Thursday, 20 October, Kolarac, 20.00
CAMERATA SERBICA
Aleksandar Marković, conductor
Srđan Grujić, violin
Maja Rajković, piano
Balakiriev: Islamey
Vuk Kulenović: Concerto for Violin and Strings (premiere)
Aleksandar Obradović: Concerto for Piano No. 3 Pro libertate (premiere)
Borodin: Symphony No. 2 in B minor

Ticket prices: 500, 700, 900 din.

Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) / Sergei Lyapunov (1859-1924)
ISLAMEY, Oriental Fantasy (1869, rev. 1902)                                       

Vuk Kulenović (1946)        
CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND STRING ORCHESTRA (2011) – world premiere                               

Intermission

Aleksandar Obradović (1927-2001)
CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA No. 3 “Pro libertate“ (1999) – world premiere

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
SYMPHONY No. 2 in B minor (1869-1876)

As the spiritual leader of the “The Five” – which included also Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Cui and Borodin – Mily Balakirev occupies an important position in the history of Russian music of the second half of the 19th century, although his creative work has now largely been forgotten. Islamey: An Oriental Fantasy (originally composed for solo piano) is his most widely performed piece. The composer’s inspiration was his visit to the Caucasus Mountain, and Fantasy is based on two themes from that region. Fantasy exists in two orchestral versions: the first made by Alfredo Casella, the other by Sergei Lyapunov, Balakirev’s loyal student who not only preserved, but also enhanced the “exotic” atmosphere of the original.

Works for solo instruments and orchestra occupy a very important position in the oeuvre of Vuk Kulenović. His First Concerto for Violin, called Lydian Landscape was premiered by Srđan Grujić. Second Violin Concerto Adoration of the Moon was created in the USA where it was performed several times. The third in the series, Concerto for Violin and Strings is written in two movements and it reveals elements of the Baroque concerto grosso in which the soloist is the “first among equals”…

Composer, professor at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade and Rector of the University of Arts, Aleksandar Obradović was an outstanding personality in Serbian musical life in the second half of the 20th century. The basis of Obradović’s musical language is neo-classicism, but he was also one of the first Serbian composers who experimented with “tape music” (Epitaph H, Microsymphony) and in purely electronic medium (Electronic Toccata and Fugue). Occasionally he resorts to 12-tone techniques, to aleatory and other techniques of the “Polish School”, which all contributes to the opulence of the sonic profile of his composition.
The “Pro libertate” (lat. “For Freedom”) Concerto was composed in 1999, already at the composer’s advanced age, and it has not been performed so far. The work abounds in spiritual subtext woven into the very material of the Concerto in a highly original manner: the word “LIBERTAS” (freedom) is written in the Morse code, that is, rendered in appropriate rhythmic patterns in the third movement of the Concerto.

Owing to the popular Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor, Alexander Borodin is today certainly one of the best known members of “The Five”, indeed of Russian composers at large. Second Symphony was created simultaneously with Prince Igor and opera-ballet Mlada which resulted in numerous melodic parallels between the said compositions. Vladimir Stasov, an ardent supporter of “The Five” claimed that on several occasions Borodin disclosed the “program” of this symphony: the first movement depicts the assemblage of Russian knights-warriors, the slow movement the mediaeval bard Bojan (appearing in Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila), and the last movement represents the celebration of heroes. For this reason Stasov gave it the title of Bogatyrska (i.e. heroic) Symphony.


Being chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Aleksandar Marković appears 2010/11 with his orchestra at the Festspielhaus Salzburg, at the Stefaniensaal Graz (3rd Mahler) and at the Brucknerhaus Linz. In this time he also made his debuts at the Dresdner Philharmonie, with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Zagreb Philharmonic. He opened the Liszt-Year 2011 together with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted once more the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker. 2011/12 he will conduct the Japan tour with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by his debuts at the Festival Dvorak’s Prag, at the Staatskapelle Halle, with the Orchestre National d´Ile de France and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and he conducts anew the RTVE Symphony Orchestra.
In previous seasons Marković made his debut at the Wiener Konzerthaus, with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Spirit of Europe, the Prague Symphony, the Wiener Kammerorchester and many more; he performed at the Music Festival Bratislava and at the Palace of Arts Budapest, opened the Wiener Festwochen with the Wiener Symphoniker… From 2005-08 Aleksandar Markovic was chief conductor at the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, where he lead 10 highly acclaimed opera and ballet premieres.

Srđan Grujić began his artistic career as the concertmaster and soloist of the Belgrade Strings Orchestra Dušan Skovran. He is now deputy concertmaster of the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany). He gave recitals throughout former Yugoslavia, in Great Britain, France, Greece and Germany.
In 1995 he founded in Freiburg the String Orchestra Respighi, and in 2001 the Adonis Quartet. Srđan Grujić has a special affinity for contemporary works, particularly Ljubica Marć and Vuk Kulenović.

Maja Rajković is an associate professor of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She has performed with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, RTS Symphony Orchestra, the St. George Strings, the Belgrade strings, at the Belgrade Music Festival (Bemus), Split Summer Festival (Croatia), Herceg Fest (Montenegro), Festival Internazionale di Musica da Camera –Portogruaro (Italy), Music Biennial in Zagreb (Croatia). She has given concerts in Italy, England, Greece, Luxembourg, etc.
“…Playing of Maja Rajković is characterized by the pianistic nerve, temperament as well as by bent for the dramatical-lyrical contrasts. The artist was very convincing in the powerful gradations and none the less in the lyrical parts…” (Politika)