Ivan Božičević, a composer, organist, pianist and arranger was born in Belgrade 1961, where he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Faculty of Music, in the class of. A Obradović. He attended Courses for New Music in Darmstadt in 1982 and 1984. His oeuvre includes three symphonies (Five Haiku after Bachou), orchestral, chamber (Marittimo, Airborne), choral (The Good Shepherd, verses by Erma Sotirova) and soloist works (Three Women’s Songs, Chamber Music), as well as numerous works for electronics (Moons Tropic, The Island of Voices). His work in composition brought him the Silver Medal of the University of Arts in Belgrade, Students’ October Award of the city of Belgrade, Stevan Hristić Award and numerous annual awards of the Serbian Composers Association. His works are often performed on radio and TV, and concerts at home and abroad (Sweden, Germany, the USA).

He studied solo organ at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt with Edgar Krap, graduating in 1988. He specialized in early music in Salamanca in 1988 and 1990 (with Guy Bovet and Montserrat Torent). He gave concerts in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Switzerland, Spain and the USA.

Božičević started his career in education as a lecturer of Harmony at the College of Music in Niš. He joined the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in 1992, and soon became assistant professor. Until 2001 he taught Harmony, Counterpoint and Analysis in Belgrade and Novi Sad. Since 2001 he has lived and worked in Split as a free-lancer. Continuing his activities as a composer, he won several awards of the Croatian Cultural Assembly and festival Cro Patria. Božičević set up his jazz-band SplitMInders, with which he released a CD Sotto mare, sopra aria (BestMusic, Zagreb) and performs throughout Croatia. As a pianist and arranger he has had a fruitful cooperation with pop musicians (Tedi Spalato, Hari Rončević, Cambi vocal ensemble); he takes part in several ongoing projects at the Croatian National Theater in Split.

- Mesečeva prekretnica

(The 1995 comment): The structure of the piece consists of three principal sections, each with distinct timbral characteristics: the first is dominated by “string”, the second by “flute” synthesizers timbres, whereas in the third section “percussions” join in, as well as sampled piano treated in a percussive manner. The relatively short “coda” (fourth section) round the form. The above described timbral gradation is matched with gradual textural condensation, achieved by means of the superposition of static motivic cells (patterns) in ever changing combinations; the procedure is typical of compositions with minimalist orientation. Nevertheless, certain characteristics of the sonic whole freely “spill over” from one section to another, enriching the rationally constructed “fundamental” layer with elements of unpredictability and improvisation.

(P.S. 2007): Mesečeva prekretnica was produced in the Radio Belgrade Electronic Studio as early as 1993. Snežana Nikolajević, then editor of Belgrade Television wanted, to my great joy, to have this composition for her cycle World Premieres. The process of TV production was prolonged, waiting for terms for recording and editing, so that everything was completed in February 1995. None the less, I can see clearly now that I had such an opportunity as a composer gets very rarely: a 24-minute TV spot on national TV on a totally non-commercial music. Big thanks to Snežana, as well as the director of the Electronic Studio Vladan Radovanović, producer Miodrag Milinković and all member of the TV crew.

The video for today’s presentation has been reconstructed from a VHS tape. Its poorer quality and noise are curiously suitable for the subject matter of the piece: those who remember TV broadcasts of various space enterprises will know what I mean.