114 years of the Art Ensemble MO "Stanislav Binički"
The Gala Concert on the occasion of the MoD Art Ensemble "Stanislav Binicki" was held this evening in the great hall of the Central Military Club in Belgrade.
The jubilee of the renowned ensemble, which is known as the successor of the brightest musical traditions of the Serbian people, was enhanced by the presence of the Minister of Defence of Serbia Nebojsa Rodic, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, and many distinguished guests from the military and social life.
The orchestra which celebrates 114 years of artistic work, established by the order of King Alexander Obrenovic I, performed the works of Stanislav Binicki, tracks from the TV series "Monteviodeo" and "The village burns and the grandma combs her hair" and some memorable songs with the soloists with whom it has been cooperating for years. Merima Njegomir, Zarko Dancuo, Nada Pavlovic, Zeljko Savic, Cedomir Markovic and Boki Milosevic were greeted with the applause.
"It has been my pleasure for a long time to work with the "Stanislav Binički" ensemble. Last year I held a solo concert accompanying them, and we are planning to continue working together also in the future period“, Merima Njegomir announced adding that tonight she enjoyed the concert both as a listener and as a performer. "Because each composition gains some specialty in their performance.”
There were also "youthful vigour" of Marija Vjestic and Natasa Arandjelovic who performed and who were recently introduced to the audience in the traditional concert "Our children" organized by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia.
Tonight, the Ensemble was conducted by Pavle Medakovic, Major Igor Mitrovic, Vojkan Borisavljevic, and veteran Bubisa Simic has collected the most of the applause.
Head of the Defence Ministry Art Ensemble "Stanislav Binički", Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Stojiljkovic received a nice gift from Nada Petrovic on behalf of the Archives of Yugoslavia, in gratitude for the participation of the orchestra in the following events: "Jovan Ducic in diplomacy" and the festival "Planet Earth”, held in July this year.
In the finale of the concert, in arrangement by Slobodan Markovic, the ensemble played "There far away" and then the composition "Serbian south" and, in the end, "Song of Songs" composition "March on the Drina", conducted by the Head, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Stojiljkovic.
“I am happy to be the head of the ensemble that celebrates such an important anniversary and I am so grateful to all those who have cooperated in all these decades with the orchestra. I wish to announce that he will fulfil its mission also in the future, the one as might be expected from a military ensemble", Lieutenant Colonel Stojiljkovic said.
As a final message, the audience was given the promise that this hard-working military unit will remain a faithful guardian of the tradition of military music, consistent follower of its noble ideas and creativity of an artist, whose works are for the honour of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.