YURI ALEXANDROV

Yuri Alexandrov graduated on the Leningrad State Conservatoire as a pianist in 1974 (class of Professor Umanskaya) and from the faculty of musical stage direction in 1977 (class of senior lecturer M. Slutskaya). His degree production was Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Byelorussian State Academic Bolshoi Theatre. From 1978 to the present day Mr. Alexandrov has worked as a stage director at the Mariinsky Theatre. His work is natural and varied, and for him there is no strict, canonical understanding of opera. He boldly adapts, analyses and experiments with classical opera texts. Moreover, his art is marked by a unique aesthetic, original thoughts, paradox and the unexpected. Following the thought process in his productions is both intriguing and complex, filled as it is with allegory and metaphysical ideas. The metaphor is one of the Maestro's main devices, exposing and embodying the internal, deeply spiritual, philosophical and poetic world of the director.

Productions he has staged at the Mariinsky Theatre have always proved to be significant events in St Petersburg's cultural life, among them Donizetti's Il campanello di notte (The Night Bell) and Don Pasquale, Gluck's The Queen of May, Banevich's The Story of Kai and Gerda, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Stravinsky's Mavra, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Tchaikovsky's Mazepa, Prokofiev's Semyon Kotko (awarded Russia's highest theatre prize, the Golden Mask, in 1999 in the categories "Best opera production", "Best opera director", "Best opera designer" and "Best opera conductor") and Verdi's Aida, Don Carlos and Othello. One of Russia's greatest musical theatre directors, Yuri Alexandrov has won a reputation as an innovator in opera. In 1987 he founded the Chamber Music Theatre. Initially conceived as a creative "laboratory", with time it developed into the professional St. Petersburg Chamber Opera Company, famed not only throughout Russia but abroad too. Yuri Alexandrov has staged over two hundred productions at opera houses throughout Russia and abroad, among them Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (The Love Potion) (Riga), Musorgsky's Khovanshchina (Moscow, Bolshoi Theatre), Mozart's Don Giovanni (Vilnius), Borodin's Prince Igor, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (Turkey), Tchaikovsky's Cherevichki and Eugene Onegin, Mozart's Don Giovanni (Italy) and Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades (USA). One recent premiere directed by Mr. Alexandrov that set the opera world ablaze was Puccini's Turandot, which he staged in June 2003 at the Arena di Verona (Italy). It was an unprecedented event: for the first time ever the theatre had invited a Russian director to stage one of the classic Italian operas. Yuri Alexandrov and conductor Valery Gergiev work together in August 2005 at the Arena di Verona, and staged the opera Boris Godunov on the largest open scene. 

VYACHESLAV OKUNEV

Graduated from Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema (prof. I. G. Sigal). Designed more than 250 opera and ballet productions. In 1977 made his debut with Giselle (Mariinsky Theatre). At Mariinsky Theatre designed operas Love for Three Oranges, Mavra, Kashchey the Immortal, Il Campanillo, May Queen. Le nozze de Figaro, ballets La Sylphide, Petrushka, Svadebka, Coppelia, Anna Karenina (music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky), Inspector (music by Alexander Tchaikovsky) etc. At the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia: La Sylphide, Russian Hamlet. At the Bolshoi Theatre of Byelorussia: The Magic Flute, Katerina Izmailova, Tosca, Fire-bird, Le Sacre du printemps, Rogneda, (music by Mdivani), Undine (music by Henze), Don Quichotte. At the Boris Eifman Ballet Thetare: Tchaikovsky, Karamazovy Brothers, Red Giselle, Russian Hamlet, Don Juan by Moliere. At present, Okunev is the chief designer of Musorgsky Opera and Ballet Theatre (St. Petersburg), where he designed Tsar Saltan, Carmen, Otello, La Traviata, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Don Quichotte. Among the productions of classical Russian operas: War and Peace, Fiery Angel (Perm), Tsar's Bride (Kiev), Boris Godunov (Odessa), Evgeny Onegin (St. Petersburg Opera), Ruslan and Ludmila (Tchelyabinsk). At Mariinsky Theatre Vyacheslav Okunev reconstructed historical sets for Khovanshchina (by Fedorovsky), Petrushka (by Benois), Coppelia (after artists of the nineteenth century), Sadko (by Korovin), Prince Igor (by Konstantinovsky), Mazepa (by Shlepyanov) and in Kazan Opera Theatre for Carmen (by Golovin).

Among the last works: Cleopatra by Massenet (Perm), Cherevichki (Cagliari, Italy), Don Giovanni (Verona), Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quichotte (Tokyo), Petrushka (Glasgow), Karamazovy Brothers (Essen), Giselle (Seoul).

