The beautiful, carefully cultivated plains of Prleš fascinate and attract us every time, so we always like to go to the magical world of plains and dreamy hills.
In the early evening hours, we gathered in Marijanišče, the Marianum Veržej Institute. Here we were kindly greeted and welcomed by the employees of the Mavrica Pension, which operates within the institution and takes care of the arrangement of the premises of Marijanišče and offers the possibility of living and using the premises for various meetings and groups.
First, we settled in our rooms, and then, after dinner, we immediately started singing exercises. Saturday was also very busy. We started early. After the morning coffee, we additionally ‘wave’ ourselves with morning exercise at half past eight, when the persistent fellow singer Suzana warmed us up well right in the wide corridor in front of our rooms. After breakfast, we started with exercises, first separately by voice, and then with a joint exercise. After lunch and a short break, we continued our work, again in terms of voices and two joint exercises. When we were free, we used the time for a walk in the fresh air and an afternoon coffee in a nearby bar. Satisfied with the work done, we took a little rest after dinner. When night fell, we gathered for an evening gathering. We were also joined by Mr. Peter Pučnik, who pampered us with a basket of sweet candies. Already during our first singing weekend in Verže six years ago, we realized his difficult life story and were stunned by his optimism and gratitude for everything in life. We immediately became good friends. He was also the keynote speaker at our jubilee concert on the 10th anniversary of our choir in Bogenšperk in September 2022.
The evening gathering was fun and full of laughter, especially at the pantomime. Some of the singers were tired and lay down to rest soon, but the most persistent ones persisted for quite some time. But if it was so pleasant that we couldn’t get apart. Of course, we also enjoyed Ivanka’s excellent tarragon potica and other delicacies and sweet drinks.
We ended the singing weekend on Sunday. After breakfast, there was a joint singing rehearsal, where we repeated all the songs we started learning on Friday and Saturday, as well as well-known songs, which we intensively improved. After lunch, we attended the Holy Mass in the Marijanišča chapel, which was offered for our late singer Jelka by Mr. Pastor Peter Pučnik. We also asked for the health of a fellow singer to win the fight against an insidious disease. At the mass, we sang a song entitled ‘Love is changing me’, the author of which is Mr. Peter Pučnik. He was surprised and grateful. Pleasantly tired and satisfied with the well-done work, some of us went to the Mihol fair, i.e. the craft fair, local cuisine and local products, which took place in the immediate vicinity of Marijanišče. Visiting the fair did not leave us empty-handed, perhaps more empty wallets, as we bought Prleš and Prekmurje delicacies and made our family happy with them.
Some of us arrived home on time and took part in the final event of the Bogenšperk Festival, where we were petted by the wonderful voices of the Valvasor Chamber Choir. And the singing weekend was perfect. Until next time. We are already looking forward to the next singing weekend, which will definitely be. It’s already booked. Thank you to our president Mateja, who dutifully took care of all the organization, arrangements, phone calls and something else. And thanks to Manca, who perfectly guided our voices and elicited from us skills that we didn’t even know we had. New challenges, new performances, new successes are now ahead of us. And we are extremely looking forward to it, because we are united by the wonderful energy and knowledge that together we can do more.
Author of the article: ŽPZ Laz