Festival Music in ME, Connecting Scientists, Students and Young Talents Starts in Cetinje
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Festival Music in ME, which began on March 10 in Cetinje and will last until March 14, summons 150 students and high school music students from Montenegro and the region. Through concerts by renowned artists, workshops, and masterclasses, participants will enhance their performance and artistic skills.
This was announced at a press conference of the Music Academy of the University of Montenegro, marking the third edition of the Music in ME festival and the presentation of the European project Bet on the Beat.
Member of the festival’s Organizing Committee, Nataša Popović, MA, emphasized that this was the third time the festival was being held.
“The festival will host outstanding artists, musicians, students, and talented individuals from across the region and Montenegro. It is an event that connects artists, students, and young talents. As part of the festival, we will have concerts every evening at the Multimedia Hall of the Ministry of Culture and Media,” said Popović.
She also announced masterclasses and a spring school, organized for high school music students from Montenegro and the region.
Popović stated that the festival would begin that evening with the concert "The Lasting, the Calm, and the Meaningful – A Tribute to Paul Hindemith," which will take place at 8 PM in the Multimedia Hall of the Ministry of Culture and Media. The performance will feature professors from the Music Academy, including Tatjana Krkeljić (flute), Petar Garić (clarinet), and Aleksandar Benčić (trombone), with piano accompaniment by Oleksii Molchanov.
“Every evening, concerts will showcase distinguished artists from Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, China, North Macedonia, and Montenegro. The festival mentors come from prestigious art academies in these countries, providing participants with a unique opportunity to engage with and learn from leading experts in the field of musical arts,” Popović added.
The BaRock nonverbal concert by the festivals baroque orchestra, she added, will be held on March 14. The baroque orchestra was prepared by Christopher Suckling, a cellist and professor at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
She is confident that the Music in ME festival will bring a vibrant week to Cetinje, noting that in previous years, there were between 30 and 50 participants, while this year there are 150.
“We are very proud that such a young festival has sparked great interest in the region,” Popović said.
A member of the festivals Organizing Committee, Žana Lekić, MA, emphasized that the goal of the spring school is to make the Music Academy in Cetinje more visible on the artistic map.
“We want to show young people what it is like to study in Cetinje, to come and get to know the environment and professors. Even though this is a young festival, we have already had young participants who came and chose Cetinje as their place of study. Some of them will stay, some will move on, but our goal is for them to recognize Cetinje as a place of culture and art, where they have excellent conditions for work and education. This year, the festival has the highest attendance so far, and in June, we will see its results,” Lekić said.
A member of the festivals Organizing Committee, Dr. Nina Perović, announced that on March 13 at 5 PM, students in their third year of undergraduate studies at the Music Academy will perform a concert titled Tradition in ME at the university campus “Alatnica.”
“The concert was created as a collaborative project by students, with my support, as part of the Professional Practice course. It emerged from the need to create a unique artistic arrangement of Montenegrin folk songs,” Perović said.
She emphasized that all participants of the Music in ME festival have their accommodation costs covered.
Bet on the Beat Project Presented
Presenting the Bet on the Beat project, project manager Miloš Ivanišević stated that the project was implemented within the CREA-CULT-2023-COOP program and aimed to train around 30 students from Montenegro, Italy, and Albania.
“We organized online training sessions, practical workshops in Rome, and a final concert. The project has been running since November 2023, and this is its final month,” said Ivanišević.
Nina Perović, who was an instructor for the Bet on the Beat project, mentioned that the online workshops were very engaging. She noted that working with colleagues from different linguistic backgrounds posed an additional challenge, but thanks to the dedication of the students, the entire concept was successfully and beautifully prepared.
Popović highlighted that the project was developed over several months and was ultimately finalized and presented to the audience in Italy.
“It was particularly rewarding to watch young people who were very diligent, putting in maximum effort, despite this being their first experience in management. It was an intense process, but the incredible energy made everything easier. I am fully satisfied with the results,” Popović said.
One of the instructors on the Bet on the Beat project, Ana Perunović Ražnatović, MA, stated that the project was a significant challenge, especially because the Montenegrin team mainly consisted of students focused on classical and artistic music, the Albanian students specialized in traditional music, while the Italian students combined classical and pop music.
“The challenge was how to bring together 30 young people and blend their different genres into a cohesive concert that made sense as a whole. This was a new experience for our students, allowing them to explore different genres and combine their performances with those of their colleagues from Albania and Italy,” explained Perunović.
The final concert in Rome was hosted in Italian by Montenegrin students Sanja Mijanović and Filip Ćuković.
Mijanović shared that the entire process was characterized by excellent collaboration, great energy, and a warm welcome in Italy.
“We all worked together, took full responsibility, and when everyone puts in their best effort, the result can only be as outstanding as it was in our case. The performances were amazing, we collaborated closely with our colleagues from Italy and Albania. The energy we felt during the concert was truly unique and incomparable to anything else,” said Mijanović.
All details about the Music in ME festival are available on the Music Academys website: www.ucg.ac.me/ma.