Isidora Žebeljan

Isidora Žebeljan (1967–2020) remains the most prominent and most performed Serbian composer on the international music scene, with around 50 performances of her pieces each year, on all continents. She was the only Serbian composer who continually received commissions of the most important music institutions in the world over the period od 20 years. She wrote about 100 compositions, including five operas, all commissioned by the music festivals and institutions from abroad. She was the first and only Serbian composer who composed music for the Foundation of the Berliner Philharmoniker, La Biennale di Venezia, Bregenzer Festspiele, Siena International Music Festival, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, etc. Her opera Zora D. is the first Serbian opera which had its world premiere abroad (in Amsterdam), as well as being commissioned by an international institution (Genesis Foundation London). The operaEine Marathon Familie is the first and only Serbian opera which had its premiere at the Bregenzer Festspiele, one of the most important opera festivals in the world, as a commission of that festival. Isidora Žebeljan’s opera Due teste e una ragazza (Dve glave i devojka) is the first Serbian opera which was sung in Serbian language at its premeiere abroad (in Siena, Italy). The Horses of St. Mark is the first and only composition of a Serbian composer which was performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra from London. Sje was also the first female professor of composition in Serbia, academician of SASA and member of the WAAS. Her music is published by Ricordi Milano and Donemus (the Netherlands).

About the piece

Isidora Žebeljan’s work An Intimate Letter from a Judean Desert, a chorale for different combinations of instruments or voices in the suitable range, was commisioned by Dutch-British violinist Daniel Rowland for the International Stift Festival of Chamber Music, which takes place every year in the Netherlands and where Rowland serves as Artistic Director. In 2018 he imagined a concert programme which consisted of chamber miniatures-postcards written by several composers whose work was particularly tied to this festival. The idea was that those selected composers would use their summer holidays or short breaks while working on larger pieces, and write miniature musical greetings to the festival from the location where they found themselves working at that moment. Hence Isidora, who was then visiting Israel, wrote her contemplative-meditative miniature; the quartet Brodsky gave the first performance on August 2018 at the Stift Festival. After the premiere, the work was performed in numerous concerts in the Netherlands, Croatia and Serbia (BEMUS Festival), as well as the recently completed 17th Stift Festival in the Netherlands, which was partially dedicated to Isidora and her music. This is the first performance by a quartet of double basses.

dr Borislav Čičovački

About the piece

The composition New Songs of Lada without Words (2006/13) owes its existence to another composition by Isidora Žebeljan, a song cycle for soprano and a string orchestra (or a string quartet) called New Songs of Lada. This suite for oboe, cor anglais, oboe d’amore (ad libitum) and strings is an instrumental version of the songs. The premiere recording of this composition were released in 2013 on the CD Balkan bolero with music of Isidora Žebeljan, produced by Oboe Classics from London. The interpretators were Borislava Čičovački, for whom the work is written, Žebeljan Orchestra and conductor Premil Petrović. The concert premiere of this work took place in Padua (Italy) in 2016, preformed by the chamber orchestra I Solisti Veneti, with three oboists from the orchestra as soloists and conductor Claudio Scimone. This is the first performance with two solo isntruments. Lada is the Old Slavic goddess of love and springtime.