Izmir Festival > Program > The Inspiring Enthusiasm of the Western Balkans CAMERATA BALCANICA ENSEMBLE
Thursday, July 11, 2024 • Izmir Historical Agora • 21.00
The Inspiring Enthusiasm of the Western Balkans
CAMERATA BALCANICA ENSEMBLE
Andrea Nikolic, conductor
Lana Zorjan, violin
Milan Kostelenec, violin
Laura LLozi, violin
Program:
W.A. Mozart: Divertimento for string quartet in F K.138 (K.125)
P. de Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
Solo violin: Milan Koselenec
Maurice Ravel: Tzigane
Solo violin: Lana Zorjan
Dragan Suplevski: Macedonian kolo
Antonio Vivaldi: Summer
Solo violin: Laura LLozi
Aleksandar Vujic: Serbian kolo
Pablo Sarasate: Navara
Solo violins: Lana Zorjan & Milan Kostelenec
CAMERATA BALCANICA
Camerata Balcanica is one of the finest regional cultural projects – an Orchestra that showcases the best creative capacity of the Western Balkans, artistic excellence through synergies of different ethnic ingredients, all united in a unique expression of art along with characteristically warm Balkan temperament.
The CAMERATA BALCANICA serves as a regional festival ensemble comprising ArtLink festival, Belgrade and a sustainable cultural platform for young artists. It enables them to exchange their mobility and cooperation across the entire Western Balkans (WB), contributing to their development in professionalism, creativity and artistic excellence, while building togetherness and a a new Balkan Region brand through such a musical ensemble.
ArtLink provides young classical musicians with a reliable career development program and access to the music market. Prominent artists and mentors provide young classical musicians with a set of a tailor-made master classes and workshops, = musicians such as Fedor Rudin, Concertmasterof the Vienna Philharmonic, violinists Pavel Doležal and Camerata Janáček, cellists István Várdai and Jan Vogler, Belgium conductor Benjamin Haemhouts, Swiss-Serbian conductor Srboljub Dinic, Bulgarian conductor Viliana Valcheva, and violinist Andrea Nikolic.
The Orchestra has regular performances and tours in the Western Balkan Region promoting the most promising young soloists in the major concert halls and captivating open air cultural heritage sites in the region.
The ensemble has been supported by the Western Balkan Fund for a number of years, by the International Visegrad Fund, the Regional Cooperation Council in Sarajevo, the European festival Association, Ministries of foreign Affairs in Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, Ministries of culture in Serbia, Albania, and Macedonia, UN Serbia, the Open Society Fund and many others.
ArtLink has published Camerata Balcanica’s CD under the title – Music for
Peace with two soloists – Lana Zorjan and Laura LLozi. Their Founder and Artistic Director is pianist and festival director Jovanka Visekruna Jankovic.
ANDREA NIKOLIC, conductor
Andrea Nikolic, has established herself as one of the most multi-talented and diversely successful artists and artistic leaders of her generation. She is an internationally sought-after violinist, violist, artistic director, pedagogue, leader/conductor and a musical activist. She is praised for her renaissance-like versatility, honesty, depth, imagination, strong, non-compromising integrity and dedication in her approach to music and musical interpretations. With unreserved devotion and the courage to move barriers, she passionately explores a diversity of musical languages, cultures, styles, genres, and ideas. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, she grew up in Varaždin, Croatia, and has found her artistic and personal home in the “center of classical music” – namely, Vienna, Austria. She is founder, producer, general and artistic director of Vareš Classic Festival ( theInternational Chamber Music Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and is also a founder, leader & artistic director of the Vienna-based WISE (Wien International Soloists Ensemble). In 2020 she founded CRO-ArT, a new festival of contemporary art music in Vienna.
LANA ZORJAN, violin
Lana Zorjan is a 15 year old Serbian violinist who has been playing the violin since the age of four. As a gifted violinist, Lana Zorjan was selected for the ArtLink program for young talents, and had her first performance with the orchestra when she was seven years old when, as a soloist of the ArtLink Young Virtuosi, she played Vivaldi’s Spring with Pavel Doležal, the concert master of Kamerata Janacek.
