After World War II, a group of Slovenian-Americans contacted the Yugoslav government with a novel idea: the establishment of an ensemble of singers who would tour the world and share the joys of Slovenian music with global audiences. Their ingenious proposal eventually came to life in the form of the Slovenian Mastersingers, a group that is still going strong after more than sixty years.

The Slovenian Mastersingers (known in Slovenian as “Slovenski oktet” or “The Slovenian Octet”) were formed in 1951 as a joint project of the Yugoslav authorities and several Slovenian-American associations. Their task was a challenging one – to showcase the very best of Slovenia’s musical tradition.

The first members of the ensemble were selected by a highly respected panel of Slovenian music experts at an audition held at the Slovenian Philharmonic. The selection process took six hours, but the audition committee was ultimately confident that they managed to bring together a competent, harmonious group of singers – and they were eventually proven right by the group’s success.

The Mastersingers began to tour the world in the 1950s and quickly became known as Slovenia’s musical ambassadors. Performing everything from traditional Slovenian folk songs (they helped to popularize the Carinthian Slovenian song “Mojcej”) to opera classics and American gospel songs, the Mastersingers thrilled international audiences with their fresh take on old tunes.

Ironically, the country where the group was first proposed remained out of their reach for more than a decade. Because they represented a Communist country, a letter-writing campaign initiated by anti-Communists made them unwelcome in the United States until well into the Kennedy administration. When they finally performed in front of American audiences, however, they received rave reviews, and were able to unite Slovenian immigrants from across the political spectrum – quite an achievement, considering the traditional political divisions of the Slovenian diaspora. On their return voyage to Slovenia, the Mastersingers received word that Kennedy had been shot, and they held an impromptu concert in his memory aboard their ship.

The Slovenian Mastersingers frequently performed in Non-Aligned countries, of which Yugoslavia was a prominent member. They were in Angola when that country’s first president, Agostinho Neto, died in 1979. Their tour was immediately canceled and they were initially barred from leaving their hotel. Ultimately, however, they were asked to sing at Neto’s funeral – at the request of his widow.

Throughout the decades, the Slovenian Mastersingers – described as “professionals in an amateur ensemble” – have taken part in more than 6000 concerts on all continents, and the ensemble has seen more than a dozen cast changes.

After several years of declining visibility, the Mastersingers were completely reorganized in 1996 and entered the new millennium refreshed and enthusiastic about carrying on the group’s original mission: promoting the music of their homeland - now a proudly independent Slovenia - to music lovers around the globe.