SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6th at 8.00 PM
BELGRADE PHILHARMONIC HALL
NOVI SAD CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Rita KINKA, piano
Laura LEVAI – AKSIN, flute - Sanja ROMIĆ, oboe
Nikola ĆIRIĆ, horn
Nemanja MIHAILOVIĆ, bassoon – Aleksandar TASIĆ, clarinet
Richard Strauss
Till Eulenspiegel, for Wind Quintet & piano, Op. 28
Andrey Rubtsov
Matisse Sextet
The Call
Rite of Passage Dance
Woman in Green
Scherzo-Finale
Francis Poulenc
Sextet for Piano and Winds, FP 100
Allegro vivace
Divertissement: Andantino
Finale: Prestissimo
RITA KINKA, piano, Serbia
To date, the artist has given over 800 recitals, as well as performances with numerous prestigious orchestras in almost all European countries, as well as in the USA, Taiwan, Japan, Israel, Canada and Australia. In addition to her career as a pianist, she also serves as Professor of Piano at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.
Rita Kinka received a number of Yugoslav awards and honours, as well as prizes at international piano competitions in Senigallia (1979), Vercelli (Viotti, 1981), Belgrade (Jeunesses Musicales, 1983), Zwickau (Robert Schumann, 1985), Sydney (1985), Munich (ARD, 1987), Bordeaux (Golden medal at the Festival, 1988), Washington (1990), Brussels (Queen Elisabeth, 1991) and Orleans (20th Century Piano Music Competition, 1996).
She was the first winner of the European Parliament Prix Femmes d`Europe award for the best European interpreter of classical music, which was awarded to her in Brussels in June 1991. She is also the laureate of February Prize of the City of Novi Sad for the year 2002.
She made recordings for radio and television centres in several countries (Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Russia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, England, Greece, Spain, Israel, Canada, the USA, Australia and Taiwan). She recorded three CDs for the Digital Media Production (Brussels) and PGP RTS after she had recorded one LP.
She studied at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad under professors E. Timakin and A. Valdma, and completed her postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under professor D. Trbojević and the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad under A. Valdma. She continued her master studies at the Julliard School of Music in New York under György Sandor thanks to the scholarship of the Gina Bachauer Foundation, which was awarded to her at the Queen Elizabeth International Competition in Brussels in 1987 as ‘the most promising young artist’.
Throughout her career, Rita Kinka has ‘moved’ passionately and with love, but also with gradually acquired great performing experience, her own style of playing, full sensibility and suggestiveness through selected works of the most demanding piano repertoire. For the recital project from December 2016 in the cycle ‘Editor/Guest Artist’ of the Kolarac Endowment Music Centre in Belgrade, in which she connected the compositions of Bach, Brahms and Chopin with a specific concept of programming, she was proclaimed Performer of the Year by the ‘Muzika klasika’ magazine. She was also the president of the ‘Novi Sad 2021’ Art Council for the European Capital of Culture.
LAURA LEVAI AKSIN, flute, Serbia
Born in Subotica, our most respected flute artist is a solo flautist of the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra.
She earned both a bachelor’s and a master's degree from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad under professor Marijan Egić. She continued her studies in Paris under professor Claude Lefebvre and Patrick Gallois and finished with ‘1er prix de superieur’ and ’1er prix d'excellence a l'unanimite du jury’. She improved her knowledge at numerous master classes held by renowned soloists and pedagogues, such as Jacques Castagnet and Aurèle Nicolet.
She is the winner of first and special prizes at republic and federal competitions, and she was also awarded at the Competition of Music Artists of Yugoslavia in Zagreb. At the sixth International Tribune of Composers in Belgrade, she received the first prize for the interpretation of contemporary works.
As a soloist, she has performed with many symphony and chamber orchestras in the country and abroad. She has given a large number of recitals and played in many chamber concerts in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, as well as in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Portugal, Greece, Israel and other countries.
