PHILOSOPHERS’ SQUARE: A MONTENEGRIN WOMAN AS AN INSPIRATION

Tuesday, July 25
Church of the Holy Spirit, 9 p.m.
PHILOSOPHERS’ SQUARE: VOX FEMINAE

A MONTENEGRIN WOMAN AS AN INSPIRATION

DOBRILA POPOVIĆ, music proffesor
TOMÁŠ SLAVICKÝ, musicologist
Moderator: DRAGANA JOVANOVIĆ
PETRA RADULOVIĆ, soprano
LJILJANA LIŠKOVIĆ, soprano
VIŠNJA RADOSAV, mezzo-soprano
VLADIMIR ČABAK, tenor
OLEKSIY MOLCHANOV, piano

MUSIC PROGRAM

Jaroslav Vogel (1894–1970)
Proč mně Bůh odpírá, co dal té pastýřce?, Jovana’s aria from the Act I of the opera
Jovana
Maria! Z kostela právě?, duet of Jovana and Maria from the Act II of the opera
Jovana
Spi, dítěmé, usni již, Maria’s lullaby from the Act II of the opera Jovana

Marco Anzoletti (1867–1919)
La mammoletta pallida, Milica’s aria from the Act I of the opera Milica
Sebben la turcica divisa rivesto, Hasan’s aria from the Act I of the opera Milica
Raggio del mio fidente cor, duet of Milica and Hasan from the Epilogue of the
opera Milica

A Montenegrin woman as an inspiration program deals with women’s issues and gender equality in Montenegro, then and now. Two newly discovered operas inspired by a Montenegrin woman, will be presented in the artistic and debate program titled A Montenegrin woman as an inspiration. These are the operas  Milica by the Italian violinist, writer and composer Marco Anzoletti, created in 1897 in Milan, which has not been performed until now, and the opera Jovana, by the Czech composer Jaroslav Vogel, performed at the National Moravian-Silesian Theater in Ostrava in 1939. Musicologists Dobrila Boba Popović and Tomaš Slavicki will talk about the operas, while sopranos Petra Radulović and Ljiljana Lišković, mezzo-soprano Višnja Radosav and tenor Vladimir Čabak will portray the main protagonists of the selected numbers from the aforementioned operas, along with pianist Oleksiy Molchanov.

Dobrila Popović completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She continued her education at the Santa Cecilia State Conservatory in Rome under maestro Mauro Bortolotti. Dobrila Popović has published several professional papers in the field of music pedagogy in national and international publications. In cooperation with the Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids in Podgorica, she works as a reviewer for music culture textbooks. Dobrila Popović is one of the authors of school textbooks, manuals for teachers and CD materials for Muzika 7, Muzika 9 and Muzička kultura 9. As a music advisor to the Ministry of Culture, she has established concert activities as one of the segments of the theater’s practice in the renovated National Theater in Podgorica. Dobrila Popović has organized numerous concerts dedicated to the promotion of young talents, but also concerts of renowned musicians from the country and abroad. She has designed several projects of international cooperation and representation of Montenegrin musicians abroad. Dobrila Popović has participated in research projects on the collection and systematization of Montenegrin musical heritage. Within the KotorArt Research Unit, she has launched a segment dedicated to Montenegrin musical heritage.

Tomáš Slavický, studied Music History in Prague. He worked at the Academy of Sciences in Prague, at the Departments of Musicology and Ethnology. He specialized in cultural memory and musical life in the Czech Republic and Central Europe, especially in the history of Czech musicians abroad, the common memory of the people of the former Austria and the heritage of mutual cultural relations of Central European peoples. Tomáš Slavický has participated in conferences in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Italy, Croatia and Slovakia. He is the coauthor of several books that were created in collaboration with historians, Slavists, literary historians, art historians and folklorists. Occasionally, he devotes himself to journalism and giving lectures at various universities and courses. As an outside associate of the Czech Radio, Tomáš Slavický has prepared several year-long series of music programs. He is employed as a curator and research associate at the National Museum – the Czech Museum in Prague.

