ABOUT US
Founded in 1948, the Institution for Cultural-Artistic Programs has worked the longest on the organization of musical and musical-dramatic programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Since 1999, the institution has been referred to by a new name, Sarajevo Arts Agency – Public institution for the Organization of Cultural Events and International Cooperation in the Field of Culture. Its founder was the Sarajevo Canton.
Sarajevo Arts Agency celebrates its 60th anniversary this year (2008). In the course of six decades there have been more than 20.000 concerts and various events in which leading artists and ensembles showcased talent from the region and other European countries.
During the past 60 years Sarajevo Arts Agency has organized numerous guest appearances for many Bosnian artists, thus promoting the musical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the country and abroad.
Sarajevo Arts Agency covers a wide spectrum of tasks and activities. These include:
- Organization of concerts of classical music, folk music, popular music, traditional, ethno and spiritual music as well as organization of cultural-artistic programs in the field of theatre, art, literature and film,
- International cultural cooperation – organizing local artists’ guest performances as well as foreign artists’ appearances in Sarajevo and Bosnia & Herzegovina,
- Organizing cultural-artistic events such as festivals, field days, competitions, artistic workshops etc.,
- Organizational collaboration with different companies, embassies, associations, individuals, et al. of given cultural-artistic programs.
During the more than six decades of its continuous work, Sarajevo Arts Agency has cooperated with numerous renowned ensembles and soloists both from former Yugoslavia and all over the world. It has also cooperated with many foreign institutions of its kind.
Thanks to this particular institution many famous musicians and orchestras have had guest appearances in Sarajevo, such as:
Violin
Henryk Szering (Mexico), Yehudi Menuhin (USA/Switzerland), Igor Ozim (Slovenia), Viktor Tretjakov (USSR), Igor Oistrakh (SSSR), Stefan Milenković (Serbia), Eduard Grač (USSR), Tamara Smirnova (USSR), Ruggiero Ricci, Jovan Kolundžija (Serbia).
Piano
Svjatoslav Rihter – (USSR), Lazar Berman (USSR), Emil Gilels (USSR), Ivo Pogorelić (Croatia), Aldo Ciccolini (France), Mihail Pletnjov (USSR), Pavica Gvozdić (Croatia), Jerome Lowenthal (USA), Eric Hope (Great Britain), Andrew Watts, Gerald Robbins (USA), Dubravka Tomšić (Slovenia), Vera Goronstaeva (USSR), James Tocco (USA),Vladimir Krpan (Croatia), Jasminka Stančul (Serbia), Aleksandar Madžar (Serbia), Milica Šnajder (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Neda Stanković (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sanja Lagumdžija, (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Kemal Gekić (Serbia), Konstantin Krasnitski (Belarus), Nina Kogan (USSR), Ruben Dalibaltajan (Armenia), Jakša Zlatar (Croatia), Rudolf Kerer (SSSR), Nikolaj Petrov (USSR), Aleksandra Romanić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gregor Vidović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), David Wilde (Edinburgh).
Cello
Andre Navara (France), Natalija Gutman (USSR), Valter Dešpalj (Croatia), Natalija Šahovskaja (USSR), Ksenija Janković (Serbia), Jevgenij Ksaverijev (Belarus).
Guitar
Marco de Santi (Italy), Kostas Kotsiolis (Greece), Darko Petrinjak (Croatia), Ivan Kalcina (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Opera
Ljiljana Molnar-Talajić, soprano (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Ruža Pospiš-Baldani, mezzo-soprano (Croatia), Milica Buljubašić, soprano (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Margit Tomik, mezzo-soprano (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Radmila Todorovska, soprano (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Miroslav Čangalović, bas (Serbia), Vladimir Ružđak, baritone (Croatia), Dunja Vejzović, mezzo-soprano (Croatia), Mirela Toić (Croatia) i Jadranka Jovanović, mezzo-soprano (Serbia), Ivan Hristov, tenor (Sofia) Mirko Jančić, bas (Bosnia and Herzegovina), et al.
Choirs
The Vienna Boys' Choir, Leningrad Glinka Choir, Collegium Musicum – Female choir (Serbia), Soloist Ensemble of Bolshoi Theatre.
Flute
Irena Grafenauer (Slovenia), Cveto Kobal (Slovenia), Laura Levaj (Serbia).
Clarinet
Rajmond Likić, (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Conductors
Milan Horvat (Croatia), Oskar Danon (Serbia), Anton Nanut (Slovenia), Živojin Zdravković (Serbia), Boris Papandopulo (Croatia), Uroš Lajovic (Slovenia), Angel Šurev (Macedonia), Jovan Šainović (Serbia), Vjekoslav Šutej (Croatia).
Philharmonic, Symphony and Chamber Orchestras
Zubin Mehta and The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, The Goteborg Symphony Orchestra and Mario Venzago, The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Alan Gilbert, The Krajove Philharmonics (Romania), The Slovakian Philharmonics, The Cairo Symphony Orchestra, The Zagreb Philharmonics, The Dresden State Orchestra, The World Orchestra of Jeunesses Musicales, The Bremen Symphony Orchestra, The Macedonia Philharmonic Orchestra, The National Youth Orchestra of Nordrhein – Westfalen, The Borodin Quartet (USSR), The Zagreb Quartet, The Zagreb Soloists, The Munich Chamber Orchestra, The Prokofiev String Quartet (USSR), The Slovenian Philharmonics, The International Jazz Quintet of Duško Gojković, The Soloist Ensemble of Bolshoi Theatre, The Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra and The National Academic Symphony Orchestra of the USSR, The Munich Symphony Orchestra, The Sofia Soloist, The Trio Orlando and The City Dubrovnik Orchestra.
Beside the single guest appearances of local artists, it is important to point out the festivals that have presented the Bosnian cultural heritage and arts to Europe and to the rest of the world. Memorable and prime examples of such programmes include: “The Days of Prague in Sarajevo” (21st to 27th July 2001), “The Days of Sarajevo in Prague” (4th to 10th April 2002), a tour of the ballet “A Part of Life” (October 1998), “The Days of Turkey” in Sarajevo” (1st and 2nd November 1998), “The Days of Zagreb in Sarajevo” (27th March to 2nd April 2001) and “The Sarajevo Days in Friedrichshafen” (4th and 5th August 2001).
“The Days of Vojvodina in Sarajevo” (2004), “The Days of Egyptian Culture in Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina” (28th October to 4th November 2006), “The Week of Bosnian Culture in Egypt” (25th to 30th November 2007).
Sarajevo Arts Agency has been cooperating with numerous existing local music ensembles such as Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarajevo String Quartet, Sarajevo Baroque Trio, SONEMUS, Chamber Orchestra 2007, Youth Symphony Orchestra of Southeast Europe, etc.
The greatest support to the work of Sarajevo Arts Agency has been provided by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Canton Sarajevo. Also, the City of Sarajevo and the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports participate, in part, in the support of this institution. |