Vladimir Kranjcevic, (Zagreb 1936) conductor, graduated the piano from Music Academy in Zagreb in the class of professor Vladislav Šaban. He studied conducting with Slavko Zlatic in Zagreb and Igor Markevic in Monte Carlo. Ha won his Master Degree in 1980 in the class of Vojislav Ilic. He built his career as a conductor of numerous choirs, orchestras and ensembles. He was the chief-conductor of Vatroslav Lisinski Chamber Orchestra, Ivan Goran Kovacic Academy Choir, Croatian Radio Television Choir, Zagreb Madrigalists, Croatian Radio Television Symphony Orchestra, RTS Music Production, he was Director of Opera of Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (1994-2002) art manager and founder (1971) and since 1994 till 2006, manager of the Festival of Varaždin Baroque Nights. Since 1978 up till these days he has been teaching at the Music Academy in Zagreb. He is the winner of numerous awards, recognitions and decorations. As a conductor and pianist single-handed and with ensembles, he gave guest performances in Austria, Germani, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Great Britain, Democratic Republic of Korea, countries of the former Soviet Union, China and Cuba. His conducting has been recorded in more than two thousand minutes of permanent recordings for radio and television, about twenty gramophone records and CDs, prevalently Croatian music but also works from the world music literature. A lot of works by Croatian composers and also numerous works from the Croatian national music heritage, premiered under his buton.

VLADIMIR ANDRIC 

He was born in Valjevo in 1972. For the role of Dandini in the opera Cinderella he was awarded by the National Theatre in 1999 and was also granted the award Davidoff for promising creativity and talent. He was the winner of the International Contest Jeunesses Musicales in Belgrade in 1998. He won the third prize at the competition within the International Festival George Enescu in Bucharest in 2001. At the stage of the Opera of the National Theatre in Belgrade he realized a great number of important roles in the following operas: Don Giovanni, Madam Butterfly, The Barber of Seville, Faust, Eugene Onegin, The Elixir of Love, and The Magic Flute. At Madlenianum Opera and Theatre he performed in the operas: Il Signor Bruschino, The Wise Girl, La Traviata and Madam Butterfly.

She completed her secondary musical education in Belgrade at the school Stevan Mokranjac, the department for theory and the department for solo singing in the class of  Mirjana Vlaovic. She graduated from the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade at the Department for General Musical Pedagogy. After her studies at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade and the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, she studied solo singing in the class of the principal male singer of Bucharest Opera, Oktav Enigaresku. She received her M.A. degree in the class of the Professor Vera Kovac Vitkai. Even during her studies, the experts noticed her dark coloured voice, equalized in all registers, as well as her capacity to shape phrases. Tanja Obrenovic is a soloist of the Opera of Madlenianum, where she realized roles in the operas The Secret Marriage, by D. Cimarosa, The Wise Girl, by K. Orff, Two Widows, by B. Smetana, Cosi fan tutte, by W. A. Mozart and the Tales of Hoffmann, by J. Offenbach, La Traviata, by G. Verdi and Madam Butterfly, by G. Puccini.

Stefan Sablic, set designer and a musician, graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, in the class of professor Egon Savin. He proceeded with his post-graduate studies of theatre directing at the Universiti in Tel Aviv. Up till nowadays he directed a series of performances such as: The Moon on the Flame by Sanja Domazet, (Belgrade Drama Theatre 2009) DNK by Stiven Belber (Atelje 212, 2008), The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino (Boško Buha Theatre, 2008), The Indian wants to Bronx by Israel Horovitz (JCCA, 2007), The Blond Jewess by Isak Samokovlija (Zvezdara Theatre, 2007), Jevrem’s Life by Aleksandar Djaja (Theatre on Terazije, 2006), The Old Lady’s Visit by Fridrich Direnmat (Bitef Theatre, 2006), The Stendhal Syndrome by Terrence Mackenli (Serbian National Theatre), Suspicious Person by Branislav Nušic (Kruševac National Theatre, 2004) Blacksmiths by Miloš Nikolic, (The National Theatre Belgrade, 2003). Visiting Mr. Green by Jeff Baron (Atelje 212, 2002), The Soldiers Tale by Stravinski/Ramuz (Tel Aviv, 2001), Life from the Beginning by Miroslav Momcilovic (Cult Theatre 2000), Elektra by Danilo Kiš (Atelje 212, 1999), Damned Kovalski by Nebojša Romcevic (Atelje 212, 1998). He worked at the laboratory for directors in Lincoln Centre in New York.

