THE ART OF REMEMBRANCE

Saturday, July 13
Square of the St. Tryphon Cathedral, 10 p.m.
THE ART OF REMEMBRANCE 
On the occasion of marking 40 years since the earthquake in Montenegro
and since the placement of Kotor on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List

WHO SEE KLAPA (Montenegro)
OLIVERA TIČEVIĆ, soprano (Montenegro)
MARIJANA ŠOVRAN, soprano (Montenegro)
MILICA MILANOVIĆ, soprano (Montenegro)
JULIO MARIĆ, conductor (Croatia)
KOTORART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

Program:

Ivan Marović
Kotor 1979, for strings and voices, commission of the KotorArt Festival on the occasion of 40 years since the earthquake in Montenegro

Nina Perović
Views, for three sopranos, string orchestra, and electronics, commission of the Kotor Art Festival on the occasion of 40 years since the placement of Kotor on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List

Dušan Vuleković
The Story of the Earthquake, author film screening

Tickets are available HERE.

The Who See Klapa was founded in 2000 in Kotor by Mario Đorđević NOYZ and Dejan Dedović DEDDUH. They have released four studio albums: Sviranje kupcu [Playing for the Buyer] (2007), Krš i drača [Karst and Jerusalem Thorn] (2012), Nemam ti kad [Don’t Have Time] (2014), and Pamidore [Tomatoes] (2017). They participated in the Eurovision Song Contest of 2013. The Klapa has received numerous awards for their work, including the MTV EMA Adria Act (2012), MTV Double Platinum Award (2012), MTV Double Platinum Award (2013), and MAC (2019). The Who See Klapa has performed at festivals throughout the country and abroad, such as at Exit, Lovefest, Weekend Media Festival, Sea Dance, and Beer Fest.

Olivera Tičević, soprano, completed her bachelor’s and master’s studies at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under Professor Aneta Ilić. As a scholarship holder of the City of Bern and winner of the national scholarship for excellence of the Ministry of Education of Montenegro, she completed master’s studies at the Bern University of Arts, under Professor Christian Hilz, where she went on to enroll in doctoral studies. She was voted the most promising artist of the Austria Barock Akademie twice (2010, 2013), which facilitated a series of concerts in some of the most prestigious halls in Europe. In 2017, Olivera Tičević was a prize winner at the prestigious Opern Spiele Munot in Schaffhausen (Switzerland). She had her opera debut at the Belgrade Madlenianum Opera, and her international premiere with the Zurich Opera as Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute. These appearances were followed by the roles of Despina (Mozart, Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti), Lucy (Weill, The Threepenny Opera), and Musetta (Puccini, La bohème). In addition to opera and lied, her repertoire also consists of sacred and chamber music, as well as pieces by contemporary authors. Olivera Tičević has premiered music by Žarko Mirković, Nina Perović, Marko Kovač, and Draško Adžić. She is engaged in several opera and vocal-instrumental projects in Vienna, Bern, and Oslo.

Marijana Šovran completed her bachelor’s and master’s studies under Professor Radmila Smiljanić at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where she is currently enrolled in specialist studies under Professor Nikola Kitanovski. She also completed the Borislav Popović Opera Studio at the National Theater in Belgrade, as well as the ICAV Summer School of the Metropolitan Opera in Montreal. Marijana Šovran has pursued additional training and has collaborated with artists such as: Olga Makarina, Joan Dornemann, Mignon Dunn, Lucy Arner, Rosmarie Landry, Darina Takova, Daniela de Marco, Marijana Mijanović, Radmila Bakočević, Predrag Gosta, Ana Zorana Brajović, and Miroslav Homen, among others. She has performed in G. Verdi’s operas Rigoletto and Un Ballo in Maschera, G. Puccini’s La Bohème, Suor Angelica, Il Tabarro, and Tosca, W. A. Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, La Clemenza di Tito, and Don Giovanni, J. Haydn’s Lo Speziale, and C. Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea.  She has realized performances in Canada, Austria, Russia, Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Australia, and appeared at the Operosa Festival (2017, 2018) and KotorArt in Montenegro, as well as held the leading roles in the musicals Beli ždralovi [The White Cranes] and Njegoš nebom osijan [Njegoš Shining Bright in the Sky], directed by Ivana Žigon. In 2017, Marijana Šovran premiered Predrag Radisavljević’s compositions Strašan lav [A Terrifying Lion] and Miš je seo u džip [The Mouse Sat in a Jeep]. 

