnik</em>

Photo: Jože Suhadolnik

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Ivan Vinovrški</em>

Photo: Ivan Vinovrški

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Ivan Vinovrški</em>

Photo: Ivan Vinovrški

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Iztok Bončina</em>

Photo: Iztok Bončina

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Žiga Koritnik</em>

Photo: Žiga Koritnik

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Bor Slana</em>

Photo: Bor Slana

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Bor Slana</em>

Photo: Bor Slana

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Bor Slana</em>

Photo: Bor Slana

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Bor Slana</em>

Photo: Bor Slana

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Tadej Regent</em>

Photo: Tadej Regent

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Peter Rak</em>

Photo: Peter Rak

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Photos for media <em>Photo: N.N.</em>

Photo: N.N.

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek</em>

Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek

press (hi-res)

Photos for media <em>Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek</em>

Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Kevin Grady/Radcliffe Institute</em>

Photo: Kevin Grady/Radcliffe Institute

press (hi-res)

Photos for media <em>Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek</em>

Photo: Dorian Šilec Petek

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Branimir Ritonija</em>

Photo: Branimir Ritonija

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Branimir Ritonija</em>

Photo: Branimir Ritonija

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Urška Lukovnjak</em>

Photo: Urška Lukovnjak

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Photos for media <em>Photo: arhiv Kebataola</em>

Photo: arhiv Kebataola

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Photos for media <em>Photo: arhiv KŠ</em>

Photo: arhiv KŠ

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Peter Rak</em>

Photo: Peter Rak

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Photos for media <em>Photo: STIAS</em>

Photo: STIAS

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Photos for media <em>Photo: arhiv KŠ</em>

Photo: arhiv KŠ

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Photos for media <em>Photo: Iztok Bolčina</em>

Photo: Iztok Bolčina

press (hi-res)

Photos for media <em>Photo: Iztok Bolčina</em>

Photo: Iztok Bolčina

press (hi-res)

selection from PRESS

Theatre Mania: …The grandiosity of the staging rivals what one might see at the Met…an overwhelming aural and visual experience… Šilec presents her arcana with a heavy dose of beauty and wonder… …All of the material is conveyed with commitment and precision from this highly skilled vocal ensemble...In addition to making her cast sound extraordinary, director Šilec makes great use of the depth of St. Ann's Warehouse... … while intoning glorious straight harmonies, which occasionally stop on a dime to spine-tingling effect. The sound is medieval and ecclesiastical, yet distinctly modern. It often feels like peering into an avant-garde nunnery...

The New York Times:… vibrantly theatrical, genre-blurring, unusual in its techniques, eclectic in its musical style and politically charged… striking new work by the rabidly talented Carmina Slovenica…The ensemble and its director, Karmina Silec, have created haunting images…Toxic Psalms adds a savage yet polished theatricality to the mix as well as an ambiguity all too rare in American performance. …all add up to an evening that’s bracing yet, perversely enough, enchanting…Ms. Silec is savvy about maintaining dramatic momentum, and the performers execute every shift in tone with subtlety and agility.

New York Music Daily:… breathtaking and equally relevant multimedia suite…A Sonically Thrilling, Disquieting Premiere For Karmina Silec’s Toxic Psalms…At times somber and meditative, at times visceral.. incredibly talented young women of Carmina Slovenica remind us that a collective can also be a positive power… With its high-contrast details, Toxic Psalms at times resembled a more budget-conscious Robert Wilson production.. . the performance’s message was often submerged by the incredible visuals… the mighty but graceful Slovenian women’s choir …The choice of music spanned the centuries and the globe and was all the more fascinating, and relevant, for the ambitious and striking arrangements…. And while it wouldn’t be exactly accurate to characterize the movements of the choir as dance – Silec calls it "choregie" – the choreography was just as ambitious, and amplified the disturbing quality of the performance...From the stunned reaction of the crowd last night, if you’re on the fence about seeing this, you’d better move...Silec’s direction toyed with crowd dynamics on both the conformist and nonconformist sides with a coldly sardonic humor that offered momentary respite from the lingering bleakness of the music.