So far, she has won over 60 prizes as well as laureates at national and international competitions in the country and abroad (Austria, Russia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria,
North Macedonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, and Spain).
She has made more than 300 concert performances, public appearances, and TV appearances, and is the recipient of the ArtLink award for Most Promising Young Artist in Serbia in 2023.
The winner of major awards in the field of classical music, the International Classical Music Award ICMA 2024 in the category Discovery of the year, she has given 26 performances as a soloist with thirteen professional orchestras in four European countries: Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic, Duna Szimfonikus Zenekar, Budafoki
Dohnanyi Orchestra, Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, Mostar Symphony Orchestra, SNP Opera Symphony Orchestra, Vojvodina Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Kocijana 2022 Competitors Orchestra, Zrenjanin Chamber Orchestra, Art Link Chamber Orchestra, Kamerata Balkanika, and MasterArt Academy Chamber Orchestra.
Other international performances include Moscow, Vienna, Budapest, Usti nadOrlica, Mostar and solo concerts in Ljubljana, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Subotica. Lana’s performance with Kamerata Balkanika and conductor Srboljub Dinić at the Belgrade Fortress (as part of the 11th ArtLink festival in 2023) was included on the CD edition of Kamerata Balkanika - Music for Peace.
Conductors with whom Lana collaborated include Thomas Bauer, Toshifumi Kanai, Janos Kovacs, Pavel Doležal, Srboljub Dinić, Igor Tatarević, and Aleksandar Kojić.
Lana is a scholarship recipient of the Musik & Jugend Foundation from Liechtenstein
Laura Llozi, violin
Laura started studying the violin at the age of 5. At first, she studied with Vera Tego at the Tirana Artistic Lyceum and with her father Arben Llozi. In 2024 she graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where during that time she studied with Ioana Cristina Goicea, Jan Pospichal, Stefan Kamilarov, Massimo Quarta and Annette Bik (contemporary music). Laura is currently the concertmaster and soloist of the Albanian Radio Television Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 7, Laura performs her first concert in the Hall of the National Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tirana. Since then, with a repertoire that extends from baroque music to 21st century music, Laura has performed in a large number of concerts and recitals in Albania, Kosovo, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Serbia , North Macedonia, Montenegro. As a soloist, she has been accompanied by various orchestras and ensembles such as "RTSH Symphony Orchestra", "Tirana Philharmonic Orchestra", "FA Symphony Orchestra", "Camerata Balcanica", "Albanian Chamber Orchestra", "Klan TV Orchestra" ” with conductors such as Facundo Agudin, Vito Clemente, Benjamin Haemhouts, G. Akoka, C. A. Grigore, O. Baronello, G. Kraja, E. Laro, etc. In chamber music, Laura has performed with the Wiener Kammersymphonie Quintett, Sonus Antiquus Wien, the first violin of the "Artlink Balkan Young Virtuosi" sextet, etc. And regularly plays contemporary music with various chamber music ensembles in Vienna. As a member of orchestras, she has played with Camerata Balcanica, Webern Symphonie Orchester, Tirana Philharmonic, Albanian Youth Orchestra, European Spirit of Youth Orchestra, Orchester des Jeunes de la Méditerranée, etc. with whom he performed in many concerts under conductors such as Aldo Ceccato, Pablo Heras-Casado, Philippe Jordan, G. Corti, J.M. Ferran, I. Coretti, O. Baronello, Q. Hindley, etc. Laura has been invited to international festivals such as Biennale "Nights of Classical Music", "Ohrid Summer Festival", "Ljubljana Festival", "ArtLink Festival", "Kotor Art Festival", "Pianodrom", "Vox Baroque", "I concerti di Pieve a Elici" (Associazione Musicale Lucchese), "Falesie in Musica Festival", "Wonderfeel Festival", "Chamber Fest Durres", "BERAT Multicultural Festival". She has also been invited to perform in the artistic season of the National Theater of Opera and Ballet. Laura has performed the world premiere of several works and a sonata was dedicated to her by the composer Aleksandër Peçi. Her most notable performances include concerto no. 1 in D Major by Paganini, Brahms Violin Concerto and the Violin Concerto by Vasil Tole (world premiere). In 2023 Laura was awarded the Best Instrumentalist award at the International Meeting of String Orchestras. In 2019, she won the first prize in the "Vasco Abadjiev" international competition in Bulgaria. In 2018, she is the winner of the instrumentalist category and also the grand prize in the "Virtuozet" competition organized by Klan TV. Laura is also the laureate of many prizes in various competitions such as "Kngët e Tokë", "Pjetër Gaci", "Tirana Talent", "ARS Kosova". In 2024, Laura returned to the international competition "Tirana Talent" as a member of the jury. Also in 2019, Laura was awarded with "Gratitude of Tirana County".
