28.12.2018.
Gala New Year’s Concert of “Binički” Ensemble
Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Defense “Stanislav Binički” and Nikola Kitanovski held a New Year’s gala opera concert entitled “Tenor Nikola Kitanovski and Friends”, last night in Kombank Hall in Belgrade.
At the concert divided into two parts and organized in a very comfortable and acoustic space, the audience had the opportunity to enjoy the selected opera arias and duets, and then, in the second part of the program, the beautiful arias and melodies of Zarzuela, Operetta and the new arrangements of the popular vocal and symphony orchestra songs.
Nikola Kitanovski, whose impressive solo career has been running for three decades now, and leaving a significant mark during performance at numerous concerts and most demanding tenor operas in the country and abroad, said on the eve of the event he was honored that the concert was named after him and that he was allowed to select the artists and friends who would perform alongside him.
The guests of the concert were widely recognized baritone with international career Boris Trajanov, the National Opera soprano diva Jasmina Trumbetaš Petrović, the mezzo-soprano Nataša Jović Trivić and two young sopranists Mirjana Matić and Marija Čuposka, who graduated in the class of professor Kitanovski and then set off in the professional opera world.
- It's about renowned, accomplished and very successful artists, who always leave a recognizable and significant mark at every performance, either at the local or international operatic stage, tenor Kitanovski said, emphasizing that this is a team of artists who introduce experience and maturity supported by huge youthful energy.
The concert began with the overture of Verdi’s opera Nabucco. The conductor was Milan Nedeljković, who has been working for the Terazije Theater for two decades, where he has had thousands of performances so far, and for this gala concert he also wrote some arrangements.
Then, tenor Nikola Kitanovski came on the stage enchanting all the present with his voice performing “E lucevan le stele” from Puccini’s opera Tosca. The conductor for this segment of the performance was already well known to her audience, Vesna Šouc, conductor with a rich and fruitful professional career and full professor at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.
Puccini’s Tosca continued with the performance of Jasmina Trumbetaš Petrović who thrilled the audience with her exquisite soprano. Later in the evening, she also performed Verdi’s arias as well as the famous song “Summertime” by American composer George Gershwin.
Boris Trajanov, a guest from Macedonia and baritone of international renown, performed arias from Rigoletto, Verdi’s opera in three acts.
Kitanovski won the audience with one of the most famous tenor arias “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s opera Turandot and disarmed the audience with “Dio mi potevi” from Verdi’s Othello. Together with his student Mirjana Matić he performed “Lippen Schweigen” from Lehar’s The Merry Widow operetta.
The National Theater opera diva, Ms Nataša Jović Trivić, charmed the audience singing “Mon Coeur” from Samson and Delilah, and later in the evening by singing Granada.
Soprano Marija Čuposka won the hearts of the audience with her theatrical performance and the Olympian Arias “Song of the Doll” from Offenbach’s opera The Tales of Hoffmann, which was premiered in Paris in 1881.
At the finale of the concert, Kitanovski and the ladies performed the songs “Santa Lucia” and “O Sole Mio” and in encore, he thrilled the audience with “The Drinking Song” from La Traviata.
Conducting of 22 songs was shared between Vesna Šouc and Milan Nedeljković, and Vladan Đurković was responsible for directing and scenography of this gala concert. This young and already accomplished director, the art director of the Youth Theater Dadov, has independently directed more than 40 times and has won several significant awards.
