GRAND OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL
Orator: Academician Svetislav Bozić, composer
Narrator: Miodrag Miki Krstović, actor
Miodrag Krstović (Belgrade, 1950), graduated in acting at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, in the class of Professor Milenko Maričić. He has performed a large number of notable roles in theater, film, and television. He is a member of the Atelier 212 ensemble, where he played in the plays Radovan the Third, Father on a Business Trip, Miracle in Šargan, Celebration, Great White Conspiracy, Henry IV, and others.
He has also starred in plays by the Zvezdara Theatre, the National Theatre Ljubiša Jovanović in Šabac, and other theaters. He has played more than 70 roles in film, including in the films Saint George Kills the Dragon, The Professional, Cold as Dead, The Fourth Man, The Optimists, Rebel Street, How the Germans Stole Me, and The Last Round at Monza. He has also had notable roles in numerous television series, including Better Life, The Open Door, Happy People, My Cousin from the Country, Aleksa Šantić, and The Return of the Dismissed.
He has received several significant awards, including the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Niš Film Festival, the Joakim Vujić Jury and Audience Award at the festival, and the Veljko Maričić Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 12th International Small Stage Festival in Rijeka.
Academician Svetislav Božić (1954) is a composer and music theorist, a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the chairman of the committee for culture and art of this institution. He is the author of 14 books in the field of music theory and about 300 compositions of various genres – from solo, chamber, choral, orchestral to vocal-instrumental. Of great significance is his contribution to sacred music. At the Summer Spiritual Academy in the Studenica Monastery alone, 10 choral works were performed from 1992 to 2005: two Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom, the Requiem, the All-Night Vigil, Serbia (M. Crnjanski), the Blue Tomb (M. Bojić), the Door of Salvation (R. P. Nogo), the Holy Simeon Spiritual Braid (Đ. Nikolić), the Festive Vespers and the Spiritual Lyre for male choir (Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović). To this should be added the Hilandar Palimpsest (R. P. Nogo), which commemorates the eight centuries of the Hilandar Monastery, as well as a series of compositions in the Matins from Herzegovinian Gračanica cycle to the verses of our famous poets, winners of the Jovan Dučić Award.
A special place belongs to the piano concertos (The Raška Mosaic, Chants of Metohija, Bagrdan Hymns, Night at Hilandar), the concerto for violin and orchestra Petersburg Mosaic, as well as the opera Melancholic Dreams of Count Sava Vladislavić (National Theatre, Belgrade, 2015), for which the composer also wrote the libretto, selecting sacred and secular-artistic texts by St. John Chrysostom, J. Dučić, M. Nastasijević, M. Crnjanski, D. Medaković.
Svetislav Božić’s compositions have been presented at 15 author’s concerts in Belgrade, over 25 in Serbia and 7 abroad, performed by top domestic and foreign soloists and ensembles, among which the symphony orchestra and mixed choir of the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg and conductor Vladislav Chernushenko stand out. His works have been performed in 17 countries, in prestigious concert halls: Tchaikovsky in Moscow, St. Petersburg Chapel, Regent Hall in London, Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music in Kiev, Glinka Concert Hall in Zaporozhye, L’Heure Bleue Hall in Switzerland and Cortot in Paris.
Svetislav Božić’s discography consists of 14 albums, about ten with multiple authors, as well as DVD releases. The piano music cycle Byzantine Mosaic was released by NAXOS.
The Order of the Star of Karađorđe, First Class (2022), the Vidovdan Thanksgiving of the Ravanica Monastery (2022), the Golden Book of the Matica Srpska Library (2018), the Cultural Pattern of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia (2019), the Vuk Award (2007), the Belovodsk Rosette (2006), the Rača Charter (2004), the Stefan Prvovenčani Charter (2000), the October Award of the City of Belgrade (1995), two Golden Plaques of the Days of Mokranjac (1993 and 1995), the Golden Link Award of Belgrade (1995), the Vuk Foundation Award (1993) are just some of the recognitions for his work.