Academic Choir Collegium Musicum
Academic Choir Collegium Musicum was founded in 1971 on the initiative of professor Vojislav Ilić. Mrs Darinka Matić Marović, Professor Emeritus at the Department for Conducting at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade, has been conductor of the choir since its foundation. Dragana Jovanović, docent at the same department has been engaged as the second conductor of the choir since 2002. Since 1971 to the present more than 300 female students of Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade have been members of this choir. Academic Choir Collegium Musicum was founded in 1971 on the initiative of professor Vojislav Ilić. Mrs Darinka Matić Marović, Professor Emeritus at the Department for Conducting at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade, has been conductor of the choir since its foundation. Dragana Jovanović, docent at the same department has been engaged as the second conductor of the choir since 2002. Since 1971 to the present more than 300 female students of Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade have been members of this choir.
Collegium Musicum is one of the most eminent choirs in Serbia which has performed more than 3000 concerts throughout country and abroad (Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweeden, Germany, Austria, Poland, Czeck, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, India, Mongolia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia, Belaruss, Ukraine, Litvania, Latvia, Estonia, Argentina, Brasil, Ecuador, Mexico, Cuba, USA).
The repertoire of the choir includes compositions by authors from different musical periods, from early music to contemporary music art. The high professional level and creativity of this ensemble has inspired many composers to dedicate their works to the choir. In 46 years of the existence the choir has had more than 200 premiere performances. Collegium Musicum participated in the realization of many important cultural events in the country and the region, as well as in the projects of performing a number of choral-orchestral works in cooperation with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Television Serbia, St. George’s Strings, the Belgrade String Orchestra Dušan Skovran, the Symphony Orchestra Niš, The Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, the Faculty of Music Arts Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Music Academy in Banja Luka and the conductors Zubin Mehta, Emil Tabakov, Uros Lajovic, En Shao, Francesco La Vecchia, Bojan Sudjic, Sasa Britvic, Grigory Krasko… In recent years the ensemble with particular care has been developing a visual identity in coral performance nad has also performed several concerts-performances such as Sirens, The document: WATER, Mokranjac 1914-2014, Water-Snake-Smederevo City …
The Academic Choir Collegium Musicum have received numerous prizes and awards both in Serbia and abroad. Awards and prizes won at international competitions:
The absolute first place for the performance of polyphonic music at the International Guido d’Arezzo Polyphonic Contest, Arezzo (Italy, 1971);
The first prize for the performance of polyphonic music, and the first prize for the performance of national music at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen (Great Britain, 1973);
BBC award, London (Great Britain,1973);
Two gold medals at the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin, (German,1973);
The absolute first place and a special award for the performance of polyphonic music, and the first prize for the performance of national music at the International Festival in Gorizia (Italy, 1980);
The first prize for the performance of polyphonic music, and the prize for the best conductor at the International Competition in Torrevieja (Spain, 1998);
The absolute first prize for the best choir at the Festival, Gold medal for polyphony in the category of female choirs and a special reward for the best performance of folk piece of music at the 6th Competition of Choral Music in Preveza (Greece, 2000);
The special audience prize at the 48th Choral Contest in Cork (Ireland, 2002);
The absolute first prize for the best choir, the prize for the best performance of a piece of music written in Chinese language, and the prize for the best conductor at the 6th International Choral Festival in Beijing, (China, 2002);
The first prize in the category of musically educated choirs, the absolute first prize awarded by Polish national television and an award for the best conductor at the 29th International Festival of Orthodox Church Music in Bialystok, Hajnowka (Poland, 2010);
Gold Medal at the International Choir Festival at Carnegie Hall (New York, USA, 2013).
The Academic Choir Collegium Musicum took part in numerous prestigious festivals abroad: The Prague Spring (Czech Republic), The International festival in Varna (Bulgaria), festivals in Puebla and Tepotzotlan (Mexico), The Festival of Flanders in Ghent (Belgium), The Festival of Vocal Music in Brno (Czech Republic), The World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana (Cuba), “George Enescu” festival in Bucharest (Romania), The Berlin Festival (Germany), The Festival of Sacred Music in Palermo and The Music Days in Trieste (Italy), festivals in Greece: Delphi, Lefkas, Kardica, Atalanti, Kastoria, Thessaloniki, Corfu, Athens; The Festival of Sacred Music in Moscow, Days of Serbian Culture in Saint-Petersburg (Russia), The Choir Festivals in Toulon and Nancy (France), The Choir Festival in Buenos Aires (Argentina)…
The Academic Choir Collegium Musicum has recorded for many radio and TV stations, such as Radio Television Serbia, Norwegian National Radio, RAI (Italy), Radio Television Mexico and many others. Some of masterpieces of choral art have remained permanently recorded on audio editions of The Millennium Concert of Collegium Musicum, Colors and Sounds of Balkan and Sirens, while the latest project Three Sounds of Mokranjac is the first integral sound edition of Garlands of Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac in transcribed by Vojislav Ilić.