EXHIBITION AND CONCERT FOR PRIMA DONNA BISERKA CVEJIĆ’S 90TH BIRTHDAY

When opening the exhibition, Mr. Dragan Stevović, author of the exhibition, reiterated that in the course of her impressive career, Prima Donna and Professor, Mrs. Biserka Cvejić was a member of the Opera Company of the National Theatre in Belgrade in period between 1951 and 1961.
Mr. Stevović also said that the occasion calls for “remembering of all those people who are not amongst us any more, but whose work was significant for Mrs. Biserka Cvejić’s life and career.”
According to Mr. Stevović, some of these people are Josip Rijavec, Oskar Danon, Bogdan Babić, Dragomir Radivojević, Ružica Savić, Richard Swift and Dušan Cvejić.
Mrs. Cvejić thanked everybody and stated that she is very excited and happy to see so many people there. 
“Thank you all for your support. You (the audiences) are a part of my happiness. Every applause, your appreciation, the look on your faces…have always filled my heart with joy and have given me the strength to continue working”, Mrs. Cvejić said and the visitors rewarded her with a cordial applause.
Before the opening of the exhibition, Mr. Stevović asked the visitors to listen and enjoy the recording of Eboli’s aria from Don Carlos by Verdi, the performance Mrs. Biserka Cvejić gave in the Metropolitan Opera, New York, on 11th December 1965.
The exhibition will remain open until the end of February 2014. Visitors can see numerous photographs, playbills, awards and personal objects that belong to the Prima Donna. Mrs. Cvejić interpreted 77 mezzo-soprano roles in almost 1,800 performances on stages worldwide.
The concert To the Professor with Love, directed by Ivana Dragutinović Maričić, under the baton of Dejan Savić, opened with overture of The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner.
The concert’s programme consisted of arias and duets from popular opera pieces, performed by Svetlana Nestorov, Violeta Poleksić, Jelena Papić Čamdžić, Saša Štulić, Tanja Obrenović, Darija Olajoš, Miljenko Đuran, Ivana Dimitrijević, Aneta Ilić, Tamara Marković, Sofija Pižurica, Andreas Kordoba, Ana Jovanović, Ljubomir Popović, Vladimir Andrić, Nikola Kitanovski, Ivana Milašinović, Boris Trajanov, Milica Stojadinović, Irena Zarić, Snežana Stamenković and Sanja Kerkez.
At the end of the concert, the Children’s Choir Horislavci sang Happy Birthday to Mrs. Cvejić. The audience showed their appreciation with long standing ovations.
M.B.

See more photographs from the events HERE