Opera magazin … in a half hour Carmina Slovenica brings a constant stream of ideas, voice, movement, and impressions - dosed - emotion. If audience can you not much more than almost breathless look and marvel at so much quality … Theaterspectacle … a theater which aims for perfection in any discipline …there is "perfect motion", which goes far beyond a choreographed chorus performance

New York Observer ... jaw-droppingly gorgeous singing…strikingly staged by Karmina Silec…Visually the show was elegantly spare…The women of Carmina Slovenica are collectively and individually heroic.., they sent their voices pealing out like a band of angels… 
Wall Street Journal

… power of the performers… haunting theatrical moments... 

Opera magazin … a constant stream of ideas, voice, movement, and impressions - dosed - emotion. In audience, you cannot do much more than almost breathless look and marvel at so much quality …Theater spectale...a theater which aims for perfection in any discipline

France Press… innovative theater company Carmina Slovenica… intellectually challenging Toxic Psalms…  

The New Yorker ... Some listeners will recall the raw feminine energy of "Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares," while others will see parallels with the work of Heiner Goebbels and David Lang. All will be moved by the show’s condemnation of "men killing for the glory of their psalms... 

Opera World …Carmina Slovenica is the musical answer to Bausch's groundbreaking concept of Tantztheater… provocative pastich… the true highlight is the singing... 

San Francisco Classical Voice …Carmina Slovenica are in your face, created by women, driven by women, not afraid to show their teeth or shout down injustice…pure talent and virtuosity is astounding…. the languages, time periods, and cultures blurred into visceral emotion and reaction ...

Theaterkrant ... the opening performance was not only vocally stunning but also gloomily human: Carmina Slovenica's wild but beautiful singing also shows how human cruelty is motivated by religion and other forms of authority ... crystal-clear voices with theater order make an impressive performance …performing at top level; the discipline and mastery of the singers are incredible without hampering the liveliness of the concert …with such music and statements you have no further need for any theatrical violence ...

Volkskrant … a nightmarish collage on the theme of religious violence is the fascinating opening presentation of the annual music theater Rotterdam Opera Days …

Trouw … theatrical singing at top level… beautiful voices and an extraordinary theatrical instinct ...their voices, but also their bodies are their instrument. Extreme discipline in larynxes and limbs and the excellent musicality give you goose bumps. In this sense they brought theatrical singing to the top level. That will again be the merit of Šilec …

NRC Handelsblad … the opening presentation Toxic Psalms of Carmina Slovenica was well chosen: overwhelming and unconventional music with no plot, where from beginning to end you are on the edge of your chair. The vocal theater of artistic director Karmina Šilec built artfully choreographed scenes around fantastically sung music... 

 Basellandshaftlische Zeitung ... Karmina Šilec’s choral opera Fauvel is a really interesting, multilayered and a very aesthetic work ...captivating beauty ... veritable theatre spectacle with immense beautiful images …Fauvel is like a bulky work of art in a museum that refreshes, encourages us to think, distresses and embraces at the same time. And that is the reason why it continuously invites the viewer to new observations – if one only allows it... 

Corriere dello Spettacolo … strong performance both in terms of aesthetic and politically understood as the highest of the term and therefore always current ...viewer perceives an intensity and a different force, capturing the magic … expression of femininity is not mawkish, but powerful while still managing to be very delicate and intimate ... 

The New York Times … radiantly sung musical selections...Why, then, did I leave St. Ann’s smiling? Because "Toxic Psalms" proves that with even the most somber material, there can be delight in sheer virtuosity, in the intensity of live performance and in being introduced to a group one hopes will become a regular visitor to New York...

