MITTELVOX ENSEMBLE (Italy, Slovenia)

The protagonists of our programme are 20th-century and contemporary Italian and Slovenian composers, who, through different compositional languages, bring to life a sense of love intertwined with nature.

Conductor: Mateja Černic
Harp: Ester Pavlic
Singers: Anna Tulissi, Claudia Floris, Gabriella Sofia Donadio, Aleksija Antonič, Mateja Jarc, Marina Lombardi, Mirko Ferlan, Giacomo Segulia, Matej Velikonja, Massimiliano Migliorin, Andrea Palermo, Alessio Velliscig

IMMORTAL LOVE

• Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880–1968) – Cade la sera (Gabriele d’Annunzio)
• Roberto Brisotto (1972) – Epitaphium (Martial)
• Marco Sofianopulo (1952–2014) – Se sintis (Friulian folk song)
• Marco Sofianopulo – Baile e Aillin (William Butler Yeats)
• Lojze Lebič (1934) – Poletje (Issu)
• Marij Kogoj (1892–1956) – Trenutek (Josip Murn Aleksandrov)
• Ambrož Čopi (1973) – Eno drevce mi je zraslo (Slovene folk song)
• Bruno Bettinelli (1913–2004) – Three Madrigalistic Expressions: Già mi trovai di maggio, O Jesu Dolce, Il bianco e dolce cigno
• Luciano Berio (1925–2003) – E si fussi pisci (Sicilian folk song)

Love is the feeling that distinguishes humanity through its tireless desire and pursuit of beauty, always inspired and narrated through music and poetry in its many shades. Love that illuminates and also resists beyond earthly ties, finding its sublimation in other spiritual spheres. The protagonists of our program are Italian and Slovenian composers of the 20th century and contemporary ones (especially those linked to our region), who, through different compositional languages, revive the feeling of love connected with nature: from neo-madrigalism to expressionist and modal or more traditional approaches, all the way to exploring the voice with sound effects and speech. The evocative atmosphere of sunset’s silence, which in Cade la sera (Pizzetti) brings peace, flows into the touching tenderness of melancholic memory of a little girl (Epitaphium, Brisotto), dedicated to every small and innocent broken life, everywhere and in every age. The central part is dedicated to the ballad Baile e Ailinn by Marco Sofianopulo for harp, soprano and recitation. In the calm Irish natural landscape, the strong emotion of the lovers overcomes all hostile forces and prevails in immortal, transcendent life. Immersed in nature that accompanies love in the spiritual cosmos, we return to the earthly sphere, where we hear the sounds of fireflies and fresh summer breeze (Poletje, Lebič); fleeting is the Trenutek (Kogoj) of happiness in the human soul, for which we never know when it will appear again, like birds flying beyond the horizon. Bettinelli’s Three Madrigalistic Expressions reflect the image of youthful love, the fatherly love of Jesus, and finally the intensity of love that can touch death. The conclusion leads to popular songs inspired by folk tradition, celebrating the universal expression of love through music, presented in three different dialects and languages: Friulian (Sofianopulo), Slovene (Čopi) and Sicilian (Berio). "It is precisely this wonderful, immortal urge for beauty that makes us perceive the earth and its scenes as perceptions, as correspondences of heaven. The insatiable thirst for all that is beyond and that life reveals is the most vivid proof of our immortality." (Charles Baudelaire)

Mittelvox Ensemble is formed by singers and musicians from Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia. It was founded in 2021 under the direction of Mateja Černic. The choir performs repertoire from Gregorian chant to contemporary music, with a focus on works by local composers. It collaborates with top instrumentalists and has appeared in many festivals and concert series (Musica dai giardini di San Francesco, Sakralni abonma in Ljubljana, Piccolo Opera Festival, Città dei Gremi, Fano). In 2024, it presented the first modern performance of music by Alessandro Pavone and Girolamo Pera, and the oratorio Membra Jesu Nostri by Dietrich Buxtehude.

Mateja Černic graduated in choral conducting at the Conservatory of Trento, where she won third place at the international competition Fosco Corti 2021 and received the award for best Italian conductor. She led the choir Bodeča Neža, achieving notable successes in Slovenia and abroad. She received the awards Zlato zrno, Zlati znak and Mirko Špacapan. She is director of Mittelvox Ensemble, the Emil Komel Youth Choir and the Coro del Friuli Venezia Giulia. As a singer, she performed with top choirs (Tone Tomšič, Coro Giovanile Italiano, Arnold Schönberg, Utopia & Reality, UT, Siena Cathedral Choir). She regularly teaches conducting and singing and holds degrees in Renaissance and Baroque singing, music pedagogy, Slovenian language, comparative literature and pedagogy. Since 2024, she has been teaching choral conducting at the Fausto Torrefranca Conservatory in Vibo Valentia.

Free entry.

The project is financed by the European Union through the GO! 2025 Small Project Fund of the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia 2021-2027 Programme, managed by the EGTC GO.