8:00
8:00 Church of the Holy Trinity, Negotin
Divine Liturgy
Choir of the Church of the Holy Trinity
Conductor: Svetlana Kravčenko
The Church Choir of the Holy Trinity Temple in Negotin was founded in 1991. The first conductor was Stojna Gligorijević, and most of the choir members were the students of Negotin Grammar school. After her, the choir leader was Lana Dimitrijevic. The choir has performed with success in Timisoara (Romania), Vidin (Bulgaria), Belgrade, and in 2006 at the International Festival Golden Fairy in Prijedor (Serb Republic) the choir was awarded for the best performance of sacred music. Since 2008, the conductor has been Svetlana Kravchenko, and the choir is made up of people of different professions, united by faith and love of singing spiritual music. In addition to regular participation in church services, this chamber choir greatly contributes to the cultural life of the city of Negotin. In the 45th The Days of Mokranjac (2010) the choir performed during the book promotion Tabs – a hidden world of silence and sound in the novels of Thomas Man and Herman Hesse (Slobodan Lazarevic,PhD, Aleksandar Duric and Branka Radović, PhD), and a year later the festival audience had the opportunity to attend a full-length concert of spiritual compositions by Serbian, Russian and Bulgarian authors in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Negotin, which was highly rated by the artistic committee and accompanied by excellent comments of eminent professors and critics. Great honor for the choir was the opportunity to sing at the ancient Roman site of Felix Romuliana on May 1st 2011, when the Liturgy was served by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej on occasion of the scientific meeting on the Christian heritage of Romuliana (regarding the 1,700 anniversary of the Edict of Milan). In April 2012, the choir performed on a concert for Their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Aleksandar II and Katherine who were visiting Negotin. In 49th Days of Mokranjac, the choir participated in the program of choirs singing competition and won the III place.
On September 28th, 2014, the day of the centenary of the death of Stevan St. Mokranjac choir was invited to participate in the Divine Liturgy in the temple of St. Sava in Belgrade, after which the choir was awarded for preservation of Serbian church singing and large opus of our best composer. In May 2015, in the Great Hall of the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation in Belgrade, the Choir performed in the composer’s Vojna Nesic concert, where they premiered parts of her Divine Liturgy of St. Apostle James.
Svetlana Kravchenko, born in Ukraine, acquired her musical education in Moscow, at the State Academy Gnessin where she graduated from the departments for accordion (Professor Jurij Drangi and Vladimir Dolgopolov) and conducting (class of Professor Sergei Skripki). After graduating, she worked for seven years in Kiev in Art school for gifted children, and since 1995 she has lived in Negotin and worked as a professor at the Music School Stevan Mokranjac. Her pupils won numerous awards at various music competitions, and 16 of her students continued their studies at the Music faculties in the country and abroad. Several times she participated in the work of the jury at the regional, national and international competitions and festivals. At the invitation of the Russian Embassy in Serbia, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, she was a participant in the Festival With Russia in the heart, that was held in October 2012 in Moscow. She attended the numerous seminars with leading lecturers (Friedrich Lips, Jacques Morne, Elsbeth Moser, Yuri Shishkin), and several times she herself was a lecturer for students and teachers of the Timok region.
11:00
11:00 Town Square
Concert: Classical music at 11
Participants of the choirs competition
13:00
13:00 Church of the Holy Trinity, Mokranje
Concert: Choir of St. George’s Cathedral, Novi Sad
Conductor: Bogdan Djaković
Choir of St. George’s Cathedral, Novi Sad continues the rich tradition of Serbian, Bačka and Novi Sad church-singing societies, especially the Cathedral Chorus (1939). In October 1992, the current choir received today’s title and function of the choir of the Novi Sad cathedral Church, trying to continue the work and concept of the aforementioned pre-war ensemble, with each liturgy in the church supposed to be at the same time a spiritual concert. The choir on its repertoire has works of Serbian, Russian and Bulgarian spiritual music of the 19th and 20th centuries, and a larger number of songs from the older tradition: Byzantine, Serbian medieval and later unanimous, as well as examples of Russian multi-vocal music of the 17th and 18th centuries. It devotes special attention to the contemporary Orthodox and Christian liturgical and concert spiritual music (John Tavener, Ivan Mudi, Arvo Perth, Xavier Busto, Roman Hurko, Franc Bibl, Peter Eston…). In addition to regular participation in worship at St. George’s Church, the ensemble performs at various festivals and events important for spreading our Orthodox and national culture. Chorus sang in numerous worships and on occasional concerts throughout the country, as well as in many of our monasteries. Thirteen times he represented the Serbian Orthodox Church at the European Encounters of Christian Youth, which since 1993 in Munich, Paris (1994, 2003), Wroclaw, Vienna, Milan, Warsaw, Barcelona, Budapest, Hamburg, Lisbon and Theses (1999, 2000 , 2002) organized monks from the These Monastery (France). The tradition of the sixteenth Christmas concerts in Novi Sad (1998-2013) is especially emphasized. The most important concerts were held in: Yugoslav Cultural Centre in Paris, Cathedral of St. Abrasion in Milan, Church of St. Augusta in Barcelona, the Cathedral in Norwich, then in the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Cromer, the Church of St. Alexander in Bergamo, Church of St. Domingo in Lisbon, the National Conservatory Hall in Thessaloniki, the Church of St. Sophia in Stockholm… There were liturgies in the Serbian churches in Bern and Trieste.
