The 37th Grad Theater festival opened with top jazz

The prestigious Grad Teatar festival, the 37th in a row, was officially opened last night with a concert by the famous RTS Big Band and renowned world jazz musician Uroš Perić.

Before that, there was a solemn opening ceremony of the festival, which this year takes place under the motto "Strength, Courage and Stupidity".

Welcoming the large audience and distinguished guests, Milena Lubarda Marojević, director of Ju Grad Teatar, said that this year's edition of the festival will last exactly 49 days.

"We all know that this opening and the days leading up to it were marked by circumstances that made us wonder if there would be one at all. Due to the fact that we are here tonight, I want to thank everyone who showed that they care and think that the preservation of the "Grad Teatar" festival is important. In addition to the Municipality of Budva, which is the founder and main sponsor of the festival, tonight I want to especially thank the Government of Montenegro for the quick reaction, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Aleksandar Damjanović and the Minister of Economic Development and Tourism, Mr. Goran Đurović, who contributed to establishing the conditions for us to be able to tonight start the festival. I would like to thank the President of Montenegro, Mr. Jakov Milatović, for his daily interest in solving our problem," Lubarda Marojević pointed out and added that the audience will listen to great jazz at the opening.

"When we listen to jazz in Budva, especially at the Gradu Theater, we always remember our fellow citizen Nikola Mim Mitrović, with whose love for jazz music and people, many of us who grew up here tonight, including our guests, Big Band RTS. Mimo started a friendship that has lasted for years and has grown into a collaboration between two important institutions such as the Grad Theater festival and RTS Music Production, and thanks to which we had the opportunity to hear the "Kolibri" children's choir live for the first time in Montenegro the night before last. as well as to enjoy a superb performance of well-known melodies tonight," said Lubarda Marojević.

On behalf of the founder and main sponsor of the festival, the Municipality of Budva, Nikola Jovanović, president of the SO Budva, addressed the attendees.

"It is a great honor for me to greet you on behalf of SO Budva and to wish you a successful 37th Grad Teatar Festival. For the Municipality of Budva, this festival means a lot, especially when we witness the moment when we are finalists for the prestigious title of European Capital of Culture, of which Grad Theater is an indispensable part. The City Theater is an institution that makes Budva an elite destination, not only for tourism but also for culture, and which testifies that culture has been present in the development of the municipality of Budva for a long time. As you know, Grad Teatar has been a member of the European Association of Festivals since 2021, and this is the best testimony to the renown of this festival, which is not only regional, but worldwide," said Jovanović.

The festival was opened by a longtime friend of the festival, writer and director Vida Ognjenović.

"Tonight, by the light of the stars, the festival flag is being raised for the thirty-seventh time on the flagpole. Grad Teatar festival begins, Budva becomes the stage again. According to the old code of Budva: "Whoever voluntarily enters this city and spends the night there, becomes a citizen of Budva". In this day and age, whoever enters Budva during the festival and follows the festival path from evening to evening, does not have to become a Budva citizen, but inevitably becomes a conspirator of theater, music, dance and literature. Thank you for that conspiratorial loyalty, it has sustained us for these almost four past festival decades. I stand for the belief that anyone who cultivates the need for artistic experience and develops a taste for reading and understanding its challenges belongs to the family of artists. The theater spectator is a vital dimension of the stage act," said Ognjenović.

She stressed that without a theater viewer, the theater enterprise is incomplete and not alive, because what happens on stage, as she says, must be a free discussion between reality and fiction.

"This far-famed festival has survived mostly thanks to you, dear audience. So don't give us over to an aggressive party that, running away from its own being, stifles thought and ideas, seeking self-forgetfulness in the deafening power of the public address system. Don't give us over to those who don't know the difference between expensive original and fashionably expensive casting. Don't give us to those who think the power of money is limitless, if you're careful not to get caught. Don't give us to the loudmouths whose noise and fury come from not knowing the difference between coffee and cocaine. Don't give us to those who everything is boring, but they don't see that they are boring themselves first of all. Stay with us, that we persevere in the belief that art is powerful, because it rests on the free exploration of the world and openly calls for peace and understanding. Let's arm ourselves with love and artistic momentum. Come on let's say NO to artificial divisions into ours and theirs. We are yours and you are ours. We are all - WE," added Ognjenović.

During the one-and-a-half-hour concert, the audience enjoyed the well-known tracks "Unchain my heart", "Georgia on my mind", "The long and winding road", which was confirmed by the thunderous applause for the artists who excelled. Uroš Perić, who as expected delighted, but also made the Budva audience laugh, said that it was a great honor for him to open the festival.

"There were three of my tracks in the repertoire, there were also songs by Ray Charles. Opening the festival is a great honor for me, not an obligation. Every concert is an obligation, you feel that obligation on your shoulders and back. But opening such a big festival is, above all, an honor".

Vladimir Krnetić, conductor of the RTS Big Band, said that the most important thing for them is that the audience is satisfied because that is the most important thing for them.

"We enjoyed it, it is always a great pleasure and honor to play with Uroš. Even when he started playing in 2006, he brought some positive energy to us, and from then until today, whenever he's on tour with us and we play with him, it's a pleasure. He is full of energy that comes out of him on stage and we enjoy playing with him", said Krnetić, recalling the great jazz musician from Budva, Nikola Mim Mitrović.

"When I was coming to the concert, I passed by the place where his house was. I always associate this place and the city with him, and he will remain unforgettable among us. Those of us who knew him remember him only for the good, especially his positive energy. He liked to hang out with us, who were younger then. When he retired, he said that he wasn't leaving and he wasn't leaving the trumpet, but that he would start practicing only then, and he really had so much energy that he practiced the trumpet with full force. I remember that until the end of his life, he played better and better."

The festival program continues on Friday, July 7 at Poets' Square, and the first guest of the Square will be poet, storyteller, essayist and critic Đorđe Matić.