SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th

11:00

11:00 Town Square
Concert: Classical music at 11
Choir Elegy , Moscow
Kalamaria Choir , Thessaloniki
Conductors: Marina Alekseeva
Kostis Papazoglou

18:00

18:00 Cultural Centre’s Gallery
Presentation:
Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac, feuilleton
Author: Branka Radovic, PhD, musicologist

Interview with writer and journalist of Politika Dusica Milanovic, the editor of Feuilleton section, dealing with a wide range of topics, and least the music, led to the idea that in the anniversary year we publish a feuilleton on Mokranjac. I thought that the idea deserves the attention of wider audiences and those of newspaper readers who would like to know something about this big creator and that it should be written in the simplest possible way, popular, understandable and that no one is repelled from listening to Mokranjac’s music.
For connoisseurs a little reminder of Mokranjac, for new readers, children and adults, the letter about genius, this booklet prepared by the organizers of the festival The Days of Mokranjac included in the half-century celebration of the most important Negotin’s events and one of the most important in Serbia, I hand with joy and with a desire to take us back to the roots and always reminds of the great man, who is still alive thanks to many choirs, domestic and foreign, which perform his music.

Branka Radovic, PhD, was born in Cetinje, graduated first at the Department of Yugoslav and General Literature Faculty of Philology in Belgrade in 1973, and then the department of musicology at the Music Academy in 1974. She defended her Master’s thesis at the Department of Serbian music history in 1988, and a PhD in Department of Serbian Literature, Faculty of Philology in 1999. She accomplished her long-time pedagogical activity in the Music school Mokranjac in Belgrade, and from 1995 to 1999 she was the school principal. She used to work at several different faculties and universities as a professor of music history. Today she is a full professor at FILUM in Kragujevac. She was the dean of this University institution from 2004 to 2006.
She began with her critics’ activity very early in the Third Programme of Radio Belgrade, and then, in daily newspapers Borba and Politika. She has been a music critic in the newspaper Politika for more than twenty years, especially dedicated to the opera.
For ten years, she has been chief editor of Pro Musica magazine (1989-1999), an associate of numerous music magazines, writer of the texts and scientific papers which were presented in the country and abroad. The first book she wrote was Short History of Music (Music Teachers Association of Serbia, 1992) then The musical stage works of Nikola Hercigonja (Association of Composers of Montenegro, 2000), Refinement of staggering, Hristić’s opera Twilight (SNP Novi Sad, 2000), Njegoš and Music (Institute for textbooks and teaching aids 2001), Suma Xeniana, monographs on Ksenija Zecevic (Belef Center 2007), monographs of the  pianist Tomislav Stanic (Workshop of the soul, 2010), Sheet music, the study of musical novels of Hermann Hesse (Zepter book, 2010).
She has been the selector of the festival The Days of Mokranjac since 2007 and is considered one of the best connoisseurs of opera art with us. Since 2010, she has been the General Director of Opera and Theatre Madlenianum in Zemun.

19:00

19:00 Cultural Centre’s Gallery
Paintings exhibition: Echo of the music
17^th Art Colony of the Cultural Centre

17th Art Colony was designed slightly different this year, in accordance with the celebration of the jubilee – 50 years of the festival The Days of Mokranjac, as an accompanying art programme and exhibition of the Festival.
It was held from 1st to 7th August in the town, and specific theme was vision of Negotin through the eyes of artists, painters, and another tribute to an environment that preserved and maintained Festival dedicated to Stevan Mokranjac for a half of a century, which was not always that easy and simple.
Eleven artists sought inspiration in music and areas of Negotin, and found it. City and Festival will be richer for the works that they have left us.