Bogdan Đaković, musicologist and choir conductor – graduated from the Department of Musicology at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, and received his master’s degree at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. In 1987 he founded the church singing association St. Stefan Decanski in Novi Sad, and then the Choir of St. George’s Cathedral, Novi Sad, of which he is still in charge. He occasionally works with the Chamber Choir of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and since 2009 with the festival choir of KotorArt (Montenegro). As an assistant to the conductor, scholar Dimitrij Stefanovic since 1993, he participates in the work of summer schools of church music In memory of Kornelije, and since 2000 he has been a lecturer at these seminars. In 2014, he was the guest conductor of one of the world’s best vocal ensembles for the old and new music – Cappella Romana (Portland, USA), performing a series of feature-length concerts of Serbian spiritual music, while in early 2015 in Antwerp (within the Belgian choir association Koor & Stem) held a workshop entitled Orthodox Choral Church Music. Since 2016, he is the founder and conductor of the HorUns Ensemble of Novi Sad University. He works as a full professor for a professional artistic field Knowledge of choral literature at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. Since 2006 he has been teaching elective subjects Art and Medicine, Art Therapy, and Music Therapy at the Medical Faculty of the University of Novi Sad. He is intensely committed to promoting intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. He has been actively involved in the work of the European choir association Europa Cantat, and since 2011 he has been performing as the art director of the Cantat Novi Sad Festival, organized under his patronage.
14:00
14:00 Church of the Holy Trinity courtyard, Mokranje
Threads of tradition
-Women singing group of Art School Stevan Mokranjac, Negotin
-CAS Mokranjac, Mokranje
-CAS Djido, Brestovac
-АCAS Floričika, Jabukovac
Female singing group of Art School Stevan Mokranjac (Negotin), consisted of school choir members, performs a repertoire that includes the adapted folk songs. The group, under the leadership of Aleksandra Djukić, achieved excellent results in a very short time. They participated in the competition at the Vocal – Ethno Festival (VEF) 2017, where they won the Second Prize in the category of adapted songs. Their performance at the concert All our winners in the Cultural Center on the occasion of marking the World Music Day was also noticed.
Cultural Artistic Society Mokranjac from Mokranje officially resumed its activities at the beginning of 2010, after a 19-year break. Currently, this society has 50 active members half of which are participants of the Children’s Ensemble. Folklore ensembles, accompanied by a folk music orchestra mainly dance old „circle” dances, which were once danced in Morkranje. Since the reactivation, the group has taken part in various manifestations of the traditional folk art: Village Encounters of the Negotin region (winner in 2011), Krajinski Obicaji (The Customs of Krajina) in Stubik, and as a representative of Negotin municipality at various reviews: Prodjoh Levac, prodjoh Sumadiju in Kalenic, and Motifs of Homolje, in Kucevo…
Cultural-Artistic Society Djido, Brestovac. Organized cultural work in the village of Brestovac, as well as in other villages of the Bor municipality, began in 1948, by establishing a cultural and educational society. The generations of people from Brestovac took part in a very successful continuous work on preserving the unique heritage in the domain of customs, songs and dances. CAS Djido today has over 100 members in several different folklore sections (including ethnological, which deals with the collection of folk arts and handicrafts of the Brestovac region). It can be said that CAS Djido, since its founding, has been the carrier of the largest number of activities in all areas of social and cultural life of Brestovac, in cooperation with elementary school Stanoje Miljkovic and local community of Brestovac. During the decades, the cultural and artistic society Djido was a regular and noted participant in many festivals and competitions across the country, including the former Yugoslavia. The Society is a regular participant in the Villages encounters in the Bor municipality. It is a multiple winner of this event, which is also proven by the victory at this year’s event.
