ROOTS

2017-07-13 22:00

Square in front of the St. Tryphon Cathedral

 

VAHAN MARDIROSSIAN, conductor (Armenia)

KotorArt Festival Orchestra

Ensemble of City Music of Kotor

Free entrance

 

Program:

 

MARIJANA JANEVSKA (F. Y. R. Macedonia) / MARKO KOVAČ (Bosnia and Herzegovina) / SONJA MUTIĆ (Serbia) / URŠULA JAŠOVEC (Slovenia) / ANTONIO BABIĆ (Croatia) / NINA PEROVIĆ (Montenegro)

 

Variations on a Theme of Boka’s Kolo, premiere, commissioned by KotorArt Don Branko’s Music Days

 

DUŠAN VULEKOVIĆ, director (Montenegro)

Documentary Movie, premiere, commissioned by KotorArt Don Branko’s Music Days

 

The artistic transpozition of Boka’s Kolo is concieved as a cyclical piece consisting of the theme of Boka’s Kolo and five variations, with shorter movements in between. The composition has been realized as the joint work of six composers from the Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro). The “host” took upon himself the responsibility of mentoring; establishing the form of the piece as a whole, as well as guiding the approach to the theme and movements, while other composers wrote variations on a given theme. This cycle is a kind of homage to tradition and involves a characteristic relation between the instrument ensembles for which it was intended: the string orchestra of the KotorArt Festival and City Music of Kotor, consisting of brass instruments and percussions.

 

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VAHAN MARDIROSSIAN, conductor and pianist, is making his debut in the current season as the conductor of The Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory. Mardirossian now serves as the principal conductor of the Caen Symphony Orchestra and the Music Director of the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia (NCOA). Previously, Vahan Mardirossian has performed with the Real Orquestra Sinfonica de Sevilla, the German Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Bulgarian National Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Lebanese Philharmonic, among others. He has also been a guest conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a conductor, he has had the privilege to collaborate with renowned soloists such as Sergei Babayan, Ivry Gitlis, Sergei Nakaryakov, Richard Galliano, Jacques Rouvier, Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabedian, and others. Being a pianist, Vahan Mardirossian often combines playing the piano and conducting from the keyboard for piano concertos, including those by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg, Shostakovich.

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The KotorArt Festival Orchestra was founded in 2005 with the idea of bringing together young and promising musicians from the Balkans who would, during the Festival, practice and perform programs at various venues in Kotor – from churches to squares. Nurturing the idea of unity, this seasonal orchestra, with more than 50 concerts realized, has shown an outstanding and keen sense of music from a variety of musical periods, styles, and genres. In selecting orchestra repertoire, special emphasis has been placed on presenting contemporary music belonging to the same countries as participating conductors, as well as to the premiere performances of music by national and foreign authors. It is through these activities that the Orchestra communicates a message which is the essence of the entire Festival – a celebration of tolerance, unity, and cultural diversity through music.

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City Music Kotor, was founded 175 years ago, and made its debut only three months after its establishment, for the occasion of the arrival of the Austrian Archduke Franz Karl in Boka in 1842, under its original name the Citizens Music of Kotor Town. As basically a brass ensemble in the 19th Century, they participated in various local events, funerals, and dances, under the following conductors: Josip Jedlička, Jeronim Fiorelli, Ivan Jedlička-junior, Antun Petrarka, Ivan Burati, Ivan Jedlička-senior, Dionisie de Sarno San Giorgio. In the 20th century, the conductor position was held by Erminio Bagatella, Tripo Tomas, Antun Homen, Tripo Đurašević, Nikola Čučić, Nikola Gregović, Vladimir Begović, and Petar Bukilica. The orchestra has performed at numerous events, such as the wedding of Prince Franz Ferdinand in Vienna in 1898, and for such cultural icons as Prince Edward, Eleanor Roosevelt, Josip Broz Tito, Khrushchev, Jean-Paul Sartre, Sophia Loren, and Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević, among others. Today’s orchestra has 30 members, mostly amateurs, and since 2013 the orchestra has been conducted by its longtime member, who also serves as a member of the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, Professor of Horn Dario Krivokapić.

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MARIJANA JANEVSKA, composer, studied Violin at the Faculty of Music under Professor Mihailo Kufojanakis and Composition under Professor Darija Andovska. She has participated in seminars and master classes led by Nigel Clarke, Peter Sheppard Skærved, Mirkovich, Stefan Milenkovich, Nejc Kuhar, Steffen Schleiermacher, and Snežana Nešić. Over 2012 and 2013, she attended electronic and film music curriculum, while in 2013 and 2014 she went on to participate in the workshop Sarajevo Sonic Studio, led by Philippe Manoury, Peter Ablinger, and Vinko Globokar. Marijana Janevska has won numerous national and international awards, including First Prize at the 9-th Pre-Art Competition for Young Composers (Zurich, 2015), several awards for her compositions awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the F.Y.R. Macedonia, and both the First and Special Prize at the International Competition in Niš (2013). She composes solo, chamber, symphonic, and choral music.