20:00

Belgrade Philharmonic, cultural institution with 91-year-long tradition and the 96 musicians with an average age of 40, has achieved remarkable success and established itself as one of the leading national orchestras in the region over the last decade. According to the international media, the orchestra is one of the leading European orchestras (The Independent), Serbia’s cult orchestra (The Financial Times), the most successful cultural institution in Serbia (Jutarnji list, Zagreb) and Serbia’s most powerful PR weapon (Kvällsposten, Malmö). In the past several seasons, the orchestra has cooperated with the world’s acclaimed conductors and soloists, including Zubin Mehta, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Neville Mariner, Boris Berezovsky, Gerhard Oppitz, Barry Douglas, Nelson Freire, Fazil Say, Andrei Gavrilov, Julian Rachlin, Sarah Chang, Ivry Gitlis, Isabelle Faust, Mischa Maisky, David Geringas, Sol Gabetta, duo Igudesman and Joo, and others. From 2010 to the end of season 2014/15, Chief Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra was the renowned Chinese conductor Muhai Tang, while the position of Resident Conductor has been held since season 2013/14 by the young Serbian conductor Vladimir Kulenović, who also pursues a successful career in the USA.
The Belgrade Philharmonic Foundation Zubin Mehta, with its strategic partners, has made a significant contribution to the orchestra’s quality of work. During the last few years, the orchestra has had several successful tours and guest performances in Italy, Austria, Sweden, France, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia etc. The highlights on the international stage include appearances at the 2010 Ravello Festival, the first post-war guest performance at the opening of Julian Rachlin & Friends Festival in Dubrovnik and a 13-concert tour in Italy in 2011. In the season 2014/15, the Belgrade Philharmonic went on the first U.S tour in its history, which included concerts in Chicago, Cleveland, Washington D.C. and New York in October 2014. In addition, the orchestra toured cities of Germany and Switzerland in November 2014.
The original and unique concept of the New Years concert series, promoting the diversity between different ethnic and religious communities with music, has raised significant attention among the domestic and international public, and it is also acknowledged and supported by the EU. The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra has also initiated long-lasting regional cooperation of the three national philharmonic orchestras from Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, as part of the project Pika-Točka-Тачка (Dot-Dot-Dot). The Belgrade Philharmonic is one of very few orchestras that have dedicated an entire concert series to female conductors. By focusing on conducting as a profession practiced by people who differ by their individual artistic style rather than their gender, the Belgrade Philharmonic aims to encourage all women to take center stage in their chosen career. The concert series titled Bizarrte, as blend of the words bizarre and art, which presents outlandish music, unusual repertoire, concepts and instruments, is highly popular with younger audiences and attracts new people to the concert hall.

Мaja Bogdanovic graduated with the First Prize at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where she also completed her postgraduate course with Michel Strauss and studied chambermusic with Itamar Golan and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. While still a student, she won the highest awards at national and international competitions in the Czech Republic, Austria, France and Italy.
In 2008, the Safran Foundation for Music presented her the prize for achievements, while in 2011 Maja was the winner of the UMUS Artist of the Year Award. After having won the First Prize at the Aldo Parisot Cello Competition in South Korea, Maja Bogdanović gave a recital in Carnegie Hall in New York, described by The Strad magazine as “a performance of exceptional beauty of sound and a great maturity of interpretation, accompanied by a secure technique”.
Maja has appeared as soloist with the Munchenner kammerorchester, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, RTS Symphony Orchestra, chamber ensembles Dusan Skovran and St. George Strings, Sejong Soloists, Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre des Laureats du Conservatoire de Paris, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Europe, Wonju Philharmonic Orchestra, Salta Symphony Orchestra, Morelia Philharmonic Orchestra and St. Bartholomew Orchestra London. Maja Bogdanović plays a violoncello custom made for her by the French violin and cello maker Frank Ravatin.

Resident Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Kulenović, has been appointed Chief Conductor of the Lake Forest Symphony, USA, in June 2014. He also works as the Associate Conductor of the Utah Symphony and the Principal Conductor of the Kyoto International Music Festival in Japan.
In addition to studying with Kurt Masur from 2008-2012, Vladimir Kulenovic is an alumnus of the Juilliard School . He also earned graduate degrees from the Peabody Institute, where he studied with Gustav Meier, and the Boston Conservatory where he graduated summa cum laude as valedictorian and was awarded Alfred B. Whitney Award for the highest scholastic achievement. He is also a proud winner of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship, 2012 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Fellowship, as well as the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Sir Georg Solti Foundation U.S. Career Development Awards.
Recent engagements include performances with the Beethoven-Orchester Bonn at the Beethovenhalle, Deutsche Kammerakademie/Neuss am Rhein, Slovenian Philaharmonic, Zagreb Philharmonic, Lake Forest Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Evergreen Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Festival appearances include Aspen, Cabrillo, Salzburg Mozarteum and Verbier. As conducting fellow at the Verbier Festival in 2009, Mr. Kulenovic conducted two internationally televised performances and was subsequently invited to serve as the conducting assistant to Kurt Masur at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He also had the honor of preparing the Belgrade Philharmonic at the Dubrovnik Festival for Zubin Mehta.