MILAN KOSTELENEC, violin
Milan Kostelenec is 16 years old and a violin student of Mr. Jiri Fischer at the Prague
Conservatory. He has been playing violin since the age of six with professor Petr Matejak, and his first great success was winning the Gold diploma two years ago at the International violin competition in Nove Paca. Milan is also won first prize at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports’ state competition in the Czech Republic, and the winner in all categories at the Jaroslav Kocijan international violinist competition under the patronage of world-famous violin virtuoso Pavel Sporzl.
Milan also received recognition for cultural achievement in 2017 with an award from the Commission for Culture and Tourism of the city of Liberec. This was presented by the mayor. In 2016 Milan was awarded the prize for the best festival performer by the Polish ambassador at the prestigious festival in Hungary. Last year, this talented artist won two titles of outright winner at the Jaroslav Kocijan International Competition and at the New European Talents & International Violinist Competition. This year, Milan has received another first prize at the International Competition in Slovakia.
W.A. Mozart
Divertimento for string quartet in F K.138 (K.125)
Allegro
Andante
Presto
In early 1772, Mozart had not yet officially composed in the very young string quartet format. This event would have to await his discovery of the quartets of Joseph Haydn in 1773, when he would revel in these and turn out in short order his first six, K. 168 through 173. Nevertheless, he was, as he had always been, comfortable writing for small groups of instruments, and this work is in fact scored specifically for four string parts. It is customarily performed by an ensemble, and its format, in three movements with no minuet, adheres more closely to the form of a typical Italian sinfonia than to the later string quartet. Composed as the last of three similar works, it is the product of the last days of the life of his beneficent patron, Count Schrattenbach, Archbishop of Salzburg, and is buoyant and lively in the extreme. At this point in his life, Mozart was bouncing back and forth between Salzburg and Italy at his father’s side, and any distraction at the forces tugging him from several directions would be understandable. Now a teenager, he was prodded on the one hand to compose
and comport himself in competition with the established composers of the day, and on the other hand it was still expected -- by Leopold, at any rate -- that his youth would stand him in good stead as a child prodigy. What happened instead during these months and years is that his youth no longer carried so much attraction, and in his inexperience he began to embroil himself in shifty intrigues on the part of those jealous of his immense talent. The F major divertimento betrays none of this, and fairly sparkles with enthusiasm and wit. Throughout it is more complex, sophisticated, and richly scored than the typical divertimenti of the time. Description by Michael Morrison
Henryk Wieniawski
Polonaise de Concert, Op. 4 in D major
Polonaise Brillante (Polonaise de Concert) Op. 4 is the first of two polonaises composed by the Polish violin virtuoso Henryk Wieniawski, the second being the Polonaise in A major op. 21, from a later period. It was written in two versions: for violin with piano accompaniment, and for violin and orchestra. The version known to us today was published in Germany in 1853 as Polonaise de Concert in D major. However it was originally sketched out in 1848, by a thirteen year old Wieniawski. Dedicated to the Polish virtuoso violinist Karol Lipiński, it was renamed Polonaise Brillante when it was re- published in Paris in 1858. This violin showpiece is popular for its melodic beauty and technical virtuosity.
