Montenegrin Symphony orchestra, Montenegro

The Montenegrin Symphony orchestra held its first concert on December 14th 2007 in Cetinje, and has since become one of the pinnacles of music life in Montenegro. At over 500 concerts to date in both Montenegro and abroad (Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Russia, Turkey, Albania, France), the orchestra has performed with renowned soloists and conductor including Montserrat Caballe, Mischa Maisky, Ivo Pogorelic, Ilya Gringolts, Roman Simovic, Milosh Karadaglic, Denis Shapovalov, Simon Trpcheski, Stefan Milenkovic, Konstantin Lifshitz etc. First chief conductor of the orchestra was the russian artist Alexey Shatsky who came to Montenegro after being an assistant to the legendary Vladimir Fedoseyev. He was followed on the position by Grigory Kraskowho had also been concert master and leader of the Montenegrin string ensemble and has thus continued the development and upward path of the orchestra. Since 2023/24 chief conductor is the french with Montenegrin roots -Mark Korovitch. The orchestra’s repertoire is wide and varied, ranging from baroque works to pieces written by contemporary composers. The orchestra has premiered large works of the symphonic repertoire which have been marked as historic events in the Montenegring music life. The orchestra is also committed to performing and premiering works by Montenegrin composers including those of Ivan Brkanovic, Ilija Lakeshic, Borislav Tamindzic, Zharko Mirkovic, Nina Periodic, Aleksandar Perunovic, Senad Gachevic etc.

Marc Korovitch, chief conductor of the Montenegrin Symphony ochestra was born in 1987 and has studied choir conducting and orchestra conducting at the Sorbonne University of Paris, Paris Conservatory of Music and at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva, Switzerland. Marc Korovitch works on a regular basis with the Chœur de Radio-France and the Choeur Accentus since 2014, for tours, radio performances, recordings, preparations and A Cappella concerts and then with the Croatian Radio Choir, SWR vokalensemble, WDR Chor, the English Voices, the Coro de la communidad de Madrid and the one from the Spanish Radio and television. With orchestra he has worked with the Concerto Köln, the Croatian Baroque Orchestra, the Hague Chamber Orchestra, the Croatian Radio and Television, the National Orchestra of Montpellier. He has worked also in many different opera production in Opéra National de Montpellier, Opéra de Rouen, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Theater an der Wien. He collaborates with many renowned conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, Alan Gilbert, Gustavo Dudamel, E. P. Salonen, Daniele Gatti, Klaus Mäkelä, Lahav Shani, Louis Langrée, Stéphane Denève, Herbert Blomstedt, Philippe Jordan, Laurence Equilbey, Marc Korovitch works for many festivals: the Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Recontres Musicales d’Evian, the Festival de Radio-France in Montpellier, the festival Mozart in New-York, the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm or the Opera Festival d’Aix en Provence. He is appointed choir master of the Jeune Chœur de Paris in 2017, of the Swedish Radio choir since the season 2018-2019, musical director of the Orchestre Colonne in September 2022 and chief conductor of the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra from September 2023. Marc Korovitch has also a great interest in pedagogy, he is now conducting teacher at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Regional de Paris and gives masterclasses around Europe (The Hague, Oslo, Valencia, Zagreb) and is regularly invited as a Jury member for international competitions.

Nina Kostova-piano

Nina Kostova has completed her education in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia in the classes of the renowned professors Boris and Ljudmila Romanov. She has won many awards, acknowledgements and  has been a part of  the European scene many times  performing in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey and many more countries.

From 1991until 2010 she has taken part in every seminar organised by DMBUC-Skopje, Jeunesses Musicale  the music school “Dobrin Petkov” in Plovdiv, as well as the music school “Vojislav Vuckovic“ in Belgrade which were led by her professor Boris Romanov. She graduated and  honours and received a cum laude distinction for her master’s degree and in 2014 and successfully completed her Phd studies. Nina Kostova has performed as soloist with the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Youth Symphonic Orchestra “Dobrin Petkov” from Plovdiv-Bulgaria, the Chamber Orchestra “Saint George”, the Chamber Orchestra “Moscovia”, the Symphonic Orchestra of the Faculty of music etc. She has collaborated with many well-known conductors from all over the world such as: Sasha Nikolovski, Aleksandar Lekovski, Borjan Canev, Leonid Nikolaev, Eduard Gratch, Plamen Parvanov, Janko Kostelic and others. In addition she has numerous  chamber and duo performances in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Italy, France, the USA as well as her performance with the Henschel quartet form Germany at the Ohrid summer festival.

Nina Kostova is a piano  professor at the Faculty of Music in Skopje. Her devotion to her students has led to many awards and successful performances. Proof of her dedication are the acknowledgement from Carnegie Hall for special contribution on the festival American protégé and the acknowledgement from the foundation Spivakov for special contribution at the festival “Moscow meets Friends” in 2013. From 2018, Nina Kostova is a honorary member of the “Tomislav Zografski” foundation.

Programme:

1. A. Mozart: Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 21 C Major KV 467

                                               Allegro

                                               Andante

                                               Allegro vivace assai

Jozef Martin Kraus: Symphony in C minor VB 142

Larghetto – Allegro

                                               Andante

                                               Allegro assai