Wednesday, 17 October 2018, Kolarac Hall
RTS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR
Conductor BOJAN SUDJIĆ
Soloist: RAMON VARGAS, Tenor
Programme: Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story, Chichester Psalms, opera arias
Prices 1.400 – 1.800 – 2.200

Ramón Vargas is one of the leading tenors of our time and one of the most sought-after worldwide
Born in Mexico City, the seventh of nine children. Ramón Vargas began singing at the age of 9, joining the boys' choir of the Basilica of Guadalupe in his home town. He then studied at the Cardenal Miranda Institute in México City. In 1982, after winning the Carlo Morelli National Vocal Competition, he won the Enrico Caruso Tenor Competition in Milan, Italy, in 1986, He moved to Austria where he completed his vocal studies at the school of the Vienna State Opera, under the guidance of Leo Müller. After deciding to become a freelancer in 1990, he met the renowned teacher, Rodolfo Celletti, in Milan, who since then remains his vocal coach.
Ramón Vargas' international debut took place in 1992, when the New York Metropolitan Opera asked him to sing Edgardo opposite June Anderson, substituting Luciano Pavarotti. This was soon followed by a debut on the stage of La Scala, in 1993, where he sung Fenton in Falstaff, conducted by Riccardo Muti. He now regularly performs at all the major opera houses all over the world to great acclaim: Buenos Aires Teatro Colón (La Favorita), London Royal Opera House (Un ballo in maschera, La bohème, Rigoletto, La traviata), Milan La Scala (Falstaff, Rigoletto, La traviata), New York Metropolitan Opera (Attila, La bohème, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Der Rosenkavalier), Madrid Teatro Real (Werther), Paris Opéra-Bastille (Rigoletto, La traviata), San Francisco Opera (Un ballo in maschera, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor), Vienna State Opera (La bohème, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux), Verona Arena (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto), and others.
In addition to his operatic career, he is also an accomplished concert singer, with an extensive repertoire ranging from Italian classical songs to romantic German Lieder and melodies by French, Mexican and Spanish composers from the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1998, he offered a memorable recital at La Scala and his renditions of popular Mexican songs have been met with enthusiasm at massive concerts across Europe and Mexico.
He was awarded the Lauri-Volpi Award for the Best Opera Singer of the 1993 Italian season, and in 1995 Italian critics were unanimous in awarding him the Gino Tani Award for the Arts. In 2000, British Opera Now declared Ramón Vargas Artist of the Year. In 2001, he received the ECHO Klassik - Singer of the Year Award.
His most recent performances include the leading tenor roles in Jérusalem at Festival Verdi del Teatro Regio di Parma; Don Carlo at the Vienna State Opera and Zürich Opera; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Hamburg State Opera; Simon Boccanegra at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Vienna State Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Lucia di Lammermoor at Ópera de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; The Tales of Hoffmann at Opéra National de Paris; and Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera.
Future projects include La Clemenza di Tito at Opéra National de Paris; I Masnadieri at Opéra de Monte-Carlo; Don Giovanni at Grand-Théâtre de Genève; Un Ballo in Maschera and Die Fledermaus at the Vienna State Opera; and Un Ballo in Maschera at the Hamburg State Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Teatro Real de Madrid.
Following Ramon Vargas’ run in Don Carlos alongside Placido Domingo at the Los Angeles Opera, and his performance at 50th BEMUS Festival, he goes directly to Vienna State Opera to star in the new production of Un ballo in maschera.