It was in the Autumn of 1848 that Wieniawski, in Dresden with his family, first met
Lipiński, who was concertmaster of the Opera there. The young Wieniawski greatly valued the advice of the great virtuoso, through whom he became better acquainted with the interpretative models of the past violin masters, especially Giuseppe Tartini, and with different ways of performing the works of J. S. Bach and L. van Beethoven. He also absorbed the accounts of the interpretative art of N. Paganini and of the charisma he displayed when performing. Wieniawski played in Lipiński’s quartet, learning the maestro’s Concerto militaire, which he subsequently performed many times, occasionally accompanied on the piano by his brother Józef, and, as testimonies show, wrote a virtuoso cadenza to the Concerto.
It was probably at this time that Wieniawski sketched an initial version of the D Major
Polonaise. The version known to us today dates from 1852 (pub. 1853), and it is this which forms the basis of the published volume of Complete Works of the Henryk Wieniawski series.
When Wieniawski made the first draft of the Polonaise, in 1849, he had not yet learned the principles of counterpoint and harmony. He graduated from Joseph Lambert Massard’s class at the Paris Conservatoire with enormous praise and success, at the age of 11, and returned to Paris to study composition under professor Hipolit Collet only in April 1849, at the same time as his brother Józef, with whom he was already touring, and who also graduated from the Paris Conservatoire with great success. Both brothers took their final exams in composition in June and July 1850, - in principle, after just one year of studies. Edmund Grabkowski writes that it was during this period that the Polonaise in D major took on its ultimate form, although in the list of works, in line with other authors, he dates it as 1852 - the time of the Wieniawski brothers’ Russian tour.
The polonaise was composed in two versions: for violin with piano accompaniment, and for violin and orchestra. Also at this time, Wieniawski composed the Adagio élégiaque op. 5, which he recommended performing before the Polonaise, and both pieces were performed in March 1853 at one of a series of nine concerts in Vienna. In 1856, Wieniawski dedicated the manuscript of both works - Polonaise and Adagio - to King William III of the Netherlands, and performed them both in Amsterdam on 18 March of that year. In the 19th century, concertos were not usually published in manuscript form, and the orchestral score was published as orchestral parts, as testified by the title page of the E. Girod edition (Paris 1858): “Polonaise brillante en ré majeur pour le violon avec accompgnement d’orchestre ou de piano, prix avec piano 9 F, prix avec orchestre”. The construction of this polonaise indicates a reprise form, but it is not schematic. The main section (A) comprises the elements a, a1, b, a, of which the eight-bar theme (a) clearly fulfils the role of a dynamic, powerful refrain. The middle section displays more lyrical expression in particular themes and phrases, yet is varied in character, taking on virtuoso airs in the form of flageolet notes, double notes, leaps, broken triads in regular rhythm and ornaments. The refrain theme also appears. The reprise section, meanwhile, is shortened to a refrain and virtuoso coda. This polonaise represents the first time in his youthful composition that Wieniawski displayed independence and maturity, at the same time as a certain nationalistic touch in the polonaise’s verve, heroic spirit and virtuosity steeped in contrast and drama. In the “Neue Wiener Musikzeitung”, no. 10 of 10th March 1853, a review appeared of one of the two concerts given in the Musikvereinsaal in Vienna (3rd and 7th March), in which the author describes the playing and youthful works of Wieniawski thus: “He has a grand tone, guides the bow with a light and sure touch. He is excellent in the technical manoeuvring on the fingerboard. His compositions are equally full of fire and inventiveness. In the first concert, he played his own compositions Adagio élégiaque, Polonaise di bravura [op. 4] and Souvenir de Moscou. These works clearly show the talent of this young artist, in terms of ingeniousness, polish and individuality - both extremely fresh, original tone flowers”. Wieniawski played his polonaises quite often. They are still popular today with artists and audiences alike, and are presently among the composer’s most frequently recorded works. Irena Poniatowska
Maurice Ravel
Tzigane, Rhapsodie de Concert, for violin & piano (or orchestra), M. 76
While a good part of Ravel’s energies during the period 1920-1925 were spent on the opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, the composer did find time to produce a handful of smaller-scale works, most notably the Sonata for violin and cello (1920-1922) and Tzigane, a virtuosic, gypsy-inflected vehicle for solo violin and piano. Though Ravel did not complete Tzigane until spring 1924, the idea of composing such a work came to him many years earlier, on the occasion of his introduction to the enormously gifted Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aranyi.