Aussie theatre ... Vocal Theatre Carmina Slovenica, directed by Karmina Silec, that searches for and explores new forms of music and vocal techniques. Their singing is exquisite. And their movement is as disciplined as their music. There isn’t a step or note out of place …

Theatre review Melbourne ... Goebbels collaboration with Karmina Silec features the splendour of 40 singers from the world renowned ‘Vocal Theatre Carmina Slovenica’. The sweet, harmonious singing was the highlight for me... so delightfully charming was their work ... the theatrics and the beauty of music and glamour of vocals make up for the absence of plot ...

The Sidney Morning Herald ...these performers are thrilling singers … musically brilliant concert ...

Herald Sun … singing is the highlight of this production… these vibrant young women have not only a glorious, harmonic vocal quality, but also a joyful commitment and vitality that makes this production captivating without it being profound or challenging … Under the artistic direction of Karmina Silec, the choir employs both the pure tones of classical vocal techniques as well as the raw sound of open throat singing that is common in Eastern European traditional songs ...

Basler Zeitung… high level of vocal and gesticulative discipline …

The telegraph ... Carmina Slovenica, who’ve gained a world-wide reputation for their powers of story-telling through choral song ... the girls’ power of memory in a foreign language were impressive … joyous moments of collective energy or anarchy that these astonishing performers shone, and the piece itself really came alive ... 

Badishe Zeitung ...a single homogeneous body of sound with dynamism and energy potential, which, through the growing dynamics, we can literally grab on. It is extremely admirable; In this way unseen and unheard so far... 

Financial Times ... Carmina Slovenica (under conductor Karmina Šilec) is a phenomenon in itself ...

Delo  ... a complex stage composition where it is possible to analyse a very real happening with all the symbolic and allusive subtones, or give yourself over to the totality of the performance and its hypnotic atmosphere. Created by the music, of course… another example of Karmina Šilec’s well thought out approach to expressive possibilities of music theatre which presents relatively complex subject matters in a way that is suggestive enough, in case this form wants to pull out of the narrow exclusive circles and continue to convince those already convinced this seems to be the only way… 

Wiener Zeitung ...a harmonious body of music, movement, theatre as well as outstanding performance... 

Revierpassagen ...a truly special experience of music, choreography and literary reflections...Great applause for great art..

Financial Times ...The Carmina Slovenica (under conductor Karmina Šilec) is a phenomenon in itself, with its mesmerising combination of steely discipline with exuberant physicality...

Neue Musik Zeitung ...the success is a combination of Goebbel's courage to confront, of detailed choreography of movement theatre, but mostly of the musical partner that can only search for an equal in Europe: Vocal Theatre Carmina Slovenica is the name of this fascinating choral ansamble…

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ...The best part of the production is their precise looseness with which the girls of Carmina Slovenica bring in the element of improvisation, full of phantasy...It is almost astounding with what skill, body control, precision ...highly professional...

Die Tageszeitung … etheric airy voices. The mere virtuosity of various changes of voice technique is admiring; choreographic perfection and acting intensity of the group, constantly producing individual soloists, is, however, breathtaking...

Le Monde ...they radiate fantastic energy, composure and professionalism on stage ... In all positions the girls fully master all techniques at all times, and slide through the rituals of growing up with astonishing perfection of mature artists... 

La libre … a screaming, magical performance … 

Parool ... vocal Theatre Carmina Slovenica beams through the soul like a laser ... You have to hear and see it to be able to believe it ...

Bündner Tagblatt … very impressive … beautiful choral spectacle … 

Schweizer Musikzeitung … Carmina Slovenica with its powerful singing … which places Slovenian music remarkably well into the scene ...

Kommersant  ...spectacular and skillfully use [modern] techniques: beading atonality, minimalist repetition, polyphony vocalic sounds (popiskivanie, yelps, talk, whisper and spike). ... Slovene were playful, intricately moved around the stage and showed a fresh, youthful readiness for dialogue of cultures  ...