UPBEAT

The Vida Matjan Primary and Secondary Music School in Kotor, over its seven decades of existence, has retained the status of an institution that has inherited and which perpetuates the true values of national and international musical culture, while also modernizing and improving the learning process. Current teachers and associates successfully continue the tradition of their predecessors and through their everyday work and effort contribute to the development of the institution, whose quality has been confirmed time and time again in appearances at national and international competitions and festivals. In addition to its primary home in a magnificent building in the Old Town of Kotor, the school operates regional branches in Risan, Radanovići, and Lastva Grbaljska. With about 450 students and 48 teachers and associates, classes are taught in the departments of Piano, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, French Horn, Violin, Cello, Guitar, Accordion, and Voice. Since 2007, the school has proudly born the name Vida Matjan, composer, pedagogue, director, and founder of the school, who acquired her musical education in her native Ljubljana and in Belgrade. The exceptional power and versatility of musical activities encompassed in the field of music pedagogy, in which Vida Matjan constantly aspired to innovate, have made the school another home for the many children who have come through its doors. As the interest and dedication of the school’s pupils have constantly grown, so too has the number that have become professionally engaged in music after finishing the school, while countless others remain musically active as amateurs, engaged as members of town and church choirs, of City Music, and beyond.