KotorArt
International Festival
Tuesday, July 22
Square of the St. Nicolas and St. Luke, 8 p.m.
KOTORARTIĆ
THE VISOKO C [HIGH C] ASSOCIATION OF ARTISTS
Marija Cvijić, soprano
Branislav Cvijić, tenor
Marina Mikić, piano
Program partners
Tivat Music Festival, Wild Beauty Art
Program
July, 22 2025
Marija Cvijić (1986) / Branislav Cvijić (1977)
The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, an opera for children
The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, a children’s opera, is an adaptation inspired by Pushkin’s fairy tale of the same name. The central message of both the tale and the opera is that greed always comes at a cost. The idea that one should be content with what they have is an important lesson for children. The performance is presented in a humorous tone, tailored to a young audience, making the moral easier for children to understand. The opera alternates between sung and spoken parts to maintain children’s attention, and includes ensemble scenes with piano accompaniment, vivid costumes, and engaging set design that brings the story to life.
The Visoko C [High C] Association of Artists was founded in 2015 with the aim of preparing and realizing operas, plays with singing, operas for children and musicals, and concerts, as well as of organizing acting classes, singing classes, and summer courses to educate citizens, especially children, about the importance of art. In this regard, at the concert titled O Ljubavi [About Love], members of the Association presented a series of traditional melodies, and through Spanish songs, Italian canzones, and Russian romances, they presented stories from everyday life about love for those close to us, towards nature, and for one’s homeland, among other themes. Through their performance of operas for children, the Association fosters the development of children’s musical taste, the development of creativity, and the strengthening of personality. In arrangements adapted to children, with modern direction and accompaniment by piano or a chamber ensemble, the Association has had hundreds of performances. The most performed operas for children include Die Zauberflöte to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Puss in Boots by César Cui, Cinderella by Eduard Poldini, Snow White by Petar Krstić, Little Red Riding Hood and Little Bee Dana by Petar Jovanović, and the children’s opera by Marija Cvijić written to texts by Branislav Cvijić: The Ant and the Grasshopper, Hansel and Gretel, and The Chardak neither in Heaven nor on Earth.
Artists
Marija Cvijić, coloratura soprano, has been cultivating her love for singing and music ever since childhood, when she was a member of the Bajićevi Slavuji Choir [Bajić’s Nightingales]. After completing Isidor Bajić Secondary Music School, she graduated in Vocal Arts from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, under Professor Vera Kovač-Vitkai. She has participated in many vocal arts competitions and has won numerous prizes, including twice being a recipient of the Melanija Bugarinović and Daughter Mirjana Kalinović-Kalin Fund for Talented Young Singers Scholarship. In 2013, she became a permanent member of the Serbian National Theater Opera, taking on the role of a soloist in 2019. At this institution, she has performed in operas by Lortzing, Gotovac, Cimarosa, and Despić, as well as in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in one of the most demanding coloratura roles, The Queen of the Night. With Branislav Cvijić, Marjia Cvijić has performed at thematic concerts in Sombor, Zrenjanin, Ruma, and Novi Sad. In operas for children realized by the High C Association of Artists, which she founded together with her husband, she has appeared in more than 400 performances throughout Vojvodina, singing the leading roles in operas such as Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Marriage of the Bear, Hedgehog’s Home, Bastien und Bastienne, Cinderella, and Stories from a Grange.
Branislav Cvijić, tenor, graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the Department of Vocal Studies, under Professor Zvonimir Krnetić, and continued his education with Dragoslav Ilić, soloist-tenor of the National Theater in Belgrade. He has won first prizes at the Republic and Federal competitions in Serbia and was a laureate of a competition in Moscow in 2008. He has realized more than twenty solo concerts, over two hundred solo performances, and dozens of performances with chamber ensembles. Since 2003, he has served as a member of the Serbian National Theater Opera in Novi Sad, becoming a soloist and a permanent member in 2016. Branislav Cvijić has realized over twenty opera roles in such works as Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Jenko’s Seoski lola [A Town’s Barfly], Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Shostakovich’s Katerina Izmailova, Logar’s Pokondirena tikva [A Would-be Lady], Suppé’s Die Schöne Galathée, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Verdi’s Nabucco, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Despić’s Pop Ćira i pop Spira [Priest Ćira and Priest Spira], and P. I. Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Chamber Music Association. In 2015, he founded, together with his wife Marija Cvijić, the High C Association of Artists, whose aim is to promote national and international music culture, primarily opera and youth arts education.
Marina Mikić, pianist, completed her music education in Herceg Novi, studying under Professor Zoran Redžić. She earned her Piano degree at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, under Professor Kemal Gekić. During her studies, she won numerous national and federal awards. She further developed her skills through masterclasses with renowned pedagogues such as Igor Lasko, Vladimir Krpan, Konstantin Bogino, Aleksey Nasedkin, Elena Richter, Jokuthon Mihailović, Dorian Leljak, and Arbo Valdma, among others. She has recorded for Radio Television of Serbia and Montenegro. Following her first solo recital, which she gave at the age of eleven, she gradually built a piano repertoire that now spans a broad stylistic range of solo, chamber, and orchestral works. She has performed in Slovenia, Austria, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States, and Germany. Marina Mikić is currently employed as a Collaborative Pianist at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. As a member of the Visoko C Association of Artists, she is committed to bringing classical music closer to young audiences by performing children’s opera. In addition to her concert, collaborative, and teaching activities, Marina Mikić is involved in various organizational roles: she serves as the Assistant to the Artistic Director of the KotorArt International Festival, a member of the Artistic Committee of the Sombor Music Festivities, and a board member of the Novi Sad Academy of Arts’ A Fest.