STANKO JOVANOVIC, conductor, born in 1968 in Belgrade. He studied conducting at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade and in 1992 graduated in the class of professor Jovan Sajnovic. In 1993 he became a permanent honorary conductor of the Orchestra of the Radio and Television of Serbia. Beside the independent concerts with the RTS orchestra, he also assists to: Vassily Sinayski in preparations of IX Symphony by L. v. Beethoven; Yuri Aliev in the work on Debussy’s The Sea; Christian Mandeal in Verdi’s Requiem and to his professor Jovan Sajnovic in Mozart’s Requiem and Four last songs by R. Strauss. With the Yugoslav Army orchestra and with the Belgrade Philharmonic he performs VIII Symphony by L. v. Beethoven and Don Juan by R. Strauss. During a one-year work with the Ballet of the National Theatre he conducts Delibes' Coppelia and works on preparations of the Swan Lake by P. I. Tchaikovsky's. Since 1996 he has been engaged as a full-time conductor of the orchestra of the RTS, and with them he realized a number of very well received concerts, archived records of rarely performed works, and many works of Yugoslav and Serbian composers. With the RTS he recorded two CDs: Eight centuries of Hilandar and Vivaldi - Bach Concerts for violin and piano with the soloists of Simonuti Trio. At the guest performances in England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia (Maribor Philharmonic) and Canada the concerts that can be especially singled out are those with the London Chamber Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the traditional New Year’s concert in Milan, and from the works realized at those guest performances he achieved a special success in conducting Liturgy by S. Rachmaninov and Brahm’s III Symphony. Since August 1999 he has been engaged as the chief conductor of the Philharmonic of the young Borislav Pascan. In 2001 he conducted the premiere of the opera „The Two Widows“ by Bedrich Smetana at Madlenianum Opera and Theatre. Out of the latest guest performances the two can be highlighted: the one with the orchestra of the Toronto Academy (in 2005) and the other with the Chamber Orchestra from Baden (Zurich, in 2006). Stanko Jovanovic is an artist of a wide spectrum and is active in all musical genres (jazz, rock, folk music). He accomplished a great success on large audio festival in Monte Carlo, where he won a III prize for the record of the jazz opera Cacao Tree (in 1996). On the latest piano CD (published in January 2006 in the edition of PGP RTS) he presented himself as a splendid and authentic performer of Russian, Hungarian and Romanian ballads.

Awards:
- October Student Award
- RTS Musical Production Award
- Radio Belgrade Award
- RTS Award
- United Nations Award for the Balkans
- International Red Cross Award (for humanitarian work)
- Yugoslav Red Cross Award (for humanitarian work)
- BEMUS Award (in 1999) for interpretation (as the conductor of the Philharmonic of young „Borislav  Pascan“)
- BEMUS Award (in 2000) for the best BEMUS concert (the Philharmonic of the young „Borislav Pascan“) 

SRDJAN TIMAROV 

He was born in Belgrade on 7th August, 1976. He graduated in acting from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. He had his acting debut at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. He has been a member of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade since April, 2001. He plays in the performances of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, The Serbian National Theatre, the theatre Atelje 212 and Belgrade Drama Theatre. His most significant roles in the theatre are: Measure for Measure, Spawn of Carps, Faith and Treason, Bereaved Family (all at the Serbian National Theatre), Supermarket, The Merchant of Venice, and Pavilions (in the Yugoslav Drama Theatre). He received the following prizes: Jovan Sterija Popovic, in 2001, for the role in the performance Pavilions, Ardalion in Užice, in 1999 and in 2006, as well as the Award Predrag Tomanovic of the Serbian National Theatre for the role in the performance Measure for Measure.

Sofija Pizurica, - soprano, finished basic and post-gradual studies from The Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade in the class of Professor Biserka Cvejic. She is a winner of a number of awards and recognitions. She was a fellowship holder of CEE Musikteater, the prestigious cultural institution from Vienna which supports specialized training of the most promising young artists of Central and Eastern Europe. She made her debut being still a student in 2001 with the role of Musset at the scene of the National Theatre in Belgrade. After that, other roles followed: Pamina and Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Adina in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Musseta in Puccini’s Bohemians, Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Despina in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Oscar in Verdi’s Masked Ball, Antonia and Gulietta in Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. Micaela in Bizet’s opera Carmen, Countess in Mozart,s The Marriage of Figaro, Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Sophie in Jules Massenet’s Werther, Celina in Mozart’s Don Juan. Since 2002 she has been a permanent participant of Madlenianum stage production.

Snezana Savcic Sekulic, soprano, who graduated and won a master’s degree from The Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade in the class of Professor Radmila Smiljanic. She is a winner of numerous and very significant awards and acknowledgements. As a fellowship holder of CEE Musiktheater from Vienna (2004-2007), she appeared in concerts and opera performances, and received a specialized training with great names of opera art and, as the crown of it all, the recent participation in a concert of Vienna Opera House, followed. She is a soloist of the Opera of The National Theatre in Belgrade. Being still a student, she made her debut on the scene on the scene od The National Opera in the role of Gilda after which, numerous roles in operas such as The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Puccini’s Bohemians and Gianni Schicchi, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and Ivan Jevtic’s Mandragola, followed on the scene of Madlenianum Opera and Theatre . She realized the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia of Lammermoor. In addition to opera singing, she also cherishes the tradition of concert singing. She has appeared in this country and all over Europe. She did recordings for Mandala-Harmonia Mundi in Paris, RTS, RTRS, and RTCG. She is engaged in pedagogical work