Laura Levai Aksin played in the Opera Orchestra of the Serbian National Theatre, the Camerata Academica orchestra (Novi Sad) and the Musica Viva ensemble for New Music. During her stay in France, she was a member of the Tickmayer Formatio, Theater Jel ensembles and the Orleans Flute Orchestra. She is a member of the chamber trio with Rita Kinka (piano) and Marko Josifoski (violin), the Density Flute Trio, the Synergia 5 Wind Quintet, the NS Chamber ensemble, as well as a duo with guitarist Zoran Krajišnik. She has been collaborating with pianist Iris Kobal for three decades.
She has played at numerous prestigious artistic events, among others, at Novi Sad Music Festivities (Nomus), the Music Biennale in Zagreb, the Yugoslav Tribune of Composers in Opatija, music festivals in Subotica and Sombor, summer festivals in Herceg Novi, Budva (’Grad teatar’) and Kotor, the Flute Festival in Belgrade and the Belgrade Summer Festival, then in Zagreb (’Europhonija’), Turin (’Sabato Serra’), Paris and Avignon, Patras and Afitos (Greece), the Festival of Modern Arts in Berlin, the European Avant-Garde Festival in Leipzig, flute festivals in Békés (Hungary) and Slovenia, ’Dani nove glazbe’ in Split.
She has made recordings for many radio and TV centres in the region, including Hungarian TV, Czech RTV, RTV Dortmund and RAI. She released CDs for Recommended Records and SLAM Production from Great Britain, EOS from Austria, Visio Mundi and SKC from Novi Sad and other record labels.
Laura Levai Aksin is Professor of Flute at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and for many years she also taught at the Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka. She has held a large number of master classes and has served as a jury member at numerous domestic and international competitions and festivals.
SANJA ROMIĆ, oboe, Serbia
’Sanja is musically very profound and has a beautiful tone which transcends the whole orchestra and inspires her colleagues ’, said legendary conductor Zubin Mehta about her. Upon maestro’s invitation in the summer of 2019, she participated as a solo oboist in his three farewell tours in South America, Lithuania and Europe with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
She is one of the most active oboists of the younger generation in the Balkans, noticed not only by critics but also by a wider audience. Born in Novi Sad, she is principal oboist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. Aditionally, she is Assistant Professor of Orchestral Studies in the Woodwind Department at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.
Her first compact disc, ’Melodies of Nations’, with Irish pianist Fionnuala Moynihan, was released in 2017 by the London record label Hedone Records, and later by Metropolis Music Company from Serbia. On it, she promotes new oboe works and compositions by Serbian authors. In 2021, in cooperation with the Croatian pianist Antonija Paček, she recorded two singles for the album ’Seasons of Life’, and the compact disc was released this year by Yellow Rose Records.
Sanja performs as a soloist, and also plays in chamber ensembles and orchestras. As a soloist, she has played with a number of orchestras, including the Macedonian Philharmonic, the Erdődy Chamber Orchestra in Hungary, the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic in Germany, the Slovene Military Orchestra, the traditional Dobreč Tambourine Orchestra from Slovenia, the Zagreb Soloists, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Al Bustan Festival Orchestra in Beirut and Ensemble Metamorphosis.
As an orchestral musician, she performed all over Europe, the USA and China, under the batons of renowned world conductors, such as Zubin Mehta, Sir Colin Davis, Howard Griffiths, Daniel Raiskin, Uroš Lajović, Mladen Jagušt, Gabriel Feltz, Sir Dennis Russell Davies.
She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with professors Peter Pongracz and Gabor Dienes and at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg with professor Stefan Schilli. She graduated with honours and received a scholarship from the Soros Foundation.
She continued her artistic training as a member of numerous ensembles, such as the Erdődy Chamber Orchestra, the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands, the Orchestra of the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, the Slovenian Philharmonic, the Society of Slovene Composers, the Slovenia Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, and the Prague Chamber Orchestra, on tours in the USA, Europe and China. As part of the No Borders Orchestra project, she recorded a compact disc for Deutsche Grammophon.
She is a member of the Ventus Quintet Salzburg and the Construction Site Contemporary Music Ensemble. For the 2018 Nomus, she initiated the formation of the Nomus Chamber Ensemble and created a programme of music by Beethoven and Dvořák.
