Ivana Stefanović (1948, Serbia) studied composition in Belgrade, and specialised at IRCAM in Paris. She worked on musical broadcasts at Radio Belgrade and its Drama Section, where she edited the broadcast Radionica zvuka (Sound Workshop). She lectured at the Centre for Women’s Studies in Belgrade. She was the director of the cultural programme at the Centre for Democracy Foundation, artistic director of the BEMUS festival, and State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. Currently, she runs the Centre for Action in Music. Works by Ivana Stefanović have been performed throughout the region and Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Canada,and at festivals such as Gaudeamus, BEMUS, Music Biennale Zagreb, Helsinki Biennale, Prix Italia, Music Harvest Odense, New Music Week Bucharest, ISCM…
She has also been active in boundary areas of music, including radiophony and stage music.
Most important works: Harmonije, Za Irenu, Inkantacije, Mimicry, Tumačenje sna, Lingua/Phonia/Patria, I niodkudu pomošti, Četiri noćna zapisa, Metropola tišine, Isidora, Lacrimosa, Play Strindberg, Drvo života, Antiohijske pesme, Neobične scene sa Homerovog groba u Smirni, Ona, Ako ko čuje glas moj, Veliki kamen.
Ivana Stefanović has published three books: Put za Damask (Road to Damascus, prose), Muzika ma od čega (Music of No Matter What, essays), and Privatna priča (A Private Story, her family’s history).
Stefanović has won a number of Serbian and foreign awards, including the following: Vitez poziva (Prize Knight of the profession (2018), Prix Italia in the category of Radio Music (2017), Trepetalo iz Trogira – regionalna nagrada za medije Ranko Munitić (The Trepetalo of Trogir – Ranko Munitić Regional Media Award, 2018), Stevan Mokranjac Composition Awards (2008, 2017), Zlatni mikrofon Radio Beograda (Golden Microphone of Radio Belgrade, 2014), Nagrada grada Beograda (City of Belgrade Award, 2013), Miloš Crnjanski Award for literature, Sterija Award for theatre music, Prix Jean Antoine – Triomphe variétés (Monaco), SLABBESZ (Austria), Vitomir Bogić Award for radiophony, and the International Review of Composers award, among others.
About the piece
Antiohijske pesme (Antiochian Songs) were first written as a composition for a mixed choir, and that version was created in 1997 in Damascus. Antioch was once an important Christian city. Over time, it began to lose its luster and significance, leaving only a mythical place. The idea of unstoppable decay is constantly on my mind, so the Antiochian songs (which are nowhere sung or recorded except in my imagination) do not stop changing their appearance, ensembles, performers and sound. The last time I reworked them for a double bass quartet was in a meeting with the exceptional Bass Quartet and Zoran Markovic, who significantly colored my concert “paraphernalia” held at the Centre for Cultural Decontamination in November 2018.