Ana Rucner held a concert in Bar: What Montenegro has is an inexhaustible treasure and it really needs to be preserved

The music program of the 39th "Bar Chronicle" festival opened last night with a concert by the world-famous Croatian cellist Ana Rucner, who created an attractive audio-visual atmosphere on the Summer Stage of the Bar Cultural Center, the Public Institution (JU) Cultural Center Bar announced today.

The statement states that the seventy-minute program was a synthesis of classical, traditional and modern music, and that numerous visitors greeted the performance with thunderous applause and ovations.

The concert opened with Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", followed by Ravel's "Bolero" and Piazzolla's "Libertango".

"Along with excerpts from 'Swan Lake', interpretations of motifs from Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, including the famous 'Ode to Joy', left a special impression. The program was enriched with arrangements of traditional Dubrovnik's Linđ and Slavonian Drmeš," the statement said.

It is added that one of the biggest surprises of the evening was Ana Rucner's vocal interpretations.

"The audience had the opportunity to hear the song 'Bijeli anđeo', written for Mira Škorić, and adapted by Zlatko Timotić for Ana's cello, then 'Tebe ću', by Montenegrin author Božo Bulatović, performed with sign language, then a cover of the famous 'I Will Follow Him', whose video was filmed on the island of Pag with nuns, as well as the author's composition 'DolCello MediterAna', created during the coronavirus pandemic, with a video filmed on the Brioni islands," the statement reads.

Since she has been living in Shanghai for the past six months, Rucner also performed a song in Chinese, the title of which translates as "My Heart is Like the Moon."

"The repertoire also included music from the films 'Game of Thrones', 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'The Feathered Serpents' and 'Gypsies Fly into the Sky', and the concert was closed with covers of 'Flashdance' and 'The Best', which the artist sang among the audience, barefoot," said the Bar Cultural Center.

During the concert, Rucner's videos were broadcast on the video screen, which, along with her virtuosity on the cello, promote the natural beauty and cultural heritage of Croatia, from Dubrovnik and the Walls of Ston to Medvedgrad, Kopački Rit, beautiful castles and national parks.

After a more than energetic performance, Rucner did not hide her enthusiasm for the bar audience.

"I am delighted with these people and the audience, because it is very important to me that the energy I want to give really reaches the audience. The atmosphere is wonderful, the location is amazing, and Bar is beautiful," she said, recalling her special connection to Montenegro, as her grandfather is originally from Kuče.

Rucner said that whenever she comes to Montenegro, she feels like she belongs there.

"My grandfather is from Kuče, my mother is from Belgrade, my father is Croatian, I was born in Croatia, and for the last six months I have been living in China. In fact, I feel that I belong everywhere. What Montenegro has is an inexhaustible treasure and it really needs to be protected," Rucner pointed out.

When asked how demanding it is to perform on an open stage, she replied that the weather has never been an obstacle.

"I've held many concerts in much more difficult conditions. Tonight was quite pleasant. Wherever I play in the world, whatever the conditions, the most important thing is that the music reaches the audience," said the artist.

Explaining why she constantly pushes the boundaries of her expression, Rucner said that art is not a job for her, but a calling, a gift, a way of life.

"It's simple, new ideas are constantly coming. Every location inspires me to create something new. I graduated from the Academy, practiced Dvorak for eight hours a day, that is, the classical repertoire, and today I play Linđo and sing 'Đelem, Đelem'. That's art, that's freedom. Very often they know how to keep us in frames, especially schools, which is okay, because if there were no frames, we would have fallen apart a long time ago. I remember that when I graduated from the Academy, I wanted to be who I am. And I set off. That was 20 years ago and I'm still looking for myself. It's a lifestyle in which we constantly design and invent something and it's never over. As long as we live, as long as we breathe, that's how we will create," she said.

Speaking about direct communication with the audience during concerts, she pointed out that it was the audience that shaped her current artistic expression.

"People often expect a classical music concert, and I am that, but also much more than that, and I have to communicate with people. That energy, that interaction, that they know what's coming next is important. It may be a little theatrical, but it came naturally through years and years of concerts and performances. I realized that without communication, I couldn't sit on stage at all. That's how singing and that mixed repertoire came about. That's what the audience was asking for," said Rucner.

Finally, she expressed her desire to perform at the "Bar Chronicle" again, especially next year when the festival celebrates its great anniversary.

"I would be very happy to be your guest again. Invite me next year, especially since a young cellist from Bar, who was in the audience tonight, may be on stage with me then. And the fortieth anniversary of the 'Bar Chronicle' is certainly a nice occasion for a new meeting," said Rucner.

On Tuesday, the promotion of the collection "Short Stories about Endless Water", by Mitar Miša Škuletić

The Public Institution Cultural Center Bar said that as part of the "bARS" program of the 39th "Barski ljetopis" festival, which is traditionally dedicated to the creativity of Bar authors and the preservation of the city's cultural heritage, a promotion of the collection "Short Stories about Endless Water" by author Mitar Miša Škuletić will be held on Tuesday, July 14th, starting at 21 pm, on the Plateau of the Cultural Center.

"The book represents a unique collection of stories behind which stands the authentic life path of a man who dedicated his life to two great life constants - music and seafaring. Škuletić, a recognizable name on the Bar cultural scene, graduated from the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Kotor and sailed on domestic and foreign ships for years, while he left a deep mark on the musical scene as a member of the cult Bar bands 'Don Quixote', 'Katapult', 'Belmondo', 'Grimm', and today he performs as a keyboardist for the group 'Akademia'," the statement states.

The Cultural Center of Bar added that the author decided to publish his literary debut at the urging of a friend, emphasizing that he sees literature "as the most reliable way out of a somewhat bleak reality."

Referring to Škuletić's literary expression, writer Katarina Sarić wrote that these stories are guides through the capes and equators of the Earth's hemispheres, but without precise coordinates on the map.

"Each of his stories reaches dead ends, lowers the rope and anchor into dark and hidden depths, constantly searching for what lies beyond mere decor. Therefore, this collection is a mixture of travelogue and epistolary, diary, confessional, memoir genres, but above all existential, because its main carriers and plot backbones are not landscapes, but faces and their hearts. These are Miš's guiding maps, thanks to which he never lost his compass on the distant sea," Sarić states in the review.

Mitar Mišo Škuletić currently lives alternately in Bar and Podgorica, and in addition to working with his main band, he is also dedicated to solo electronic music projects.