VOJVODINA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Continuing the tradition of Vojvodina Symphonists, a reputable ensemble of high interpretation level at the national artistic scene the orchestra was established in February 2011 as Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, organised on “staggione” ensemble principle. During the last season of 2021/2022 the ensemble celebrated the tenth anniversary of successfully implemented instituonalisation and until now it has performed at almost 160 concerts, achieving a significant level of music playing and good interpretation standards. The VSO’s residence is the famous Sinagogue in Novi Sad .
Insisting on diversity of classical, and sometimes of a wider repertoire in terms of genre (in particular when it comes to more popular, so-called Gala New Year’s concerts), the orchestra has presented itself the best until now in the late-Romanticism pieces of symphony and concert literature, capturing the audience with its rich sound, wide dynamic scale and rich cantilenas, and it has also proven itself through interpretations of 20th century pieces, as well as pieces of contemporary national authors.
Within the previous period, the orchestra has performed successfully more than seventy premiere programmes with participation of internationally recognised national and foreign conductors. Among renowned guest artists of international musical scene that the orchestra has co-operated with it is important to mention the maestros such as Saulius Sondeckis, Marco Parisotto, Mats Liljefors, Marcus Poschner, Ligia Amadio, Phillip Pickett, Francesco la Vecchia, Bundit Ungrangasee, Mladen Tarbuk, Ilmar Lapins, Emil Tabakov, Eduard Topchjan, Tigran Haknazarijan, Lior Shambadal, Klaudio Vandeli, Filip Grinberg, and Berislav Skenderović, and attractive soloists such as Valery Oistrakh, Martin Kofler, Sreten Krstić, Cyprien Katsaris, Narek Haknazarijan, Aleksandar Buzlov, Khachaatur Almazian, Lorenzo Gatto, Bettina Ranch, Irakli Murjikneli, Ivona Sobotka, Tatjana Samuil, Itamar Zorman, Aleksandar Madžar, Rita Kinka, Jasminka Stančul, Christof Berner, Nemanja Radulović, Katarina Jovanović, Nebojša Jovan Živković, Laura Levai Aksin, Roman Simović, Xavier Phillips, Jean-Marc Phillips Varjabedian, Nicolas Altstaedt, Maja Bogdanović, Milijana Nikolić, Dejan Bogdanović, Anjelo Deziderio, Mladen Čolić, Ratimir Martinović, Aleksandar Tasić, Ksenija Janković, Terem Quartet, Janoska ensemble and many other exceptional music performers. According to the expert critics, as well as the involved guest-conductors and soloists, Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra has reached a high level of interpretation of a respectable professional ensemble and due to its position at a national level it participates regularly at Novi Sad Music Festivities.
In July 2014, Vojvodina Symphonists entered the international “waters” for the first time and they presented themselves at the 60th Split Summer and 65th Dubrovnik Summer Festival. The recognition to our ensemble came also from the Magazine Musica Classica whose jury awarded it the Orchestra of the Year Prize for 2014 for its successful work. In November 2015, the Orchestra had its first acclaimed performance in the great hall of the Kolarac Endowment Hall in Belgrade and in October 2016 at Belgrade Music Festival in that same hall.
Since September of the jubilee season of 2021/2022, the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra has an appointed Chief conductor, Aleksandar Marković (who is currently running his second mandate at this function), a renowned artist with international career with whom they have performed several exceptional concerts until now. During this richer than usual season, the ensemble has recorded concerts with guest conductors Bojan Suđić and Premil Petrović, as well as Novi Sad artists Aleksandar Kojić and Mikica Jevtić. They also had great performances with our and foreign soloists, including those from the younger generation such as Irena Josifoska, Aleksandra Šuklar and Robert Lakatoš, but also long established worldwide artists Radovan Vlatković, Kemal Gekić, Ivo Pogorelić, Stefan Milenković and Roman Simović. They played music under the conductorship of Ejub Gulijev, Srboljub Dinić and Aleksandar Marković, who in November 2021 also led a magnificent performance of Verdi’s Requiem realized in co-operation with the Opera Choir of the Serbian National Theatre and an international quartet of soloists. Marković’s interpretation of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony in June this year was also a great success, so that the beginning of the current season 2022/23 was marked by an open-air concert (4th Corso) where our orchestra, led by its chief conductor, played with Julian Rachlin, one of the most famous violinists of our time. At this year’s Nomus, the ensemble collaborates with Gordan Nikolić again, after March 2021, as a soloist and conductor, and in November, in addition to the concerts in Novi Sad, he is also expected to perform at the Belgrade Music Festival.
Our team
Marko Miletić was born in 1984 in Kraljevo. He began playing the cello at the age of nine at the “Stevan Mokranjac” Music School in Kraljevo, in Professor Aleksandar Jakovljević’s class. He soon continued his studies under Professor Boža Saramandić and completed his secondary music education at the Dr. Miloje Milojević Music School in Kragujevac. He completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in Professor Imre Kálmán’s class. Immediately after finishing his studies, he started working as a teaching assistant and is currently a full professor of cello at the Academy. In 2011, he received the highest scholarship for the “Artist Diploma of Performance” program at Columbus University (USA) in Professor Wendy Warner’s class, one of the leading cellists of her generation. During his time in the U.S., he was recognized as a talented educator and was engaged as a professor of cello and chamber music in the “College Prep” program.
Throughout his schooling, he won several awards at festivals and competitions both as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles. In 2007, he revived the chamber orchestra “Camerata Academica,” where he worked as a solo cellist and artistic director. Since 2021, it has officially held the status of a city chamber orchestra under the name “Camerata Novi Sad” and operates under the patronage of the Cultural Center of Novi Sad.
Since 2013, he has been a member of the piano trio “Valmaro” with violinist Robert Lakatos and pianist Valentina Nenaševa. Since 2015, he has been collaborating intensively with pianists Mihajlo Zurković and Valentina Nenaševa on concerts both domestically and internationally. In 2017, he founded the NEON Festival, which for the eighth consecutive year in the summer months brings top artists to Novi Sad. The concepts he sets up at the NEON Festival and within the concert repertoire of Camerata Novi Sad are always engaging and deliver top-quality performances from the artists he brings together. This success has enabled him to ensure that classical music plays a dominant role in the year Novi Sad was presented as the European Capital of Culture. At the Novi Sad 2021 European Capital of Culture Foundation, he was engaged as a curator for classical music, thus overseeing a significant part of the musical life in Novi Sad.
Milica Antonić was born in 1989 in Novi Sad. After completing the basic studies (2012) at the Faculty of Economics, Subotica, University of Novi Sad, majoring in marketing, in 2014 she completed her master’s studies at the same faculty, majoring in management.
She works in the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra as a financial manager since 2015.