The RTS Symphony Orchestra is one of the most representative orchestral ensembles in Serbia. Founded in 1937, as part of Radio Belgrade, from the very beginning, the Symphony Orchestra had clearly defined artistic directions, oriented towards affirmation and nurturing of national music heritage, as well as capital works of world literature. This program policy which was established by the first conducter, Mihailo Vukdargović, has been continuously reinvigorated for more than seven decades by the chief conductors Mladen Jugušt, Vančo Čavdarski and Bojan Suđić, who has occupied the post of the artistic director from 2005 till today.
Throughout history, the most significant domestic and foreign artists, soloists and conductors have collaborated with the orchestra. The Symphony Orchestra has performed at all major festivals in Yugoslavia and Serbia, and has also made successful tours across Europe and Africa. In the Sound Archive of Radio Belgrade, hundreds of recordings have been permanently archived, many of which have been published on several dozen sound carriers.
In 2008, the RTS Symphony Orchestra, together with its chief-conductor Bojan Suđić, received Extraordinary Golden Link award for great achievements in the cultural and artistic mission, and in celebration of the 70th anniversary of its establishment. It is also the winner of the magazine Muzika Klasika annual award for the best orchestral ensemble for 2013.
Today, the RTS Symphony Orchestra is a modern ensemble, which operates within the RTS Music Production, keeping pace with the world tendencies in the interpretation of music. Its repertoire includes significant symphonic, concert and vocal-instrumental pieces of national and foreign literature. In its history the Symphony Orchestra premiered many works of prominent contemporary domestic artists of various generations, and some of these pieces were dedicated to it. The program also includes opera and operetta literature, as well as music of popular genres. It is actively present at concert podiums, in the media and in important social events, positioning itself as a prestigious performing body capable of the highest artistic accomplishments.

For eight decades, the Choir of the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS) has been considered the most representative professional choir ensemble in Serbia and in region. Its repertoire includes the most important vocal-instrumental and a cappella pieces of the world literature, and the ensemble is especially dedicated to nurturing and promoting domestic compositors’ work.
During its rich history, RTS Choir has collaborated with the most prominent national and various foreign conductors and soloists, performed numerous tours and concerts with foreign orchestras, and recorded for national and foreign publishing houses.
RTS Choir is the winner of the most significant national recognitions as well as awards of the international festivals.

Maestro Bojan Suđić, the most distinguished Serbian conductor today, has been, for more than a decade, the music director of the Music Production Department of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and the chief conductor of its two renowned ensembles – the RTS Symphony Orchestra and the RTS Choir. As a professor of conducting at the Faculty of Music, Belgrade University of Arts, he is also the chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of this academic institution.
His artistic and professional career has been built upon a complex and rich repertoire consisting of symphonic, choral, opera and ballet music. He has also become celebrated for directing and conducting large scale on-stage concerts, numbering more than five hundred musician performers - Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler, Requiems by Hector Berlioz and Giuseppe Verdi, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, as well as for performing concerts in front of large audiences, some exceeding ten thousand people, with the intention of introducing and presenting classical music to broader audiences.
As a conductor Bojan Suđić is especially dedicated to the promotion of contemporary music. He has conducted premiere performances of numerous pieces by local and international composers, many of which were dedicated to him. He is particularly devoted to promoting the best young artists by giving them important space within the concert season of the Music Production ensembles.
Upon winning the first prize at the Yugoslav Competition of Music Artists in Zagreb in 1989 (later renamed to Lovro von Matačić International Competition of Young Conductors) maestro Bojan Suđić expanded his professional career to Europe and Latin America, collaborating with more than fifty orchestras and numerous choirs. In addition to being a guest conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra, symphony orchestras from Odense, Turku, Klagenfurt, the Helsinki Opera and many other renowned ensembles, Bojan Suđić has for the past ten years also established and maintained regular collaboration of such nature with the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra and the OFUNAM from Mexico.
He was the resident conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm, for five years, during which he conducted more than 150 opera and ballet performances. During his career he also held positions of the chief conductor and general music director of the Opera of the National Theatre in Belgrade, as well of the permanent guest conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. Starting from the season 2018/19, Bojan Suđić becomes the principal guest conductor of the UNIMI Orchestra, Milan.
Bojan Suđić has collaborated with a number of the most prominent international artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Repin, Nigel Kennedy, Ivo Pogorelić, Denis Matsuev, Nikolai Lugansky, Michel Béroff, Shlomo Mintz, Emmanuel Pahud, Placido Domingo, Željko Lučić, Nemanja Radulović and many others.

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