D’Aranyi had given a private London performance of the Sonata for violin and cello in the early 1920s, and after the concert had so impressed Ravel with her stock of gypsy tunes and bravura technique that he kept her playing until the sun rose the following day. By April 22, 1924, Tzigane was ready, and a few days later, it was premiered in London by d’Aranyi and pianist Henri Gil-Marchex. (True to form, Ravel continued to tinker with the piece for several weeks after the first performance.) During the summer of the same year Ravel made an orchestral version of the piano part; he also allowed for the substitution of the piano by a Luthéal (a hybrid piano with a sound-modifying mechanism placed on its soundboard). Neither of these incarnations, however, entirely captures the nuances of the original.
Tzigane opens with an extended solo for the violin (Lento, quasi cadenza), buried in the middle of which is a theme characterized by a dotted-rhythm, falling-fifth figure which serves as the melodic meat for much of the work. The piano (or harp, in the orchestral version) enters with its own chromatic mini-cadenza as the soloist’s fiery technical gestures and robust double stops subside into flickering double tremolos and a pair of unaccompanied trills that usher in the main body of the piece. The remainder of Tzigane is worked out in a clearly sectional manner. After a restatement of the falling-fifth idea by the violin, the piano produces its own little theme, a staccato tune that makes thorough use of the typically ‘gypsy’ interval of an augmented second. Some time later, a bombastic Grandioso breaks in. After a brief pause, the violin resumes in sixteenth note perpetual motion, colored by such features as
Paganini-like left-hand pizzicato. The musical line accelerates and decelerates time and again until it finally achieves unstoppable momentum. The work comes to an end with three incisive chords (marked pizzicato, but often played with the bow). Description by Blair Johnston
Dragan Shuplevski (b.1933 Skopje - d.2001 Skopje)
Macedonian conductor, composer and university professor at the Faculty of Music in Skopje, and son of the renowned music teacher and conductor Trajko Shuplevski.
Very gifted even as a student, Dragan Shuplevski was attracted to choral conducting, which is why he became the first conductor of the Children’s Radio Choir of Radio Skopje (1952-1954). He graduated from the Teaching and Theory Department of Belgrade’s Music Academy in 1959. Working as a teacher at the Secondary Music School in Skopje from 1960-1963, he became Head of Music Production for RTV Skopje from1963 to 1966. Until the end of his life, he was a professor at the Faculty of Music in Skopje.
Dragan Shuplevski was the director of almost all the important choral ensembles in Macedonia (Žikica Jovanović-Spanac, Razvigorce, 25 May Women’s Youth Choir, Mirce Acev, MRT Choir). With them, he achieved extraordinary success, making a large number of studio recordings with works by Macedonian composers. As a composer, he sought his creative preoccupations primarily in the domain of choral music, being inspired by the treasury of Macedonian musical folklore. Shuplevski is the author of the book The Art of Choral Singing published in 1999. For his overall activity, he was awarded a Silver Wreath as the Order of Merit for the People, and also the November 13th Award of Skopje and the Republic Award for October 11th.
Antonio Vivaldi
Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in G minor (L’estate), RV 315, Op. 8/2 (The Four Seasons; Il cimento No. 2)
Allegro non molto
Adagio
Allegro non molto
The four violin concertos in The Four Seasons were each inspired by an Italian sonnet, possibly written by Vivaldi himself. In each of the concertos the composer attempts to depict the pastoral scenes and events described in the sonnet.
