Description
Ambrož Čopi (b. 1973, Bovec, Slovenia)
PSALM CANTATA for Soprano and Tenor soli, Mixed Choir, Solo Instruments and Symphony Orchestra (2025)
II. Uphold Me with a Willing Spirit (Psalm 51:10–12)
Commissioned by the Taipei Philharmonic Foundation & Taipei International Choral Festival in honour of Dr. Janez Janež (1913–1990), a Slovenian surgeon whose selfless life's work in Taiwan is one of the most remarkable stories ever told — a doctor who gave so much of himself that he never took a single day off in his entire career. A humanitarian of the 20th century.
The cantata was performed at the Taipei International Choral Festival in 2025.
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THE PSALM
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
(Psalm 51:10–12, ESV)
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THE STORY
Janez Janež was born in the village of Dolsko, near Ljubljana. Although his deeply devout mother wished for him to study theology, he chose medicine. At the surgical ward in Ljubljana he became the first to perform a blood transfusion — a fact almost unknown even among Slovenian doctors.
When the war ended in 1945 his name appeared on a list for communist liquidation — despite his never having been part of any political or military group. He escaped with a refugee transport the British were directing back to Yugoslavia, jumped from the train and hid in a rye field. There he vowed: if he survived, he would devote all that remained of his life to helping those in need and the sick.
That vow carried him through Rome and Buenos Aires to China, where he took over a crumbling mission hospital in Yunnan and restored it. In 1952 the communist authorities sentenced him to death, then commuted the sentence to expulsion.
He settled in Luodong, Taiwan — a small, impoverished town with no hospital — and worked there for 38 years without a single day off, often performing ten major surgeries a day. He never accepted payment. The Taiwanese named him Fan Fenglong — "Exemplary Phoenix" — and Dr. Oki, "A Man of Compassion." When he died on October 11, 1990, church and temple bells rang across the island. People of every faith gathered to honour him. Many believed he died a saint.
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THE MUSIC
"Uphold Me with a Willing Spirit" is the second psalm of the opening movement and one of the Two Psalms of Hope. The cantata encompasses four movements in eight psalms — a pilgrimage from silence and longing, through praise and joy, to peace and reconciliation.
The harp opens with a gently ascending motif — a gesture of hope and purification. The tenor solo enters with a lyrical, rising melody, earnest and ardent like a prayer spoken directly to God. As the psalm unfolds, rhythmic leaps in the vocal line build toward the climax, expressing the urgency of spiritual longing.
At the heart of this psalm lies one of the most powerful moments in the entire cantata. A Slovenian folk melody from Carinthia — its lyrics about hope written by the poet Anica Černej — enters in the first choir, sung in Slovenian. Simultaneously, the second choir sings the psalm in English. Above them, the two soloists weave a free counterpoint — three layers of music, two languages, one message of faith. The interplay of folk tradition and sacred text, homeland and exile, leads the psalm to a majestic conclusion.
The folk song sings of spring and renewal:
"In the air, a first tender intimation, like faith in God's wonder. Like the blessing of love that kisses our native soil and with a kiss awakens the hidden forces of hidden causes. Oh, that within me too those thoughts would awaken — those bright, powerful thoughts of springtime days and sun — oh, that we may believe in happiness and spring without end."
The music dissolves into stillness, closing with the words that give the psalm its name: "Uphold me with a willing spirit" — the very spirit that carried Dr. Janež across the world.
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PERFORMERS
Soprano: Hana Oman
Tenor: Žiga Čopi
KGBL Chamber Choir — Conductor: Ambrož Čopi
Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir — Conductor: Yu-Chung Johnny Ku
Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory for Music and Ballet Ljubljana — Conductor: Slaven Kulenović
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Recorded at the Conservatory for Music and Ballet Ljubljana and the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Poljane, Ljubljana, September 2025.
Film: director and producer Primož Zevnik
Producers: Gal Nagode and Juš Hrastnik
Audio: Boris Rener, Danilo Ženko, Iztok Zupan — Studio Klopotec
Productions PPZ & TAJUS
Special thanks to Father Damjan Ristič, rector of the Jesuit community of St. Joseph, for his generous help and goodwill.
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