DIY Bow Ties and a Headband

In the past week two of my favourite trumpet players celebrated their birthdays. And what would be a better gift than a stylish satin bow tie? I figured, since they're classical musician, they already have black and white ones so I opted for two shades of grey, no, just kidding, two shades of green. :)
I found one old bow tie my dad has, measured it, figured how to sew it all together and that was pretty much it. You should totally try it yourself, it's really easy.
And since those green bows looked so good I figured I should make a matching headband for myself. So we can all be stylish together, a threesome, as the two guys named us later in the evening, after an amazing concert with our academy choir that you can check here.
I hope I'll find the time to make some more now and hope you do too. :)

'Pust' Carnival Scottish Outfit

So this past week some countries across the world have a carnival for scaring winter away and welcoming spring. For instance carnival in Venice, parade in Rio and also in Slovenia we dress up to, as said before, scare away the winter, an old pagan Slavic tradition. Kind of like Halloween in the USA but we just dress up in everything, not mostly witches and ghosts or whatever Halloween is special for.

To start this properly: last month we bought my brother bagpipes for his name day and just around those days I saw this great deep red woollen tartan fabric in my fabric store and figured why not make myself a Scottish outfit and bring bagpipes with me and have an amazing costume.
And so I bought the entire piece, 2,5 running metres of fabric, and slowly, really slowly, got to execute my idea in full detail.
Plus our 'pust' collided with my name day so our family all got together for lunch, everyone in his or hers costume and it was really a lot of fun as you might've seen on facebook. I love my big family. :)

It was also pretty crazy being in this costume on Tuesday in classes on Academy an on Vsak Študent Pust Party. :D

New DIY Toiletry/Make-up Bags

So it has been a crazy crazy month. Two orchestra project, even more concerts (you can check them on our Academy's youtube channel) and it doesn't go without practise, of course. That's why I haven't been on here much, I apologise.

But even though there were no new posts here it doesn't mean that I didn't make/do anything worth writing about. I made around 10 toiletry/make-up bags, some for gifts, some just because I was asked to. I really like them, they're just so cute. Hope you do to.

If you know me well enough and we're close friends you can expect one like this for a birthday or something. Otherwise just order away and check my facebook page for all the possibilities and discounts. :)

Busy practices for opera La Cecchina

And tired. Too tired to put any interesting new posts on, maybe tomorrow, but not today, too much to do.

I just came home from Academy, 5 hours of practice is not such fun. And a few hours yesterday were not fun as well. And tomorrow they won't be either.
But in the end it will all be worth it so reserve your time on 9th and 10th January to come see La Cecchina - La buona figliuola, an italian opera buffa written by Niccolo Piccinni in 1760.
You can get your tickets and read more about the production here.

DIY Bags for my sister Marta and me

A perfect theme for my sister's bag: music. Svet metraže never lets me down and so a month ago I found this awesome fabric with music sheets on and some notes and instruments. Yeah, perfect for someone who studies on Academy of music.

So a few days back when I was already in the mood for sewing

(a bag for my sister Mary, plus helped my just-married friend Nina to re-decorate her cushions and sofa)

I figured it's time to make this music bag as well. It should be done like few weeks back if I'd want to be on time with the present but then busy holidays get in the way.
It took a little bit more time to do the one for my sister, she wanted the two stripes of colour on and have it shaped a bit differently so she can fit in everything for choir practises, plus this fabric is not as stiff so I had to strengthen it up with flizelin. Then for a 'pop' of colour I did the inside all pink. And it looks amazing and my sister loves it which is the most important thing.
And then I was already in the mood and the bag looked so amazing I just had to do another small one out of what was left of the fabric. Here I finally got to use this lace I've been checking out for months at home and did a trick with the bow and it's looking fantastic. I really love it.
And Marta and me get to be bag twins, wootwoot! We already rocked in the theatre on Tuesday. ;)
My sister's bag:

My bag:

Twins :)

Concerts in Spring

So March and April were pretty busy this year. Especially because of all the different concerts that were going on.

In March we started with our Academy Chamber Orchestra and performed in Slovenska filharmonija with some marvellous pieces with amazing soloists. Feel free to listen to it and enjoy it here.