In this Concerto in G minor, subtitled “Summer,” he attempts to capture the bright scenery and mood of that warmest of seasons, but the music is more a mixture of good and bad than one might normally think: the sonnet opens: “Under the merciless summer sun....” Thus the first movement, despite its lively Allegro non molto marking, begins as if an oppressive pall hovers above, the music listlessly struggling forward. But soon the pacing turns lively and the mood brightens to depict singing birds and cool breezes. But after a brief tranquil section, the music suddenly becomes violent and frenzied, with the onset of a clash among neighbors. Calm returns soon, but the movement ends breathlessly, as a storm threatens to wreak troubles for the shepherd.
The ensuing Adagio-Presto movement alternates between the lethargic but beautiful
playing of the solo violin theme and the stormy interjections of the string orchestra. The text describes the tired shepherd and his fears of thunder and lightning. The storminess continues at the outset of the Presto finale, as the storm finally does begin to rage. The mood throughout this closing panel, whether in the writing for the orchestra or for the soloist, brims with tension, at times even frenzy, as this storm fells stalks of corn and ravages the countryside. This brief movement provides a brilliant finish to this colorful Concerto. Description by Robert Cummings
Aleksandar S. Vujić
Serbian Kolo, for string orchestra
Aleksandar S. Vujić (b.1945, Serbia), graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, with degrees in piano, composition and conducting. During his studies he was four times awarded as the best average grade student.
He founded both the chamber ensemble Sinfonietta and the Madrigal choir of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, of which he is the chief conductor and artistic director. He is a full-time professor at the same faculty, and also president of the Association of Serbian Choirs of the Fatherland and Diaspora.
His compositions include choral and chamber works (piano, violin, cello, violin and piano, cello and piano, string duo, string trio, piano trio, string quartet), and compositions for chamber and symphonic orchestra. His works have been printed in the USA, Germany, Italy, Hungary and Serbia. The exclusive publisher of Vujić’s choral pieces is Synkope Verlag from Germany.
Vujić’s work as a composer has won him several international awards – 1993 Third Prize at the International Choral Competition in Trento, Italy; 1995 First and Third Prize at the “Robert Schumann” International Choral Competition in Zwickau, Germany; 2002 Gold Medal at the Second Choir Olympics in Busan, South Korea; 2009 Gold Medal at the International Choral Competition in
Budapest, Hungary.
Serbian Kolo, for string orchestra
The piece was written several years ago. Nowadays it exists in separate versions for
different performing ensembles: piano solo, two pianos, four-hand piano, violin and piano, piano trio, string quartet and symphonic orchestra. The version for violin and string orchestra was composed last year.
When wedding guests start to dance the springing steps of the kolo, their hearts become joyful with the rhythm and pulse, and they let go, releasing from the real world with the fast tempo, floating on the waves of sound into an endless physical swirl of pleasure engendered by the steps of the dance. The pulse or beat is very important for the Kolo, and this should lead one into a trance-like state, mainly due to the great virtuosity of the violin part. This composition is not based on any pre-existing motif or melody, but was inspired by Serbian folk music, yet presented in a modern manner. The piece has been conceived as representative of Serbia.
Pablo de Sarasate
Navarra, for 2 violins & orchestra (or piano) (Spanish Dance) Op. 33
Rather than favoring one violin and letting the other off with easier material, this is a demanding showpiece for both soloists. A bracing piano (or orchestral) chord sets off a lyrical but impassioned passage for the two violins, which soon tear into a highly Spanish-flavored theme employing a jota rhythm. One violin may play trills while another provides a double- stop drone, but more often they play the melody together in close harmony. This is true in the ensuing section, a slower, gently loping melody. Next comes a passage with a new theme, one violin playing the melody while the other joins the accompaniment with pizzicato material. The two violins take swirling, intertwining lines in the increasingly finger-twisting material that follows, then ascend well beyond the top of the staff for something resembling a Spanish minuet before returning to a repeat of the main jota section. The final page is a whirl
of pizzicato notes and high-lying bowed pyrotechnics. Description by James Reel