She was a lecturer in Slovenia, as well as at oboe master courses in Ireland, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary and Slovenia. She is dedicated to improving the ease of playing, promoting the oboe in the Balkans, with a special emphasis on the health of musicians. It was with this goal in mind that she founded a unique music health camp (’Playing with Ease’) in Serbia. Several local composers dedicated their works to her.
In 2018, she started the Oboa Fest in Belgrade, and works as a mentor in the Orchestra Academy of the Belgrade Philharmonic and the Western Balkans Youth Orchestra. In 2019, she performed the same job in the Al Bustan Festival Academy Orchestra in Beirut, where she herself performed as a soloist at the event's opening concert.
ALEKSANDAR TASIĆ, clarinet, Serbia
Aleksandar Tasić gained his bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad
with professor Nikola Srdić. He is currently attending doctoral studies at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade with professor Ante Grgina. He trained with professors Ricardo Morales (The Juilliard School in New York), Michael Collins (Royal Academy in London) and Michel Arrignon (Paris National Conservatoire).
The University of Novi Sad presented him with the Outstanding Achievement in Art Award, and in 2002 he received a scholarship from the Government of the Republic of Austria. He won first prizes at the competitions of students and music students of Yugoslavia, and he was also awarded the first prize at the Laureates of Orpheus Competition in 1998.
As a soloist, he has performed with many orchestras, including the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, the Novosibirsk Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, the Stanislav Binički Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Defence, the Belgrade Strings Dušan Skovran, the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, the Žebeljan Orchestra, the Camerata Panonnica International String Orchestra, at concerts in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Russia and Serbia.
He has played at important festivals in Serbia and abroad, such as Nomus, Bemus, International Tribune of Composers, Les Classiques de Villars, Festival and Academy in Verbier and Reveries Musicales de Villars (Switzerland), Y4Y (Bangkok, Thailand), Music Festival in Schloss Elmau (Germany), KotorArt (Montenegro) and the Bregenz Festival (Austria).
From 2000 to 2006, Aleksandar Tasić was the solo clarinetist of the Verbier Festival Orchestra (and since 2006 he has been a full-time member of the Orchestra). With this ensemble, he performed in all the important concert halls of the world, under the baton of famous conductors such as James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Valery Gergiev, Claudio Vandelli and others.
He has recorded for TV and radio stations in the country and abroad (RTS, BBC, ART TV, Dutch Radio 4, medici.tv ). He is Professor of Chamber Music at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and since 2016, he has served as Professor of Clarinet at FILUM (Faculty of Philology and Arts) in Kragujevac. Since 2007, he has been playing in a chamber duo with guitarist Zoran Krajišnik, with whom he recorded the CD Ben Ritmato e Deciso. He is a member and one of the founders of the Novi Sad Chamber Ensemble, with which he performs in different formations with prominent Novi Sad artists in the country and abroad.
Aleksandar Tasić is a representative of the famous manufacturer of equipment for wind instruments Vandoren from France, as well as the Argentinian company for reeds Gonzales, and the American clarinet company Royal Global, and he plays the instruments of the ’Firebird’ model.
NEMANJA MIHAILOVIĆ, bassoon, Serbia
He graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade with professor Mirko Isaeski, M.Sc. During his studies, he won a number of awards at national competitions and festivals.
He is the founder of the DAMS+ Chamber Ensemble, the Wind Trio at the Faculty of Music and the wind quintet Majstori duvači, and he is one of the initiators of the NS Chamber Ensemble, which regularly performs at Nomus.
He was a permanent associate of the Stanislav Binički Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Defence (in the position of solo bassoonist), with whom he also performed as a soloist. As a part-time member, he played in the RTS Symphony Orchestra, as well as in the Vojvodina Chamber Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic and several other ensembles from around the country, with whom he still collaborates today.
As a member of festival ensembles, he has taken part in Bemus, Nomus, KotorArt, May – the Month of Music in Vranje and the Classic Fest in Pančevo. He has held several recitals in Serbia to date, and performed in all countries of the region, as well as as in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Russia, China, Italy, Georgia.