Screen shot.

Second up was again our opera, Orpheus, by Monteverdi. I must say that even though we had a lot of everything going on at that point, that was beginning of April, I loved every minute of it and would do it again with joy. You can read my previous entry about this opera here and listen to it again or for the first time here.

Practise. (phone pic)

Then it was time for our next big academic project. This year orchestra, choir and singers all joined for the remembrance of three great opera composer, Britten, Wagner and Verdi. We had the privilege to work with maestro Letonja, who conducted us with care, love and patience. I can only say that I hope I will get to work with him again. In this project I also managed to combine two of my passions, playing and singing. Choir conductor asked me to join the singing forces and because there was a lot of us violas for the second part of the concerts I was able to fulfil my choir class and go stand in the back with my fellow co-singers. You can see and hear our wonderful concerts (only one out of three we did with this programme) here.

Screen shot.

And last but not least was a concert with Slovene singer, composer and producer Gal Gjurin. That was a project we had with symphonic orchestra Cantabile, conducted by always amazing Marjan Grdadolnik. We had amazing arrangements going on and even though there were many songs it didn't seem long at all. Some songs need to be even longer, but we will work on that for the next concert. So thank you, maestro and thank you, Gal.
PS: I hope to incorporate my whip cracking techniques somewhere as well. :D

Requiem by Penderecki

Yesterday, 13th March 2013, was one of the best days ever. With two of my friends from Academy we went to Udine, Italy, to a one of the most amazing concerts ever. Mr. Krzysztof Penderecki, a 79-year-old composer and conductor, gave an unforgettable performance with a Polish choir and a big symphonic orchestra. Mr. Penderecki conducted his own work, Polish Requiem, written 30 years ago, with two additions, one in 1993 and another one, Chaconne, in 2005, in honour of Pope John Paul II.

For me it was certainly one of the things I will never forget. For I heard his music in The Shining quite some years ago I really liked it. I didn't know who wrote it back then and I wasn't using the computer much so I didn't find out. Then we had a lesson on his Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima on Academy and I knew that was the song I was listening to in The Shining.
So it hasn't been long but I listened to a lot of his music ever since and it is really exceptional.
So the oportunity to listen to his work, conducted by himself was something I couldn't miss and was worth every cent and every minute to get to Udine and back.
Thank you for your words, Mr. Penderecki.

L'Orfeo

And we finished another set of opera performances of our dear Orpheus, written by Monteverdi in early 17th century. You might've had the time to enjoy it in the past week or maybe you've already had this chance in July 2012. It was incredible both times, the singers amazing, choir with all the steps they had to learn also unbelievable, and for the orchestra, well of course we were great. ;)

There might be some more performances in April if you missed it now. Hopefully I'll see you even more then.  :)
Here is a video from last year.

And the pictures below are from Venice, Italy, but you can find more from Opera here.

 

 

happy

Trying to put all these wonderful feelings and all in words is definitely hard. I'll try though because honestly I haven't felt this good in some time and it would be nice to put it out here, like it's the proper thing to do. Since it's nothing big and yet everything feels perfect. All the small, not just small, tiny things,
and moments that only last a second, tiny second.

(If we leave out Academy but that can be all done too.)

It is mostly because of all the loved ones that surround me. I feel very blessed to have the best people that I can trust and every moment spent together is worth cherishing. As it doesn't seem right to name names here I hope each and every one of them knows it's them that I have in mind. :)

I think I now know why I'm never cold. These people keep me warm,
warm from the deepest corners of my heart to the very fingertips.

I wish I could love you more. :)

I hope that someday I will dare to say I was here.

- amazing year with my wonderful friends and family -

Noro!

Včerajšni prvi celovečerni koncert big banda AG.

Pure perfection. :)

Posnetek koncerta big banda AG

Le Touquet

So I was away for two weeks now in this amazing little city called Le Touquet-Paris-Plage in France with orchestra from music academy. We were there on TIMM - Touquet International Music Masters and it was truly an unforgettable experience. 

Here are some pictures from this lovely town where we stayed. Hope you like them.