Milica Milanović, after completing her primary and secondary music education at the Vida Matjan School for Primary and Secondary Music Education in Kotor, under Professor Mirela Šćasni, went on to study Vocal Arts at the Music Academy in East Sarajevo, under Professors Georgi Minov and Milica Stojadinović. She obtained her master’s degree in 2013 at the same institution, under Professor Aleksandra Ristić. During her music education, she won numerous awards in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and beyond, while as a member of the Music Academy Chamber Choir, Milica Milanović performed throughout Europe, where the ensemble won numerous significant prizes. As a student, she appeared regularly at concerts organized by the Academy and also held solo recitals. She has also performed with the Cetinje Academy of Music Orchestra, under the baton of Radovan Papović, and with the Orchestra of the Montenegrin National Theater, under the baton of Miroslav Homen, in addition to numerous festival appearances. In 2012, Milica Milanović interpreted the title role of Angelica in Puccini’s opera at the Kotor premiere, as well as in Podgorica, Ljubljana, and Vienna. Thanks in part to this role, she received a German scholarship for the international OperOderSpree 2012 opera master class in Beeskow (Germany). Milica Milanović currently serves as an instructor in Voice at the Vida Matjan School for Primary and Secondary Music Education, her students the winners of numerous awards at international competitions.

Julio Marić, conductor and composer, started his musical education in Kotor, where he was a member of the Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied Piano at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade and completed his bachelor’s and master’s studies in Conducting at the Music Academy in Sarajevo. Julio Marić began his pedagogical activity in Kotor in 1956. He was employed as Full Professor at the Music Academies in Sarajevo and Cetinje, as well as at the Džemal Bijedić University in Mostar. As a conductor, he has collaborated with the RTV Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra and the Mixed Choir, as well as with other orchestras in the former Yugoslavia, performing in the country and abroad at more than 500 concerts. Julio Marić is the author of nearly 600 pieces for piano, chamber music, art songs, music for television, and music for children, also composing the ballet Izložba slika [The Exhibition], and the popular song Ja te pjesmom zovem [I am Calling You with the Song]. He has received numerous awards and recognitions from the B&H Association of Composers, the B&H Association of Music Artists, and RTS Music Production, as well as been bestowed with the Sixth-April Anniversary Award of the City of Sarajevo and the Golden Plaque of the Academy of Music in Sarajevo, and honored by the Croatian Society of Musical Artists. Julio Marić is a member of numerous boards of Universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, of professional associations, and a permanent Guest Conductor of the Dubrovnik and the Mostar Symphony Orchestras.

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, prepare and perform programs at various venues in Kotor – from churches to squares. Nurturing the idea of unity, this seasonal orchestra, with more than fifty concerts realized, has shown an outstanding and keen sense of music from a variety of musical periods, styles, and genres. In selecting the orchestra repertoire, special emphasis has been placed on the contemporary music of those countries from which guest conductors hail, as well as on premiere performances of pieces by national and foreign authors. All these activities enable young orchestral musicians to regularly scale the concert podium, gain new experiences in working with different conductors and soloists, expand their repertoire, and develop a sense of confidence and comfort on stage. In this way, the orchestra embodies the message of the festival as a whole – the celebration of tolerance, unity, and cultural diversity through music.

Ivan Marović, composer, obtained his primary and secondary music education at the Vida Matjan School for Primary and Secondary Music Education in Kotor, in the Department of Piano, before enrolling in Composition at the Music Academy in Cetinje. Since embarking on his studies, he has become occupied with jazz and applied music, as well as attended master classes held by professors such as Jan Jirásek, Detlev Müller-Siemens, Stjepko Gut, and Rale Mićić. Ivan Marović is the author of music for numerous theater plays, including: Art Export (directed by L. Dedović), Medeia (directed by S. Milatović), Dobri Zloćko [Good Bad Boy] (directed by P. Pejaković), Oro iz bajke [Oro from a Fairytale] (directed by B. Lungov), Don Žuan [Don Juan] (directed by A. Vukotić), Čaura [Cocoon] (authors T. Vujošević and S. Nelević), Command Performance (directed by P. Kirby), and Ulcinjski gusar [The Ulcinj Pirate] (directed by M. Karadžić), among others. He returned to the challenges of artistic music when, for the occasion of Njegoš’s anniversary, he was commissioned by KotorArt to write a piece titled Iskra besamrtna [The Immortal Ray], which premiered on August 7, 2013.

Nina Perović completed her bachelor’s and specialist studies in Composition at the Music Academy in Cetinje under Professor Žarko Mirković, and her doctoral studies in Composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, under Professor Srđan Hofman. She also obtained her bachelor’s and specialist diploma in Piano, under Professors Aleksandar Serdar and Vladimir Bochkarev. Thanks to a Basileus scholarship, she continued her study of Composition at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, under Professor Uroš Rojko, where she obtained her master’s degree. She has attended numerous international courses under such esteemed professors as Klaus Lang, 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, Switzerland, Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. She is engaged at the Music Academy in Cetinje as a Graduate Student Instructor.

Dušan Vuleković graduated in 2005 from the Academy of Arts in Belgrade. He completed his master’s studies in Editing in Audiovisual Media at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. He works as a freelance drama and audiovisual artist and as a lecturer at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje. Dušan Vuleković is the author of several documentaries and experimental and promotional films, as well as of commercials and music videos.