One of the most solemn events in the Budva calendar of events and manifestations is the traditional New Year's concert of classical music called "Mood Music", which is held every year on January 2025st. It will be the same this year, January 13, XNUMX, at XNUMX p.m., on the square in front of the Old Town, announced the Budva Tourist Organization.
One of the soloists, an opera singer Nevena Djokovic, in an interview for "Vijesti" announces the concert, the program, talks about the challenges, but also the beauty of this guy's performance, emphasizing that the concert in Budva is a domestic version of the famous New Year's concert of the Vienna Philharmonic...
So will the Mediterranean revue orchestra, under the baton of the conductor Willi Ferdinandi, virtuoso on the violin, to usher the audience into the new year by performing the most beautiful, world-famous opera arias. Top soloists perform: Dušan Svilar, Nevena Djokovic, Ljubica Vraneš, Dragoljub Bajić, Lana Asija Dabović i Vasilije Hadžić, and the musical editor of the concert is Milan Stupar.
Director, playwright and motivational speaker, founder of the Cultural Element and the Cultural Institute Tadija Miletić talking about the interlocutor of "Vijesti", Neveni Đoković, said that she is "not only the future, but also the present of Serbian opera", and she comments on the state of that sphere of art and points out that we need to work on educating and attracting children, in order to create new audience...
Nevena Đoković graduated in solo singing at the Faculty of Music of the University of Arts in Belgrade, in the class of a regular professor Nikola Kitanovski, where he is currently in doctoral academic studies. She received her lower and secondary musical education at the "Dr. Vojislav Vučković" Music School in Belgrade, in the class of Prof. M.Sc Mirjana Komnenović.
She is a member of the opera studio "Borislav Popović" at the National Theater in Belgrade, where she made her debut in 2021. Since January 2022, she has been playing the main female role in the play "Phantom from the Opera" at the Terazije Theater, and regularly performs at the "Madlenianum" Opera and Theater.
She performed at numerous concerts and festivals, collaborated with big names in music, and improved her skills by working with prominent opera singers, such as the champion of the Milan Scala. Eva Mei and others... She won awards at international and domestic competitions.
On January 1st, you are a guest in Budva at a traditional classical music concert called "Mood Music", which is held during the day. What will the visitors be able to hear and experience on that occasion?
Every first January, a traditional concert from Vienna is organized, and we can watch it via broadcast. This will be our version of that in Budva. The audience can expect the most famous classical arias of different composers, such as Bize, Puccini, Leonkavalo, and we will end the event with a famous one Verdi's "Travia". The duration of the concert is about an hour and a half.
Also, I must point out that I often perform with Ljubica Vraneš, but also with Dušan Svilar, with whom I played "Phantom of the Opera" together...
Given that the concert is outdoors, which is rare for classical music, how will it affect the event itself and how challenging but also interesting is it for you as soloists and opera artists, and on the other hand important for the audience?
For us singers, an outdoor concert is a special challenge, considering that we are somehow more used to performing that classical music in halls and concert halls, it is a completely different experience for us because we are used to singing without sound system. It is a challenge to sing outdoors, given that we are also surrounded by sound, and on the other hand, when we sing, the sound is scattered, so we have no feedback.
In addition to all that, there is one more thing, which is that it will be cold, which is difficult for us, because as we often say, we need a warm throat to sing... But, besides all that, we are very happy to perform this concert, right in the center of Budva, which is a true tradition.
I have already performed outdoors in Budva, although it was October. Although it's not a practice, I like these concerts very much because, in addition to those who planned to come to the concert, a lot of people who are passing by stop as well, because they have the opportunity to hear. That's how we attract a new audience.
How important is that, to attract a new audience, because classical music is often considered elitist art?
It is an elitist type of art, considering that it is not close enough to people, and especially in the Balkans, it is not something that is in our tradition. Because of this, not everyone had the opportunity to hear opera music, or to grow up with it, as is the case in Europe.
Given that it is, simply put, their tradition and not ours, it is very important that we bring classical music closer to absolutely all people in every possible way. This is also the case with this and other similar open-air concerts, because as I said, someone will be passing by, will hear, will like it, so maybe tomorrow they will go to the theater to hear the same thing. In a way, it will be like a presentation of classical music.
