The Montenegro Youth Orchestra gave a concert at the Music Centre in Podgorica on Wednesday evening. Speaking at the opening of the concert, Ambassador of the European Union to Montenegro Oana Cristina Popa noted that 2022 has been declared the European Year of Youth, which is why it is vitally important for the EU to support youth activism, culture and mobility.
“This evening is a great opportunity for us to celebrate the young musicians of this orchestra and their recent performance in Freiburg. The European Union in Montenegro is happy to have supported their trip and performance in Germany. We feel that it is very important to support young artists, their further education, training and exchange of practices with their peers from Europe, especially because they have been deprived of so many things over the last two years,” said Popa.
The Montenegro Youth Orchestra recently returned from their German tour, having performed on Sunday evening at E-Werk in Freiburg, which is one of the most acclaimed venues for art music. The trip was financially supported by the European Union in Montenegro and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Montenegro.
The concert at the Music Centre was organised with the financial support of Erste Bank. The repertoire included works such as “Balsam” by Carola Bauckholt, “Queen” by Aleksandar Perunović, “Titex Concert Intro” by Milivoje Pićurić and “Aroura” by Iannis Xenakis, as well as a composition entitled “Chamber Symphony”, written by Dario Arroyo López for this occasion and the Montenegro Youth Orchestra in particular.
“The repertoire includes compositions grounded in the two most important music traditions of the 20th century. More specifically, the works by Montenegrin authors Perunović and Pićurić were written in a minimalist style, whereas López and Bauckholt base their aesthetics on the avant-garde. There is also a composition by one of the greatest names of the 20th century – Xenakis, which is also an excellent example of avant-garde music. In this way, the repertoire was made more dynamic and more interesting, while also nurturing the national music scene as well as contemporary music from around the world,” explained conductor Igor Pejović.
Pejović said he was especially glad to see so many young people in the audience, especially because they are not a typical audience for art music, even in developed environments.
“After the concert, we could notice that people were trying to find new words to describe their experience as accurately as possible. As these are young people, who come from outside the world of classical music, I believe that this event was a success. On behalf of the orchestra, I would like to thank our partners for their interest and the support they provided,” said the young conductor.
The Montenegrin Youth Orchestra was established in 2018 by the Association of Young Artists of Montenegro. In 2019, the orchestra became a member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras. It is made up of 15 enthusiastic musicians, most of whom started their careers abroad.