Ivan Jevtić (b. 1947 in Belgrade) won honours and postgraduate degrees from the Academy of Music in Belgrade in the composition class of Stanojlo Rajičić (1973). He took advanced classes with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory and with Alfred Uhl in Vienna. He has been the laureate of several international composition competitions, and his works have been performed by eminent musicians (including Maurice André, André Navarra, Gerard Caussé, André Henry, Gene Pokorny, Manfredo Schmiedt, Pascal Gallet, Eric Fritz, Stephen Burns, Roberto Gatto, Roberto Duarte, Eric Aubier, Radovan Vlatković, Thierry Escaich, , Mira Yevtich, Irena Grafenauer, Xenia Jankovich, Aleksandar Madzar, Marielle Nordman, Svetlana Tirmenstajn, Mladen Djordjević, Bernard Soustrot Bojan Sudjić, Guy Touvron…), all over Europe, in North and South America, Russia, Japan and China. He has sat on several international juries where his compositions have been selected as set pieces (Paris, Narbonne, Lunéville, Belgrade, Arles and Geneva).
From 1997 to 1999 he taught composition and orchestration at the Federal University of Pelotas(R.S) in Brasil. Ivan Jevtić composed more than 100 works, not ably chamber music, concertante compositions(more than twenty concertos for various instruments) and symphonic works. His compositons have been publishedin Parisbythefamous EditionsA. Leduc, G. Billaudotand Chantdu Monde, aswellasbythe Swiss Editions Bim. His music can be heard on over 20 CDs edited in Serbia, France, Germany, Sweden, USA, Japan… In 2003 he was elected member of the Serbian Academy of the Sciences and Fine arts – SANU in Belgrade.

Mandragola Overture
This short (cca. 5 min.), humorous and full of quick twists and turns composition-overture for the opera Mandragola was commissioned by the Madlenianum Opera and Theater and was written in spring 2008. I thought I could add a dimension of “cheerful”, “charming” mood to my music, living as we are in a stressful and gloomy world, where art has lost its meaning of divertissement. This music is intended not only for professionals, but to a wider audience “to enjoy”! In a short time-span many diverse musical situations alternate, sometimes reminiscent of Renaissance music, in accordance with the plot of the opera (N. Machiavelli wrote the play Mandragola way back in 1518). Since the music takes us back to the past, I am using harpsichord, as well as human voice, which can be considered the only “novelty”. Also, in order to achieve a jovial mood there is also saxophone, whose timbre will remind us that we are still in the “modern” world… This is how I, with the first tokens of spring, made myself merry in the company of Mandragola.