The 9th International Festival "Harmonika Fest" (“Accordion Fest”) will be held in Tivat from Wednesday until Friday and will gather about 250 accordionists from numerous European countries, said NGO “Harmonika Montenegrina”.
Director and founder of the Festival, Predrag Jankovic, said that the Festival is progressing and developing year by year and it is positioned well on the map of the famous European accordion festivals, reports PR Center.
"This year, we will have a record number of participants in the competition segment, with about 250 contestants, including the orchestra of the accordion, which is the largest number so far and we are particularly pleased about this. This is another indication that the Festival is going on an upward trajectory," Jankovic said.
The first evening, as announced, will feature the ensemble Beltango Quintet at Hotel Chedi in Lustica.
"It will start at 9 pm. The next day we will have a concert in the small hall of the Cultural Center, where we will have the opportunity to hear the most successful classical accordionist coming from Kazakhstan, Damir Sultanov, who is a professor at the National University in Kazakhstan," Jankovic said. In the second part, the academy orchestra Akordeonista from Kragujevac will perform.
"The audience will have the chance to hear how the accordion sounds in the orchestra and they will perform a very interesting program," Jankovic said.
He also announced a round table on which a professor from "Giuseppe Tartini" Conservatory of Trieste, Korado Rojac, will speak.
"We are also traditionally organizing a segment of master workshops, and this year the main lecturer will be the president of the World Accordionist’s Confederation Frederic Descamps, who is a very acknowledged professor and pedagogue with very successful students," Jankovic said.
According to him, on the final day of the Festival, a closing concert and awards ceremony will take place.
"The concert will start the 1.30 p.m. in the small hall of the Cultural Center, which will also be the end of this year's “Haromonika Fest”, Jankovic said.
He said that the goal is to present a modern, classic accordion in the best way through master workshops and concerts.
"It is an instrument that has a shorter tradition than some other instruments, such as piano, violin, cello, but it has enormous advantages as it is a polyphonic instrument that allows us to play a wide repertoire and I think that, in case of quality performers, the audience is thrilled to listen to all sorts of programs that can be played on the accordion," explained Jankovic.
He said that a good, qualitative presentation of this instrument is very important, especially in the Balkans.
"In addition to talented performers who played ethnical melodies and folk music, people often had the opportunity to listen to some people who do not represent the accordion in the right way. It is often blurred with the image that on this instrument other music can be played, and not just folk. All kinds of musical genres can be played on the accordion and I invite you to come and make sure that all this is true, also in practice", Jankovic said.
The program selector, Tijana Ilic, said that 250 contestants would be presented in ten categories of solo accordion, "then we have four categories of chamber ensembles and we have as many as three orchestral categories".
"This year, we have a jury of 13 members. We have made sure that this year the members of the jury are the world's greatest pedagogues, accordion artists, including Frederic Descamps, Radomir Tomic, Miljan Bjeletic from Serbia, Dalibor Boljun from Croatia, Damir Sultanov from Kazakhstan, who will evaluate the contestants and hold a concert. There are certainly our representatives from Montenegro, Miroslav Ilic, Aleksandar Basar, " said Ilic.
She said that competitors come from Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and more.
"We expect a successful Festival and a good presentation of the program," Ilic said.
Text by Vijesti online, on May 27th, 2019, read more at Vijesti
