Programme

Thursday, 24 September 2015, 8 PM, National Theatre, “Raša Plaović” stage

Gala Opening of the Festival – Presentation of the Mokranjac Award
Laureate: Svetlana Savić, for Zarobljena (Trapped), for women’s choir and electronics

Kaleidoscope (for children and grownups), a project by Nada Kolundžija

The Musical Material Processing Plant group
Irena Popović, Katarina Radovanović Jeremić, Jovana Đorđević, and Darja Damjanović

Scott Fielding, (USA), directing
Milan Rore Popović, video works
Bojan Barić, animation and electronics
Miloš Milić, pantomime
Dragana Udovičić, onstage camera

  • Miloš Raičković (Serbia/USA) – Prelude, for 2 toy pianos*
  • Yannis Kyriakides (Cyprus/The Netherlands) – Fofi&Michalis, for music box*
  • Miloš Raičković (Serbia/USA) – Nadja’s kolo, for toy piano
  • Toby Twining (USA) – Satie Blues, for piano and toy piano
  • John Cage (USA) – Suite for Toy Piano
  • Katarina Miljković (Serbia/USA) – For Connie Jane, for electronics**
  • Bojan Barić (Serbia/Finland) – Iz dečijeg ugla – Serenada za lutku, klavir, Debisija, mikrofon, Logic, dva zvučnika i teremin (From a Children’s Angle – Serenade for a Doll, Piano, Debussy, Microphone, Logic, Two Speakers, and Theremin)
  • John Cage (USA) – Suite for Toy Piano
  • Richard Barrett (Great Britain) – Trace, for 2 music boxes*
  • Louis Andriessen (The Netherlands) – Deuxième chorale, for music box (from The Memory of Roses collection)*
  • Miroslav Savić (Serbia) – Verbatim, for an unlimited number of programmable music boxes, computer software, and music box**
  • Ivan Elezović (Serbia/USA) – Mechanical Theme, for tenor, piano, and 2 music boxes**
  • Louis Andriessen (The Netherlands) – The Memory of Roses, from the eponymous collection, for piano and toy piano
  • Yannis Kyriakides (Cyprus/The Netherlands) – mobylette, for two music boxes*
  • Irena Popović (Serbia) – Odbrojavam (And Counting), for vocals and 3 music boxes**
  • Toby Twining (USA) – Nightmare Rag, for piano and toy piano

* Serbian première
** world première

Friday, 25 September 2015, 6 PM, Hall of the Composers’ Association of Serbia

Side Programme

Psychology and Music: Cognition and Affect in Creating Contemporary Art Music
The results of research conducted by psychologist Dr Blanka Bogunović, based on the survey taken by the participants of this year’s Forum

Friday, 25 September 2015, 8 PM, Foyer of the National Bank of Serbia

Construction Site Ensemble
Neda Hofman, piano, Ivan Marjanović, percussion, Bojan Pešić, oboe, Marina Nenadović, flute, Vladimir Gagić, clarinet, Mirjana Nešković, violin, Ljubomir Milanović, viola, Srđan Sretenović, violoncello

Saturday, 26 September 2015, 5:30 PM, Foyer of the National Bank of Serbia:

Mixed String Quartet
Goran Uzelac, first violin, Selena Jakovljević, second violin, Aleksandra Stanić, viola, Julijana Marković, violoncello

  • Vuk Kulenović (Serbia/USA) – Gudački kvartet br. 6 (String Quartet No. 6)
  • Ana Kazimić (Serbia) – Pirouettes of Emerald for oboe and string quartet
  • Đuro Živković (Serbia/Sweden) – Psalm XIII for string quartet
  • Hadi AyanBod (Iran/Poland) – Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil for oboe and string quartet
  • Man-Ching Yu (Hong Kong) – Head on Vortex for string quartet