Amateur cultural and artistic society Floričika was founded in 1970. Currently, the Society has about ninety members, distributed in several sections and groups.
The main activity of ACAS Floričika is the preservation and cultivation of original folk melodies, songs and dances, folk instruments, authentic costumes, customs and folk artifacts, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of the peoples of this region.
In the nineties, the Society interrupted its work, and it was renewed in 1997. Two years later, in 1999, Floričika won the first place at the Villages Encounters event in the municipality of Negotin and the Bor and Zajecar districts, and at the Republic competition of the villages of Serbia, along with the local community Jabukovac, won the second place in Serbia. In 2005 they won again the Villages Encounters manifestation of Negotin municipality, and in the inter-district competition they won the second prize. The successes continued one after the other so Floričika repeated its success at the Villages Encounters in 2009, 2013 and 2017.In the recent period, Floričika has had notable performances on numerous festivals both in Serbia and abroad.
19:00
19:00 Cultural Centre’s Inside Gallery
Paintings exhibition: Echo of the music
19th Art Colony of the Cultural Centre
Art Colony Echo of the Music was founded in 1999. During its nineteen-year existence, this art workshop has become a significant segment of the cultural identity of Negotin. After ten years of work, the colony moved from Vratna to village Rogljevo, while the last three were organized in the town itself. Since 2009 it has been called Echo of the music, which is, in a way, a visual answer to the festival The Days of Mokranjac, during which, works made in the colony are exhibited. A rich collection of works, created thanks to the workshop, has over four hundred of works of artists from Serbia and abroad, belonging to different generations, from young students to mature artists.
This year’s convocation was consisted of the following artists: Maja Erdeljanin, Vera Tanasić, Korina Gubik, Gabriela Sigeti, Maja Jovanović Majolinica, Suzana Sanković, Jan Agarsky, Miroslav Jovančić, Milan Radosaljević.
20:00
20:00 Cultural Centre
Concert: Bilja Krstić and Bistrik orchestra
Bilja Krstić completed her primary and secondary music education in Music School Dr Vojislav Vučković in her native Niš, and then graduated from FMU in Belgrade. On the domestic pop scene she has been present for many years. After the bands Sunflowers and Early Frost, she started her solo career and released three albums. Along with the career of a pop singer, she has followed her deepest affinities and has been patiently collecting authentic audio and written transcripts of obscure folk songs – mostly rarely performed, and mostly unreleased music themes from Kosovo, from southern Serbia and the region inhabited by Vlachs, as well as from Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The results of this work were the albums Bistrik and Zapisi, which were created as a fusion of traditional music and modern arrangements. In 2001, she founded the Bistrik Orchestra with which she received great acclaim in our country and all over the world (at over 350 concerts). She made the soundtrack with Bistrik orchestra in 2003 for Serbian most watched film of all times – Zona Zamfirova.
Her third CD Tarpos was released across Europe at the beginning of 2007, under the license of German record label Intuition/Schott Music. The June 2007 edition of UK World Music magazine Songlines put Bilja Krstic in Top of the World as one of the 10 best World Music albums. The French magazine TRAD pronounced this album as the best of July/August 2008. The fourth a capella album The Wellspring was released in April 2013, and finally, the fifth album Svod in January 2017 by ARC Music record label from London.
During the 16 years of existence, Bilja Krstić and Bistrik orchestra have won many prestigious awards, including: three The Prince reward for best ethno album – Bistrik, Zapisi and Tarpoš (2001, 2003, and 2007), two annual awards of Beovizija Festival for best ethno album – Zapisi and Tarpoš (2001 and 2007), two awards for the best soundtrack for the film Zona Zamfirova – Herceg Novi Festival and Mostra di Valencia del Mediterrani, as well as the Golden medal for Culture in 2007, award Knight of Serbian music in 2009, and Sofest 2015 – GRAND PRIX for the soundtrack The man who defended Gavrilo Princip.