A Solo Concert “Music Pearls of Montenegro”)

Slaven Knezović

Jelena Dobrković, piano

Slaven Knezović was born in Podgorica (1971). He comes from a long line of music connoisseurs. His professional and life’s commitment is and has been music since childhood, when he was already well-known as a boy with a violin from his city, to all corners of the former state of Yugoslavia. Although young, he succeeded in  representing  Montenegrin art and culture across the world. Among all his  performances from that time, that in the European Orchestra of the Best Students, in which he was the first violin, stands out. He has won a number of domestic and international awards, both as an instrumentalist and an author of various music  genres- from artistic to popular. Slaven continually involves himself in composing and rearranging of the Montenegrin traditional music heritage. In addition to being a full-time employee at Radio and Television of Montenegro for 35 years, he has held many different positions: from long-  time associate concertmaster of the Montenegrin Symphony orchestra, to the Music Production Director and  Editor in the Music Programme Department of Radio and Television of Montenegro.

Jelena Dobrković was born in 1981 (Foča). She completed her music education in Bar in the class of the professor Nina Sotnjičuk and graduated from the secondary music school in Podgorica as the student of the generation under the professor Anka Asanović. In 1998, Youth Music and Poetry Association declared her the best high-school student in Montenegro. What is important to mention is that she held her first concert at the Bar Summer Festival. Jelena has performed at various venues, including the Montenegrin National Theatre as well as the Royal Theatre “Zetski dom” Cetinje. During her schooling, she won numerous special awards at international competitions, amongst them those in Italy, France, Romania, England. She graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, in the class of the professor Rita Kinka. It is important to highlight that during her studies, as one of the best students, she performed as a member of  Novi Sad Music Festival throughout Serbia (Subotica, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Kragujevac). Her pedagogical work included, among her other engagements, being a piano professor at the “Petar II Petrović Njegoš” music school in Bar and working as an associate professor at the music school for talents “Andre Navarra” in Podgorica. Whilst she was teaching there,  she was the head of the piano department in Bar (2010-2020). During her pedagogical work, together with her students, she has achieved significant results in domestic and international competitions in Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Albania, France, Spain, Austria, USA, Canada, Malta, UK. Her students have won over 300 first places in competitions as well as numerous special prizes and performed in prestigious venues such as DiMenna Center for Classical Music (New York), The Sheldonian Theatre (Oxford) and Il Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona). Some of her students are now a part of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, as well as the Music Academies in Belgrade and Zagreb. She took part in various professional seminars that focused on the development of piano pedagogy as well as the performance and technique improvement and now holds the title of the senior teacher advisor. On several occasions, she has been a jury member at the National Competition in Montenegro as well as in various other ones. In 2018, with a colleague Mirjana Rajčić, who lives and works in Madrid, she recorded a music video for the composition “Durmitor”. It was written by MS Miro Kruščić, a prominent Montenegrin conductor and composer, all that under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro and the Municipality of Bar. She collaborated as an accompanist with the opera diva Aleksandra Vojvodić Jovović as well as with “Antivari Musica” Choir from Bar.