Концерт Миодрага Јовановића и Даринке Пауновић

Wednesday, 5 August

Princess Ljubica’s Residence, 8:30 PM

Concert by Miodrag Jovanović and Darinka Paunović

 

Johannes Brahms

Vier ernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs)

  • (Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, verses 18–22)
  • (Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4)
  • (Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), Chapter 41)
  • (First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 13)

Frédéric Chopin

Waltz in A minor

Modest Mussorgsky

Songs and Dances of Death

  • Lullaby
  • Serenade
  • Trepak
  • The Field Marshal

Stevan Mokranjac

Danube Song No. 1
Danube Song No. 2

Maurice Ravel

Don Quichotte à Dulcinée

  • Chanson Romanesque
  • Chanson Épique
  • Chanson à boire

Miodrag D. Jovanović, bass-baritone
Darinka Paunović, piano

Miodrag D. Jovanović was born in Belgrade into a family of professional musicians.

He completed his primary education, attended the Fifth Belgrade Gymnasium, graduated from the "Stanković" Secondary Music School, and earned his degree from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, Department of String Instruments – Violin. At the University of Belgrade, he also studied physics and philosophy.

Before moving abroad, he worked as a professor of violin and chamber music at the "Dr Vojislav Vučković" Secondary Music School in Belgrade. After relocating to Italy, he performed professionally as a violinist with various chamber, opera, and symphony orchestras throughout northern Italy, including Milan, Piacenza, and other cities.

He studied vocal performance at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under Professor Biserka Cvejić and at the Giuseppe Verdi State Conservatory in Milan under Professor Giovanna Canetti. He further refined his vocal artistry through private studies with distinguished vocal pedagogues including Nino Carta, Enrico Fisore, and Sara Sforni-Corti in Milan and Piacenza.

He earned his master's degree in solo singing at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of Professor Radmila Bakočević.

He has been a regular performer with the Opera of the National Theatre in Belgrade since 1988. From 1993 to 2016 he was a permanent guest artist of the Opera of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. Between 1999 and 2016 he participated in eight productions of the Madlenianum Opera and Theatre in Belgrade. In addition to Belgrade and Novi Sad, he has performed in Niš, Vranje, Pirot, Paraćin, Negotin, Aranđelovac, and numerous other Serbian cities.

During his career he has performed more than forty roles on stages in Serbia and abroad, including in the United States, the Russian Federation, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Korea, Greece, and elsewhere, primarily within the principal baritone and bass-baritone repertoire.

He has also participated in numerous first performances of operatic works on Serbian stages, including Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola and Il Signor Bruschino, Robert Ward's The Crucible, Dmitri Shostakovich's Katerina Izmailova, and others.

He has appeared at festivals such as BEMUS, the Niš Music Festival, Marble and Sounds in Aranđelovac, and Mokranjac Days in Negotin. As a concert artist, he has performed opera arias, art songs, and vocal-instrumental works with both piano and orchestral accompaniment. He has also recorded for Radio Television of Serbia.

From April 2005 to November 2006, he served as Director of the Opera of the National Theatre in Belgrade. During his tenure, he prepared, perhaps for the first time in the history of the institution, a precise repertory plan for the entire 2005/2006 season. Although the plan was not fully implemented, primarily for financial reasons, the Opera presented sixteen different productions during that season, including four premieres—one of which was the world premiere of John Gibson's opera Pink Fire—and two revived productions.

During that season, not a single performance was cancelled, nor was any announced title replaced by another. Average attendance at opera performances exceeded 85%.

For the first time in the history of the National Theatre Opera, an international co-production was established with the Pergolesi Theatre in Jesi near Ancona and the Pergolesi–Spontini Foundation. The first tours of the National Theatre Opera in Italy after more than forty years were also arranged, featuring Richard Strauss's Salome and Eugene Onegin, planned for 2008 and 2009. Part of the ensemble also performed Pink Fire at a festival in Brooklyn, New York, in the autumn of 2006.

For his artistic achievements, Miodrag D. Jovanović has received numerous awards and recognitions, including:

  • The Faculty of Music Award for the Most Promising Young Opera Singer from the Danica Mastilović Foundation;
  • A prize at the international competition Puccini e il suo tempo in Milan in 1993;
  • Finalist at the International Flaviano Labò Competition in Piacenza in the same year;
  • The National Theatre Award in 2006 for his outstanding contribution to the work and organisation of the Opera during his tenure as Director;
  • The 2007 biennial award of the Madlenianum Opera and Theatre for his exceptional artistic achievement in Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, for his portrayal of Lindorf, Coppélius, Miracle, and Dapertutto;
  • The National Theatre Annual Award in 2007 for the role of Tonio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci;
  • The National Theatre Annual Award in 2009 for the role of Don Carlo in Giuseppe Verdi's La forza del destino;
  • The National Theatre Annual Award in 2014 for the title role in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman;
  • The Golden Link Award of the Cultural and Educational Community of Serbia in 2017;
  • The National Theatre Annual Award in 2019 for the role of Mitke in Petar Konjović's opera Koštana;
  • In 2024 he received the Seal of the National Theatre in Belgrade in recognition of his overall artistic and institutional contribution.

Photo: Marko Paunović

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