Agnus Dei from Missa Spei (Mass of Hope) by composer Ambrož Čopi
The Mass is the oldest large-scale form in Western music: a setting of the fixed parts of the liturgy — Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei. A jazz mass clothes that sacred text in the language of jazz — as with Duke Ellington (Grace Cathedral, 1965), Dave Brubeck and Lalo Schifrin, where rhythm becomes prayer and improvisation a dialogue with the divine. The Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is the closing movement — the final plea for peace, dona nobis pacem.
In his Agnus Dei, Ambrož Čopi sets that final plea against a Taiwanese "Song of Hope," a melody that stirred a people's longing for freedom and independence under Japanese occupation. Sacred and secular, Latin prayer and folk song, classical and jazz merge into a quiet yet powerful call for peace.
Missa Spei (Mass of Hope), written in 2022 for the Taiwanese women's choir Taipei Ladies Singers, is Čopi's first jazz mass — and the opening panel of a triptych. Composed after a five-year creative silence, it was followed the same year by two companion works in the same jazz-inflected spirit: Missa Laetitiae (Mass of Joy), celebrating life rekindled after the pandemic, and Missa Amoris (Mass of Love), a meditation on love as our deepest bond with the divine. Where Hope reaches toward freedom, Joy dances in gratitude and Love sings of union — three faces of one contemporary vision of the sacred, carried by the rhythms of swing, tango and samba.
Ambrož Čopi (b. 1973) is one of Slovenia's foremost composers and choral conductors and a leading voice in contemporary sacred and vocal music. He studied composition with Dane Škerl and pursued postgraduate study with Uroš Rojko at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. A tireless choral figure, he has led ensembles such as the KGBL Chamber Choir and the University of Primorska Academic Choir to top prizes at home and abroad, and his works are performed across Europe, the Americas and Asia. He teaches at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana and the Art High School in Koper. His honours include the Prešeren Fund Prize (2016), the Gallus Medal (2014) and the Kozina Award for a rounded vocal oeuvre (2024).
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎼 PERFORMERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CHAMBER CHOIR OF THE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC AND BALLET LJUBLJANA (KGBL) Conductor — Ambrož Čopi Baritone soloist — Lenart Ulaga
JAZZ TRIO Lara Oprešnik — piano Vid Potisk — double bass Bernard Mišič — drums
CHOIR
Soprano Maruša Brenčič Nika Zarja Čopi Zala Gril Petra Kodba Julija Kovač Hana Oman Maša Prah Sara Rozman
Alto Danaja Fink Lara Knez Varja Kovačič Kraigher Eva Majcen Klavdija Miklič Maruša Škrubej Novak Barbara Potočnik Brina Podgajski Sara Rozman Ines Herl
Tenor Gorazd Ambrožič Filip Arčan Andraž Babšek Roko Kolmanič Jakob Korošec
Bass Andraž Fink Jernej Frelih Jan Jerman Blaž Kobal Domen Kunaver Matic Prah Lenart Ulaga Jakob Žnidaršič
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎬 PRODUCTION & CREW ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Director & Producer — Primož Zevnik (@zevnikov) Producers — Gal Nagode, Juš Hrastnik Production Assistant — Janez Draksler Productions — PPZ & TAJUS
Sound Design & Mastering — Boris Rener, Danilo Ženko, Iztok Zupan (Studio Klopotec)
Camera & Lighting (shot on BRAW with Filmbox D50) Camera Operators — Jan Eržen, Maj Vreš, Tevž Smolnikar & TAJUS Production Camera Operators Dolly Operator — Aljaž Žavrlan Remote Camera Operator — Gašper Gorenak Lighting Rental — Event Lighting Lighting Gear — Arri & BMFL
Spatial / Set Design — Tatjana Kortnik Set Design Assistant — Ilija Furst Stage Rigging / Structures — Rok Zavrl (STRC)
Technical Crew EGSŠ Crew Leads — Matija Repinc, Urban Zupan EGSŠ Crew — Dan Novak, David Klobučar, Jakob Komovec, Maja Avsenek, Oskar Valant, Aljaž Korošec, Cene Pajntar, Gal Bevc, Jaka Porenta, Jurij Komelj, Lara Vilman, Maj Mihalič, Nik Čeh, Tadej Poklukar, Zala Črv, Žan Boštic, Zarja Manevski, Benjamin Avsec, Elena Šmitran, Ema Vrhunc, Žiga Juratovec, Jaka Strupi, Jon Osenjak, Tor Žerjav, Anabela Pogačnik, Svit Vodnjov Gimnazija Kranj Crew — Mak Detela, Luka Bavdaž, Ana Grgić, Anja Gale Power Generator — MB grip Catering — Ga-tering (Gašper Hočevar)
🙏 Special thanks to Father Damjan Ristič, rector of the Jesuit community of St. Joseph, for his generous help and goodwill.
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