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MARKO KOVAČ, composer, finished secondary music school in Podgorica in the Piano Department, under Professor Anka Asanović. He completed his undergraduate and master’s studies in Composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, under Professor Isidora Žebeljan. During his studies, he won numerous awards at national and international piano competitions. He has attended master classes by Oxana Yablonskaya, Michelle Rossetti, Kyoko Hashimoto, Wei-Yi Yang, Yuri Kot, Vladimir Krpan, Ratimir Martinović, Jokut Mihailović, Ninoslav Živković, and Aleksandar Serdar. His master’s composition Slovenian Antithesis, Duo for Piano and Orchestra was performed as a commission for BEMUS (2016) at Kolarac; he has also had commissions for Cello Fest – The Dragon and the Tzar’s Son, a fairy-tale for cello and 14 strings (2013), as well as for KotorArt – A Dinara Suite (2014). Marko Kovač is a Teaching Associate at the Department of Composition and Orchestration at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.

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SONJA MUTIĆ, composer, graduated in Composition from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, under Professor Zoran Erić. She is currently attending doctoral studies in Composition under the same professor, as well as postgraduate studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, under Professors Clemens Gadenstätter and Klaus Lang. She has attended numerous master courses at home and abroad by renowned composers, such as Beat Beat Furrer, Mark Andre, Rebecca Saunders, Richard Ayers, and others. Her compositions have been performed in Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, Portugal, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. Mutić won the First Prize and the Audience Award at the 17th Weimarer Frühjahrstage für Zeitgenössische Musik, at the International Competition for Chamber Music (2016), Second Prizes at the 20th Young Composers Meeting (2014) and the 7th Pre-Art Competition, a Special Prize from the Swiss foundation Künstlerhaus Boswil in the form of a residency in Switzerland (2013), and the award of the Josip Slavenski Fund of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade (2011).

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URŠULA JAŠOVEC, music pedagogue, organist, and composer, started playing piano at the Secondary Music and Ballet School in Ljubljana, where she graduated from the Department of Music Theory. She completed her studies in Music Pedagogy in 2010 at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, and in 2015, her master’s studies in Composition under Professor Pavel Mihelčič. This year, she is completing her studies in Organ under Professor Mario Perestegi. Uršula Jašovec has won five significant awards and has participated in seven compositional projects. She has written more than 60 compositions, 80 arrangements, and has had more than 120 premieres of her pieces. She composes music for children, voice, chamber ensembles, and chamber orchestras, while also focusing her research on soundscape.

 

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ANTONIO BABIĆ, composer, graduated from the Music Academy in Zagreb under Professor Frano Parać. He spent the academic year of 2013/2014 at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Belgium), under Professor Jan Van Der Roost. He is the author of a dozen compositions for solo instruments, choirs, and chamber and orchestral ensembles, which have been performed in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Belgium. He has also written music for several independent short films. Antonio Babić has taken part in the Music Festival in Opatija (2010, 2012, and 2014), the International Workshop for Students of Composition and Young Composers in Novi Sad (2012), and the Summer Music Camp in Murska Sobota (2013). He received a scholarship from the Rudolf and Margita Matz Fund for 2014, awarded by the Croatian Association of Composers. Antonio Babić collaborated with renowned American composer John Corigliano at the Bosnia International Music Festival in Sarajevo (2015), where at the competition for students of composition he was doubly rewarded – by the commission of a new piece and through collaboration with film directors as a composer of film music.

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NINA PEROVIĆ, composer, completed her Bachelor and Specialist studies in Composition at the Music Academy in Cetinje under Professor Žarko Mirković. She also obtained her Bachelor and Specialist diplomas in Piano under Professors Aleksandar Serdar and Vladimir Bochkarev. Thanks to a Basileus Scholarship, she continued her studies of Composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana under Professor Uroš Rojko, where she obtained her master’s degree. Currently, Nina Perović is purusing her doctoral studies in Composition under Professor Srđan Hofman at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She has attended numerous international courses under Professors Peter Ablinger, Vinko Globokar, Nigel Osborne, and Ivo Medek, among others. She has numerous awards and merits to her credit, including the Kompositions-Preis gestiftet vom Soziale und Kulturelle Einrichtungen in 2011 for her piece Gousle at the 21st Internationale Sommerakademie Prag Wien Budapest. Works by Nina Perović have been performed in Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

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DUŠAN VULEKOVIĆ, director, graduated Film Directing in 2005 from the Academy of Arts in Belgradeand finished his master’s Studies in Audiovisual Montage at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. He works as a freelance drama and audiovisual artist, has a permanent residence in Kotor, and is a lecturer at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje. He is the author of several documentaries, of experimental and promotional films, and of commercials and musical videos.

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Vida Matjan