You recently won an award, i.e. won the International Competition of Solo Singers "Lazar Jovanović", after which you had a solo concert in Belgrade. How important are recognitions and awards in your profession, whether as additional affirmation or support for the future?
That award meant a lot to me considering that I won back in 2021 when there was still corona and when theaters were just starting to slowly open.
I just held a solo concert, which is certainly a big project and it was very tiring for me, especially because a few days ago I had a premiere at the National Theater and I made my debut in Puccini's "Triptych", singing one of the main roles in Gianna Skiki.
Competitions are important because artists, but also managers, directors, who later hire us for some other projects, sit on them. So, for example, the doctor Dragana Radaković who recently became the director of the Novi Sad Opera, i.e. the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad.
And she was not the only one among the jury members, there was also Marija Temesi, who is the main ambassador of the Budapest Opera, and there were representatives of the Vienna Opera. Considering that, such things mean a lot to us because we have contact with people from our profession, who have contacts in Europe, and they can later direct us for some further projects that are not only related to the Balkans.
And from that side, it meant a lot to me, because it was happening at a time when there were practically no events and everything was suspended for a year and a half, despite that, I had a goal and I was preparing for that competition. It was difficult, because I had to practice, and in the meantime I didn't prepare any performances. I received confirmation from established artists, both ours and Europe, that what I'm doing is good.
How demanding is it to prepare one's voice for an all-night concert, to maintain one's condition on stage, to communicate with the audience, to attract and maintain attention, and to show all the splendor of one's voice and one's own capabilities?
That's right, it's hard and tiring and it's very important to be in good shape for all that. I can say that it came to me at a time when I am in the best shape ever, considering that I recently made my debut at the National Theater.
There is a big difference between a concert performance and a performance, at least in my opinion. It's easier for me to perform a play, since I have more experience there, because I've been working in theaters for eight years, and it's easier for me when I put on a costume and just get into the role I'm playing.
At the same time, when you interpret a character and when you play in a play, you also have breaks between arias, breaks between acts, and somehow it goes much easier than when it's a concert. The concert is very demanding, especially since I chose only arias and duets for mine. A fellow tenor helped me at the concert Marko Zivkovic and soprano Marijana Sovran, who is from Kotor, Prčanja, who is a very dear friend of mine.
She also won a couple of years ago in the same competition we were talking about. Together with them, I performed, if I'm not mistaken, 14 arias and a couple of duets. It was very intense.
How do you see opera in Serbia or in the region right now? We have already commented that this is not in our tradition, so I assume that it is necessary to make additional efforts so that the opera continuously creates, performs and markets certain content, and what is especially important?
That's right, we don't have that tradition of going to the opera, and somehow the opera is mostly visited by people who are involved in music, singers, or older generations who used to come and visit the opera.
That's why I have to praise the management of the National Theater in Belgrade for everything that is currently happening in the opera. A few years ago, they staged the children's opera "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in which I played Snow White. I'm saying this because I think it's very important to get children used to coming and visiting the opera from a young age, because that's how we educate the audience.
It happened that during the 90s, people who were growing up then, and who are now building families, who should visit the opera, who are between 30 and 40 years old, do not come to the opera, because that was the biggest crisis in our country they could not be taught to visit the theater either.
That's why I believe that what is happening right now, which is that the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra has a concert for children on Sundays, in theaters you have scenes for children and even children's theaters, but we don't have an opera.
And this is the first, and if I'm not mistaken, currently the only opera staged in Belgrade for children. I have to admit that the reactions are great! Director Ana Grigorović did it so imaginatively that the reactions are excellent. The scenography is actually one book.
We tell the story and turn the pages of that book. And not only at the premiere, but also at every subsequent performance, when the moment comes when I, as Snow White, have to bite the apple, somehow every time I stop and take the apple, I get feedback from the audience, and mostly from the children who are there and who shout no I take an apple and the like.
They are completely delighted and ask to come again. After the show, we usually go to the foyer and take pictures with the audience, and there the parents tell us that they also want more events like this, considering that the children don't have a way to spend time with the children during the weekend, and that this is a great way to give them some quality content, and yet, on the other hand, we teach children that way to come to the theater. You have to think about that.
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