HOMAGE TO THE PROFESSOR

2020-08-19 22:00

Summer stage

Summer Stage, 10 p.m.
HOMAGE TO THE PROFESSOR
Concert Dedicated to Professor Nikola Gregović
 
CITY CHOIR OF THE NIKOLA ĐURKOVIĆ CULTURAL CENTER (Montenegro) NOCTURNO MANDOLIN ORCHESTRA (Montenegro)
 
Partner of the concert: "Nikola Đurković" Cultural Centre 
Nikola Gregovic foto 5.jpg
Nikola Gregović, as a versatile cultural enthusiast – pedagogue, composer, conductor, and organizer of musical life, uniquely marked the cultural life of the second half of the 20th century in the Montenegrin cities of Kotor, Herceg Novi, Nikšić, as well as in the Balkan region. Born in Kotor, he received his music education from the Music Academy in Sarajevo. Gregović worked as a teacher in music schools in Kotor and Nikšić, where he was later appointed school principal and then a Professor at the Pedagogical Academy. He founded and conducted numerous mandolin orchestras and choirs: at the Teaching Faculty Orchestra in Nikšić, the Veljko Ćatović Choir and Orchestra in Risan, the Njegoš Primary School Orchestra, the Vida Matjan Secondary Music School Choir, and the City Music Kotor. With the Choir of the Zahumlje Cultural Artistic Society from Nikšić and the Kotor Choir, Nikola Gregović achieved remarkable successes. He also founded and led many male and female klapas, and through his work with the Karampana klapa, which he founded in 1980, Nikola Gregović promoted songs from Boka Kotorska beyond the borders of the former Yugoslavia. He composed and arranged numerous children’s, choral, and klapa songs, as well as orchestral compositions. The award given by the Festival of Klapa Perast is named after him.
The City Choir of the Nikola Đurković Cultural Center was founded in 2018 upon the initiative of the institution’s management with the idea of restoring the tradition of choral singing, which has existed as an organized form of musical life in the town since the 19th century. Today’s ensemble follows the footsteps of the Nikola Đurković City Choir, founded in the years after the Second World War, whose members were prominent cultural workers such as Antun Homen, Darinka Marović, Tripo Tomas, Mirko Homen, Stevo Simonuti, Miloš Milošević, Julio Marić, Antun Pogačar, and Nikša Čučić, among others. With its twenty-five members, the renewed City Choir has actively participated in the cultural events of Kotor over the past two years. The ensemble’s repertoire includes popular compositions by national and foreign authors, original melodies from Boka, as well as polyphonic compositions of classical music. In December 2019, the Choir held their first feature concert and the previous year won their first award at the Adriatica Nova Festival. The Choir is led by Professors Dušica Ćetković and Ljiljana Dončić.
 
The Nocturno Mandolin Orchestra was founded in 1990 in Kotor by Professor Nikola Gregović, largely drawing upon his guitar students at the Vida Matjan Primary and Secondary Music School. In its beginnings, the Orchestra consisted of mandolins, mandolas, guitars, and bass guitars, yet over time, the Orchestra has developed and grown to include flutes, bisernicas, and prims. The orchestra has performed at school concerts and numerous other cultural events in Kotor and across Boka. It held its first feature concert in 1992 in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Kotor, followed by performances in Sveti Stefan during the famous chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. At the opening of the first Yugoslav Children’s Theater Festival, today’s Kotor Festival of Theatre for Children, the choir and the orchestra performed premiered the official anthem of the Festival, composed by Gregović. The Orchestra remained with Gregović until his death in 2010. Out of the Mandolin Orchestra was also born the Škuribanda Ensemble. The Orchestra is conducted by Petar Bukilica.