Petra Radulović is a soloist of the Hanover State Opera and a member of the ensemble of the International Opera Studio in that theater. In 2022, she made her debut at the Verbier Festival in Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel. Petra Radulović has appeared in numerous roles: Papagena (Mozart, Die Zauberflöte), Pastourelle (Ravel, L’enfant et les sortilèges) and Zerlina (Mozart, Don Giovanni) in the Schönbrunn Palace Theater; Serpina (Paisiello, La serva padrona) with the Operosa Opera festival; Frasquita (Bizet, Carmen), Alma (Evers, Humanoid), Janthe (Marschner, Der Vampyr), Barbarina (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro), Flora (Britten, The Turn of the Screw), First wood sprite (Dvořák, Rusalka) and Madeline Usher (Glass, The Fall of the House of Usher). In 2016, Petra Radulović performed in Minnesota in Loesser’s Guys and Dolls and Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. She has collaborated with numerous directors. Petra Radulović graduated in Vocal Arts from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, under Professor Rainer Trost. She has participated at masterclasses held by Neil Schicoff, Barbara Frittoli, Thomas Hampson, Thomas Quasthoff, Edith Wiens, Lilly Ilieva, Peter Berne, Claudia Viska, Christoph Pregardien, and others.

Ljiljana Lišković studied at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad under Professor Vera Kovač – Vitkai and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under Professors Helena Łazarska, Margarita Lilowa and Claudia Viska, where she obtained her MA degree. Ljiljana Lišković has performed on tour in Japan with the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera Concert Association, at the summer festivals Le petit Festival du Theater in Dubrovnik, Mozart in Rheinsberg (Austria), Opera Pienza in Tuscany, and Culture of the Spirit Festival in Amandola (Italy). She has appeared in the roles of the Queen of the Night (Mozart, Die Zauberflöte), Adina (Donizetti, L’elisir d’amore), Mimì (Puccini, La bohème) and others. She has held concerts in the Sersanti Hall and Ebe Stignani Theater in Imola; she has performed in theaters in Ferrara and Budrio in Italy and Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad. Ljiljana Lišković collaborates with the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, the Novi Sad Chamber Ensemble, guitarist Zoran Krajišnik, pianists Nataša Veljković, Aleksandra Rakić and Gaspar Hunt. She is an assistant professor at the Department of Vocal Arts at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. Ljiljana Lišković has held masterclasses in Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Italy.

Višnja Radosav graduated in Vocal Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, under Professor Vesna Opsenica, and specialized at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under Professor Nikola Mijailović. In 2016, she made her debut at the Macedonian Opera and Ballet in Skopje, then at the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb and Osijek, the National Theater in Belgrade, and the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad. Višnja Radosav has appeared in the roles of Ulrica (Verdi, Un ballo in maschera), Maddalena (Verdi, Rigoletto), Olga (Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin), Princess Eboli (Verdi, Don Carlos), Emilia (Verdi, Otello), Jula (Despić, Pop Ćira and pop Spira), and Amneris (Verdi, Aida). She has performed with the Belgrade and Zrenjanin Philharmonic Orchestras, at the Opera Festival in Armenia, the International Vocal Arts Institute in New York, and Belef in Belgrade. Višnja Radosav has attended masterclasses of artists such as: Luciana D’Intino, Ruth Falcon, Mignon Dunn, Hemdi Kfir, Joan Dornemann, Darina Takova, Jennifer  Larmore, Đorđe Nešić, Bojan Suđić, Aleksandar Marković and others. She is enrolled in doctoral studies in Vocal Arts at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. Višnja Radosav is employed as a soloist in the Serbian National Theater Opera in Novi Sad.

Vladimir Čabak began his musical education at the age of seven at the Vasa Pavić Primary Music School in Podgorica. After secondary music school, completed under Professor Marina Cuca Franović, he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under Professor Martin Vácha. In Vienna, Vladimir Čabak was a member of opera choirs and performed in famous opera houses and concert halls. He made his debut as Monostatos (Mozart, Die Zauberflöte) at the Schönbrunn Palace Theater. Vladimir Čabak has appeared in the roles of Basilio and Don Curzio (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro), Staudinger (Ferek – Petrić/Diwiak, Elsa), Kismet (Fian/Ditsch/Öksüz, Kismet und Masen), Student No. 5 (Siewert/ Wanunu, The Dead Class) and others. Some of his upcoming performances include the role in the opera Miameide by Julia Purgina – the double role of “idler” and “worker in the field” (Jugendstil Theater, Vienna), as well as the role of a singer in the drama The Chairs directed by Yosi Vanunu. Since 2020, Vladimir Čabak has been a member of the Schönbrunn Palace Chapel as a solo tenor, where he has already sung significant masses by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and others. He is a member of the studio choir at the Synchron Stage Vienna production company, which produces music for films and video games.