Saturday, 26 September 2015, 8 PM, Foyer of the National Bank of Serbia

devotioModerna – Bucharest, ensemble for contemporary music
Ștefan Diaconu, flute, Cristian Mancaş, clarinet, Dan Cavassi, violoncello, Mihai Murariu, piano; Ensemble coordinator & conductor: Carmen Cârneci

  • Tiberiu Olah (Romania) – Sonata for Solo Clarinet (1963)
  • Ulpiu Vlad (Romania) – Sonorities and “Forget-me-not” for flute and piano
  • Dejan Despić (Serbia) – Manchester trio, Op. 93 for clarinet, violoncello, and piano (1987)
  • Doina Rotaru (Romania) – Mithya I. for solo flute (2007)
  • Adrian Iorgulescu (Rumunija) – Four Inscriptions for piano (1976)
  • Carmen Maria Cârneci (Romania) – denn der Tag war noch ganz (as the day was still as a whole) for flute, violoncello, and piano (2000/2013)
  • Ştefan Niculescu (Romania) – Triplum for clarinet, violoncello, and piano (1973)
  • Mihai Murariu (Rumunija) – apfelStrudel for flute, clarinet, violoncello, and piano (2014)

Sunday, 27 September 2015, 5:30 PM, Foyer of the National Bank of Serbia:

Construction Site Ensemble
Ana Radovanović, mezzo-soprano, Vladimir Dinić, baritone, Sanja Romić, oboe, Marina Nenadović, flute, Veljko Klenkovski, clarinet, Mirjana Nešković, violin, Miljana Popović, violin, Srđan Sretenović, violoncello, Boban Stošić, double bass, Ivan Marjanović, percussion, Neda Hofman, piano, Vladimir Blagojević, accordion

  • Aleksandar Vujić (Serbia) – Trag (Trace), for soprano, clarinet, and piano
  • Ana Gnjatović (Serbia) – Phyllody. Quiescence. for flute, piano, accordion, violoncello, and double bass
  • Ante Grgin (Serbia) – Kaprićo (Capriccio) for solo clarinet
  • Ivana Ognjanović (Serbia) – Wreck of Silence for mezzo-soprano, baritone, violoncello, piano, and electronics
  • Božo Banović (Serbia) – Odmrzavanje (Thawing) for 2 violins and piano
  • Jasna Veljanović (Serbia) – I Do Not Love You – Except Because I Love You… for soprano and flute
  • Miloš Zatkalik (Serbia) – Buka u unutrašnjoj tišini (Noise amid Internal Silence) for flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, and piano
  • Nina Perović (Montenegro) – Klanjalica for mezzo-soprano, violoncello, piano, and electronics

Sunday, 27 September 2015, 8 PM, Belgrade Youth Centre Great Hall

Themus Ensemble (Gothenburg, Sweden)
Tony Blomdahl, Andreas Hall, and Mansoor Hosseini

The Box

Monday, 28 September 2015, 8 PM, Formal Hall of Belgrade City Hall

Side Programme

Concert and CD Promotion of Pianist Vladimir Gligorić
Talk: Biljana Leković

Monday, 28 September 2015, 9 PM, Radio Belgrade Studio 6

Movement Trio
Madlen Stokić Vasiljević, violin, Miloš Nikolić, clarinet, and Maja Mihić, piano

  • Ada Gentile (Italia) – Come un Ricordo, for violin, clarinet, and piano
  • Vladimir Tošić (Serbia) – Rondeau for violin, clarinet, and piano
  • Srđan Hofman (Serbia) – Kroz kutije zvuka (Through Boxes of Sound) for violin, clarinet, and piano
  • Ivan Božičević (Serbia/Croatia) – Shaken from a Crane’s Bill for violin, clarinet, and piano
  • Tatjana Milošević (Serbia) – Šetnja sa Rinom (A Walk with Rina) for violin, clarinet, and piano
  • Svetlana Savić (Serbia) – Tempo mobile for violin, clarinet, and piano

Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 8 PM, Foyer of the National Bank of Serbia

LENsemble (Lithuanian Ensemble Network, Vilnius, Lithuania)
Rusnė Mataitytė, violin, Edmundas Kulikauskas, violoncello, Albina Šikšniūtė, piano, Raimondas Sviackevičius, accordion

Wednesday, 30 September 2015, 8 PM, Foyer of the National Bank of Serbia:

Metamorfosis ensemble
Saša Mirković, artistic director

  • Predrag Repanić (Serbia) – Canti di vita e morte for string orchestra
  • Anica Sabo (Serbia) – Kazivanje (Narration) for string orchestra
  • Milica Paranosić (Serbia/USA) – Bajka (Fairytale) for string orchestra
  • Moon Young HA (USA) – Scene III for string orchestra
  • Draško Adžić (Serbia) – Melanholične svetkovine (Melancholy Feasts) for viola and 14 strings
  • Szilárd Mezei (Serbia) – Gyémántrét / Diamond-Meadow for string orchestra

A word from the selectors

Dear guests,
This year’s, 24th International Review of Composers will take place under the title of Muzička kutija / Music Box. Therefore, the Festival’s programme this year includes pieces inspired by the peculiar sound of music boxes, their mechanisms, the specific structure of their musical contents, based on repetition and deceleration, as well as those that focus on developing innovative sonorities, in acoustic ensembles as well as in combinations of acoustic instruments and electronics.

However, the title, Music Box,carries a symbolic meaning as well and may accordingly evoke the often mysterious contents of all kinds of boxes and chests, wherein precious things are kept; the children’s toy ‘Jack in the Box’, which uses the element of surprise to encourage children’s curiosity in exploring new things, as well as Pandora’s box, the box of all evils, figuratively speaking, in this case music-exploratory endeavours that are perhaps not greeted with universal acceptance by a wide auditorium, but whose valuable accomplishment nonetheless enrich today’s musical language and show the path toward the future.

This year’s Music Box contains surprises in the guise of recent works by both Serbian and foreign composers, interpreted by performers dedicated to exploring contemporary music.

The Review will open with a concert of pianist Nada Kolundžija and the ensemble Prerađivačka industrija muzičkog materijala (Music Material Processing Plant), who will use an unusual set of instruments, part of which was made especially for this occasion, to present 20th-century works that have already become classics by now, as well as new pieces by contemporary composers. In two concerts, Gradilište / Construction Site New Music Ensemble will present works for different kinds of chamber ensembles, while Mešoviti gudački kvartet (Mixed String Quartet) and Metamorfozis (Metamorphosis) ensemble will performer pieces for string quartet and string orchestra. In collaboration with the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, more specifically, with Belgrade Radio 3 and RTS 3, a television channel specialising in culture and the arts, the trio Pokret (Movement) will give a concert featuring by and large the most recent pieces by Serbian composers, as part of the Studio 6 concert series that will be broadcast on RTS 3 and Belgrade Radio 3.

Awaiting you is also a concert of Themus ensemble, entitled The Box, a piece of music theatre based on a musical table as its main instrument, ‘played’ by hands and various objects, along with body artand occasional use of classical instruments. The Lithuanian ensemble LEN and Romanian group devotioModerna will present contemporary music from their respective countries.

A bonus in the programme of this year’s Review will be the promotion of a new CD by pianist Vladimir Gligorić, featuring new works by Serbian composers, as well as a presentation of the findings of a research project conducted by Dr Blanka Bogunović under the title of Psihologija i muzika: Kognicija i afekat u stvaranju savremene umetničke muzike (Psychology and Music: Cognition and Affect in Creating Contemporary Art Music).

Brimming with optimism, approaching the Festival’s 25th anniversary, the jubilee that awaits us next year, we say to this year’s Review: Good luck!

Selectors: Branka Popović and Ivan Brkljačić
Belgrade, summer 2015