Niš, Serbia
Children’s and Youth Choir of the Choral Society “Branko”
- Conductor Jovana Mikić
- First evening 4 June 2023
- Festival Music Edict 2023
The church children's and youth choir was founded in 1995 as the junior section of the “Branko” Choral Society at the Cathedral in Niš. It sings regularly at church services and is active in the cultural life of the city. The choir has performed at many festivals, among them “Choirs among Frescoes” in Belgrade, the “International Choir Festival” in Niš and the “Music Edict” festival in Niš. It has also given many concerts abroad: it has visited Greece several times (Patras, Athens); in Bulgaria it performed at the Balchik palace complex at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria as a representative of the young artists of Serbia (2008); in Poland it took part in the “Days of Church Music” festival in Hajnówka (1st place, 2009); at the invitation of the Serbian-Austrian friendship society “Most” it visited Graz, Austria, presenting Serbian sacred and secular music (2010); in Italy it gave concerts in Rimini and Barletta at the invitation of the Dante Alighieri Society (2011); in Pomorie, Bulgaria, it sang at the sacred music festival “Dostoyno Yest” (2012); at the “Kalozha Blagovest” festival in Grodno, Belarus, it won 1st place (2013); it sang at the Vidovdan festival in Białystok, Poland (2014); and in Moscow, Russia, it took part in the Christmas gala concert in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour as the only Serbian choir (2015). At Easter 2016 the choir took part in the International Paschal Festival organised by the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, where it received the festival laureate's charter signed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 the choir performed in Berlin (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Iași (Romania) and Lausanne (Switzerland). In November 2019, at the invitation of the Arab Orthodox community, the choir gave a concert in the Church of St Elijah in Jerusalem, attended by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. The ensemble's repertoire consists above all of sacred music of all the nations of the world. Its programme covers a wide range of sacred music from the Middle Ages to the present day, from unison chant to polyphony. The ensemble sings sacred music a cappella, as the tradition of Orthodox churches requires. Its interest also extends to the folk sound of the region it comes from, and it performs with equal love works that present the folk heritage of the Balkans; this repertoire is sung with instrumental accompaniment. Beyond that, the choir is drawn to other nations and their music, showing in this way that music is the most beautiful bridge between peoples.
Conductor
Jovana Mikić
Jovana Mikić was born in 1970 in Prizren into the Timotijević family of priests, and received her first musical education there. As a young woman she conducted the parish children's choir in Đakovica. She graduated in sociology from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 1994. She revived the “Braničevo” choir in Požarevac and conducted it from 1992 to 1994. In 1995 in Niš she founded the junior section of the “Branko” Church Choral Society (the “Branko” Children's and Youth Choir), which she has conducted ever since.
Programme
- Praise the Name of the Lord - Archimandrite Matfey (1938-2009)
- Paschal Irmos (The Angel Cried) - Petar Dinev (1889-1980)
- The Light of the Resurrection - Fr Mladen Marinković (1986), arr. Marija Stajić
