Belgrade-born composer Milana Stojadinović-Milić (b. 1962, Serbia)has so far written pieces of orchestra, chamber, soloist and choral music. Her works had premieres and numerous subsequent performances in Serbia and abroad, they were recorded and released on several anthology and special editions. She has collaborated with eminent Serbian and foreign soloists and conductors, orchestras and chamber ensembles. She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies of composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where she now works as a full professor of music theory at the Department of composition.
About the piece
Glas Monahinje [Voice of a Nun], song for mezzo-soprano, string quartet and piano, represents for me another venture into the sound interpretation of a great Serbian poet Desanka Maksimović. I have slightly adapted and metrically ’rearranged’ the verses of her eponymous poem, so that they would be (even) more fluid and song-like. I tried to ’illuminate’ with music the spirit and personality of the protagonist of this mini-mono-drama, all along under the strong impression that these verses discretely reveal the life attitudes and decisions of the poet herself (… and somehow, mine as well…).
The piece was composed on encouragement from the pianist Neda Hofman-Sretenović, who performed it, together with the other members of the Construction Site Ensemble, at the ReConstruction Festival in 2021.