KOTORARTIĆ: THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

Wednesday, July 17
St. Luke's Square, 8 p.m.
KOTORARTIĆ: THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

THE VISOKO C [HIGH C] ASSOCIATION OF ARTISTS
Marija Cvijić, soprano
Branislav Cvijić, tenor
Ivan Nikolić, baritone
Marina Mikić, piano

PROGRAM

Marija Cvijić (1986)
The Ant and the Grasshopper, opera for children

Libretto: Branislav Cvijić

Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper has cemented its place in children's literature as one of the most cherished stories carrying a unique lesson – “those who work reap the rewards” or “those who work do not fear hunger.” The project is crafted to engage children actively throughout the performance, encouraging them to take sides with the grasshopper at one point and with the ant at another. The essential debates over whether it is preferable to play music or to work, or to work while enjoying music and song, present children with the challenge of contemplating what is right. Alongside the grasshopper and the ant, a forest fairy makes an appearance in the performance as a narrator who interacts with the children, sings, and recounts the story. The production is tailored for children up to eleven years old.

Partners of the program:

The Visoko C [High C] Association of Artists was founded in 2015 with the aim of preparing and realizing operas, plays with singing, operas for children and musicals, and concerts, as well as of organizing acting classes, singing classes, and summer courses while educating citizens, especially children, about the importance of art. In this regard, at the concert titled O Ljubavi [About Love], members of the Association presented a series of traditional melodies, and through Spanish songs, Italian canzones, and Russian romances, presented stories from everyday life about love for those close to us, towards nature, and for one’s homeland, among other sentiments. Through the performances of operas for children, the Association fosters the development of children’s musical taste, the development of  creativity, and the strengthening of personality. In arrangements adapted to children, with modern direction and accompaniment by piano or a chamber ensemble, the Association has held hundreds of performances. The most performed operas for children include Die Zauberflöte to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Puss in Boots by César Cui, Cinderella by Eduard Poldini, Snow White by Petar Krstić, Little Red Riding Hood and Little Bee Dana by Petar Jovanović, and the following operas for children by Marija Cvijić, written to texts by Branislav Cvijić: The Ant and the Grasshopper, Hansel and Gretel, and The Čardak neither in Heaven nor on Earth.

Marija Cvijić, coloratura soprano, has been cultivating her love for singing and music ever since childhood, when she was a member of the Bajićevi Slavuji Choir [Bajić’s Nightingales]. After completing Isidor Bajić Secondary Music School, she graduated in Vocal Arts from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, under Professor Vera Kovač-Vitkai. She has participated in many vocal arts competitions and has won numerous prizes, including twice being a recipient of the Melanija Bugarinović and her Daughter Mirjana Kalinović-Kalin Fund for Talented Young Singers Scholarship. In 2013, she became a permanent member of the Serbian National Theater Opera, taking on the role of a soloist in 2019. At this institution, she has performed in operas by Lortzing, Gotovac, Cimarosa, and Despić, as well as in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in one of the most demanding coloratura roles, The Queen of the Night. With Branislav Cvijić, Marjia Cvijić has performed at thematic concerts in Sombor, Zrenjanin, Ruma, and Novi Sad. In operas for children realized by the Visoko C (High C) Association of Artists, which she founded together with her husband, she has appeared in more than 400 performances throughout Vojvodina, singing the leading roles in operas such as Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Marriage of the Bear, Hedgehog’s Home, Bastien und Bastienne, Cinderella, and Stories from a Grange.

Branislav Cvijić, tenor, graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the Department of Vocal Studies, under Professor Zvonimir Krnetić, and continued his education with Dragoslav Ilić, soloist-tenor of the National Theater in Belgrade. He has won first prizes at the Republic and Federal competitions in Serbia and was a competition laureate in Moscow in 2008. He has realized more than twenty solo concerts, over two hundred solo performances, and dozens of performances with chamber ensembles. Since 2003, he has served a member of the Serbian National Theater Opera in Novi Sad, becoming a soloist and a permanent member in 2016. Branislav Cvijić has realized over twenty opera roles in such works as Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Jenko’s Seoski lola [A Town’s Barfly], Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Shostakovich’s Katerina Izmailova, Logar’s Pokondirena tikva [A Would-be Lady], Suppé’s Die Schöne Galathée, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Verdi’s Nabucco, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Despić’s Pop Ćira i pop Spira [Priest Ćira and Priest Spira], and P. I. Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Chamber Music Association. In 2015, he founded the Visoko C (High C) Association of Artists, whose aim is to promote national and international music culture, primarily opera and youth arts education.

Ivan Nikolić, baritone, attended the Josip Hatze Music School in Split, in the Department of Accordion, and the Vojislav Vučković Music School in Niš, at the Department of Vocal Studies, under Professor Gordana Milošević. He graduated in 2002 from the Faculty of Music in Pristina, under Professor Olga Koroljkova, after which he completed the Biserka Cvejić’s Opera Studio at the National Theater in Belgrade, under Professor Gordana Jeftović. In 2005, Ivan earned a position in the opera studio in Biel (Switzerland), where he studied under Professor Hans Peter Blochwiz. He has held many concerts and has participated in numerous competitions in the country and abroad. He is actively engaged as a soloist of several choirs in Serbia. In the Madlenianum Chamber Opera, Nikolić has realized roles in works by Orff and Rossini, and since 2007 he has been performing in the Serbian National Theater Opera, including roles in Puccini’s La bohème, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly, Verdi’s La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Il trovatore, Menotti’s Telephone, Logar’s Pokondirena tikva [A Would-be Lady], and Donizetti’s Viva la mamma. Ivan Nikolić has been engaged as a pedagogue since 2002, first in the Kornelije Stanković Music School in Trstenik and then in the Teodor –Toša Andrejević Music School in Ruma, where he has served since 2010.

Marina Mikić, piano, completed music school in Herceg-Novi, under Professor Zoran Redžić. She graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad under Professor Kemal Gekić. During her studies, she won several Republic and Federal prizes in Serbia. Marina has continued her education through participation in numerous master classes held by renowned pedagogues, such as Igor Lazko, Vladimir Krpan, Konstantin Bogino, Aleksey Nasedkin, Jelena Richter, Jokuthon Mihailović, Dorian Leljak, and Arbo Valdma, among others. She has recorded for both Serbian and Montenegrin RTV. Beginning with her first solo recital, held at the age of eleven, Marina has been developing and expanding her piano repertoire, which today encompasses a wide range of solo, chamber, and orchestral pieces. She has performed in Slovenia, Austria, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, and Serbia. Marina is currently employed as a Collaborative Pianist at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. In addition to her concert, collaborative, and pedagogical activities, she has been engaged in positions with various organizations: serving as Assistant of the KotorArt International Festival’s Artistic Director for eight years, as a board member of the Sombor Music Festivities, and as a board member of the Novi Sad Academy of Arts’ A Fest.