The musical story "The Little Prince" will be performed tonight in the large hall of KIC "Budo Tomović" from 19 p.m. Through this piece of music, the audience will follow the story of the adventures of a little prince who travels through space and meets various characters who help him understand the essence of life, learn important lessons about friendship, love and responsibility. This musical story, jointly organized by the French Institute and the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović", will mark the International Day of the Francophonie and the 80th anniversary of the death of the world-famous writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The author of this work is a French composer, pianist and conductor Teri Ulije, who will accompany the violinist Clara Serna, but also KIC's chamber orchestra "Creation" for special projects and narrators Sogdian i Joan Ures, present a musical interpretation of the classics of French literature.
Ulije and Serna are the authors of the project "Mandolin from Lions", which was presented to the Podgorica audience at the end of July last year, and this time they are arriving in the capital of Montenegro with a new work.
Ulije is a successful French pianist and composer, and he had the opportunity to play in the most prestigious halls and with numerous large orchestras, while his works are performed all over the world. He started composing only after gaining enviable experience as a pianist, and his work is of a lyrical character. He has over a hundred works, including concertos (for violin and viola, piano, oboe), chamber music, among which is this concerto for piano and violin "The Little Prince". He teaches at the Toulouse Conservatory of Music and is regularly invited as a member of the jury at major international piano competitions.
Klara Serna made her debut at the age of 15 as a soloist with the symphony orchestra from Arad, Romania, followed by a rapid and brilliant musical evolution that led to the winning of five international awards in France, Germany and Italy, along with intensive recording of albums and concerts. One of the representatives of the great Romanian violin school. After winning the first prizes at the JS Bach and Città di Andria competitions, as well as winning the second prize and the special Mozart prize at the Kloster Schöntal International Competition, her career took off. She and Ulije founded a duo thanks to which they have the opportunity to perform all over the world.
"Through the successful cooperation we had with them last year, we came up with the idea to continue it. The piece "The Little Prince" was composed by Ulije, and we wanted to organize an orchestra composed of young musicians. We call that orchestra the 'Creation' orchestra, which has already presented new works, premiered in Montenegro, several times. As you know "The Little Prince" is the work of the writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Inspired by this universal story, Ulije made music," the editor of the Music Program at KIC recalled at yesterday's press conference. Maja Popovic.
Director of KIC "Budo Tomović" Aida Batilović she expressed her great satisfaction that the institution she heads, in cooperation with the French Institute and the Embassy of France, realizes such celebrations of Francophonie Day.
"It gives me great pleasure that our guests are Ulije and Serna again, who will perform this universal work with our orchestra 'Creation'. "The Little Prince" is a story that is an inspiration to all of us, regardless of generations. It is a universal story about love, friendship and important values. I think it is very important that we all remember, and I hope that tonight we will all enjoy, not only the children, but also us adults, because the interest is really great. I would like to invite all our fellow citizens to be present tonight and to share with us the pleasure and love for music", said Batilović.
Ulije pointed out that "The Little Prince" is a literary-musical piece, and that as for the text to be recited, parts had to be selected, which was not easy.
"The work itself is full of important elements. Every part of this text is important, so a choice had to be made. So there won't be a summary, but we will make a choice, and in that way we will present the story of the planets, the story of the flower, the fox. These are some elements that are very important. We have already presented this composition, initially it was written for violin and piano, and later we added a section played by an orchestra composed of stringed instruments", explained the composer, and once again confirmed what Batilović emphasized, that this literary concert is not only for children.
“It's wonderful that the children attend. It really is one, let's say, similar to children, but this is really a story for adults as well. So I'm glad that you invited both young and old, both children and adults to attend the concert", Ulije added.
Clara explained that she is always moved when talking about The Little Prince and the text written by St. Exiper.
"We know that he, unfortunately, died in the war. That story with the fox is sad, but it is related to friendship itself. Namely, the fox invites the Little Prince to tame her. So, that moment of 'taming', which actually means 'becoming a friend', in today's time, but also when it was written, was very important. For me, the very choice of the word 'tame' is very significant, given that I am Romanian. In his literary work 'The Little Prince', Exiperi says a lot with few words. This is something that is characteristic of the work that we also want to present. We also have parts that talk about the rose and its thorns. Everyone can be a 'man with thorns', and they can also be a 'wonderful man'. Through that text and music, those elements intertwine", Sari noted, and Ulije added that "people want to be domesticated".
“The fox says 'please tame me'. So, in that part, she is actually begging to become friends, begging for friendship. In this way, the union of our musicians is a kind of domestication - of our musicians and yours. Also, what is very important is to build a bridge between generations - older and younger. In this way, all the elements that are both emotional and scientific elements are permeated there", Ulije explained.
Jelena Delević from the French Institute believes that the essence of Francophonie is best recognized through this work.
"Exactly that connection and creation of connections, friendships are in fact the link between the two countries. Francophonie is an event that celebrates the French language and culture and that can provide so much, and we are here to, in cooperation with local partners and schools, the Association of French Language Teachers, offer the Montenegrin audience what would be the product of long-term cooperation. On this occasion, I would like to point out KIC as a long-term partner, it is already a traditional, but also friendly relationship that we have with them. This year is the year of the Olympic Games, I must point out that because of that we have also given a lot of space to sports events. Already on March 14, we organized the event 'Relay Around the World - Games 2024'. At that event, we had a virtual lecture of the relay that passed through many countries within 24 hours. On the same day, together with COK, we organized a basketball tournament in Podgorica in Njegoševo Park, where high school students participated. Already tonight we will have the opportunity to hear this concert, which I consider to be one of the backbones of this year's Days of Francophonie, because it is all about literature, more specifically the works of the French classic 'The Little Prince', and it brings a combination of music and narration. In one part, we managed to summarize what is essential that characterizes art - which is literature, music and the living word. It is really a great pleasure for us that we can organize something like this with KIC, and to enable both adults and children to see that the work 'The Little Prince' can be experienced in a different way", said Delević.
During the performance of the musical story "The Little Prince", a translation of the text into Montenegrin and English will be shown, and admission is free.
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