Mihajlović attended basoon masterclasses with Mauricio Paez (Izrael), Knut Sönstevold (Sweden), Gilbert Audin (France), as well as masterclasses for chamber music with Viola Mokrosch (Germany), Norbert Girlinger, Boštjan Lipovšek (Slovenia) and the French windquintet ’Le concert impromptu’. He transferred that experience to playing in the Novi Sad Brass Quintet, of which he was a member for the first five years after the formation of the band.
From 2010 to 2013, he participated in the projects of German-Scandinavian Youth Philharmonics, giving concerts in the Grand Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic and in Hamburg. In October 2017, he performed at the Telavi International Music Festival in Georgia, sponsored by the famous pianist Eliso Virsaladze, and in July of the same year as a soloist and conductor of the Camerata Academica orchestra. In 2019, collaboration with the Salzburg Philharmonic under the leadership of Elizabeth Fuchs begins. For two years, he was the conductor of the Jazz Youth of Vojvodina Big Band, with whom he also performs as a vocal soloist.
In 2016, Nemanja Mihajlovič founded the sextet Čičini čvorci, the only jazz theatre in Serbia that deals with this genre, which performed at the Novi Sad Jazz Festival the following year. In addition to being involved in the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, he is part of the Orphelin Orchestra and the New Brass Quintet, and as an orchestral musician he also performed with famous artists such as Nigel Kennedy, Eliso Virsaladze, Roman Simović, Sreten Krstić, Lars Vogt and many others. Since 2008, he has been a solo bassoonist of the Opera Orchestra at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad and a member of the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra. He plays the instrument of the maker Živan Šarčević.
NIKOLA ĆIRIĆ, horn, Serbia
One of the leading horn players of his generation, who performed in over 25 countries in Europe, South America and Asia, was born in 1992 in Niš, where he attended primary and secondary music school. He started learning the instrument at the encouragement of his father, also a horn player, and his teacher was Luka Novaković. He continued his bachelor’s and master's studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad with professor Nenad Vasić, and he completed his postgraduate studies at the Mozarteum University (Salzburg) under professor Radovan Vlatković, a world-renowned horn player, who introduced himself to the audience at Nomus in 2005. During his studies, Nikola Ćirić also attended a summer school in Santander, organized by the Queen Sofia Music School in Madrid, and in 2015 he received the Outstanding Achievement in Art Award from the University of Novi Sad.
As a soloist, he played with the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Niš and Vojvodina Symphony Orchestras, and was a member of the World Youth Orchestra (Bayreuth, Germany), the Mozarteum University Orchestra, the Encuentro Festival Orchestra in Spain, the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay, the Harbin Symphony Orchestra (China), the Musica Sacra Orchestra from Buenos Aires, the Chamber Orchestra of the Bunt festival in Belgrade and many other symphonic ensembles in Serbia and abroad.
As an orchestral musician, Nikola Ćirić performed with eminent conductors and musical artists, including Zubin Mehta, Krzysztof Penderecki, Mihail Jurovski, Emmanuel Pahud, Lars Vogt, Martin Frost, Heinrich Schiff. He played in chamber ensembles with excellent musicians, such as Radovan Vlatković, Matijas Rac, Pascal Moraguès and Hansjörg Schellenberger.
He trained under exceptional pedagogues, such as Luka Benucci, André Cazalet, Boštjan Lipovšek and Mihael Helzel. He himself participated as a lecturer at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, as well as at the first Orchestral Academy of the Belgrade Philharmonic and gave master classes in England, Paraguay, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Switzerland, China, Russia, at which, in addition to working with young horn players, he also spoke about his system of mental preparation Musician without Stress.
Nikola Ćirić is a permanent associate of the Opera Orchestra of the Serbian National Theatre and the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra. Since 2015, he has been employed at the Belgrade Philharmonic as a solo horn player, with whom he performed with his professor Radovan Vlatković in Antonio Rossetti's Concerto for Two Horns in E Flat Major in December 2017.
Ticket price: 500