Jasna Jovićević, saxophone, band leader, composer, arranger
Bruna Matijević, flute, Montenegro • Maja Grujoška, bass guitar, Macedonia;
Gabriella Benak, violin, Serbia • Aneta Sanev, voice, composition Macedonia;
Fanni Posa, French horn, Serbia • Ivana Gavrilova, drums, Macedonia;
Milica Svirac, cello, Serbia • Gabriela Koso, bassoon, Serbia;
Marija Šumarac, trombone, Serbia • Sandra Dropo Ramaji, alto saxophone, Serbia;
Nevena Martinović, violin, Serbia • Elena Cadikovska, percussions, Macedonia
Guests:
Toni Kitanovski, guitar, Macedonia • Antoine Simoni, bass guitar, France
The New Spark Jazz Orchestra project is funded by the Balkan Arts and Culture Fund – BAC.
BAC is supported by the Swiss Government, through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the European Culture Fund (ECF)
Women in Jazz is an innovative artistic program which aims to facilitate access to gender equal professional opportunities and to strengthen and increase the number of women musicians and composers on the regional jazz music scene. The partners in the project are: from Serbia – NGO ARTRUST, from Macedonia – Goce Dolcev University, from Montenegro – Tivat Music School, as well as experts from France and Italy, and they form a strong, sustainable platform for cross-sectoral international networking in the field of music production, education, and promotion by opening new career and job opportunities for independent artists.
Through an open call, 15 Balkan emerging women musicians and composers are invited to participate in the 15-month long program and they are the members of the New Spark Jazz Orchestra. The program includes 2 one-week long music residencies with ensemble and big band workshops, an on-line educational web portal, and the promotion of new jazz learning methods via symposiums led by the Educational Team comprising of highly renowned music experts from the region (Jasna Jovicevic, RS, Toni Kitanovski, Macedonia, Vasil Hadzimanov, RS and Antoine Simoni, FR). With the new professional skills acquired, and the rehearsals with original music materials, the Orchestra will have 4 regional concerts in 3 countries, and publish a promotional CD/DVD of music composed by the participants. It will participate in open rehearsals and lectures, jam sessions with local musicians, and interactive discussions, which will promote and support the development of the contemporary Balkan cultural heritage.
This Project is supported by the Balkan Arts & Culture Fund and the Serbian Ministry of Culture.
JASNA JOVIĆEVIĆ
Born in Subotica, Jasna Jovicević (Serbia) graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, in the Department of Jazz Saxophone and earned her Master Degree in Composition from the York University in Toronto. She also studied in the United States, Brazil and Austria. The winner of prestigious prizes in performance and composition, Jasna has performed with renowned musicians in Europe and Canada. She spent several years in study trips in New York, Banff, San Francisco, Spain and Italy. In 2008 she released her debut album with original compositions and arrangements “Invented Reality” with prominent musicians from the local scene in Toronto, in 2013 the album “Sound of Birds”, and in 2015 “Travellers” with her band Dharma in Serbia. Since 2008, when she returned to Serbia, Jasna has been performing with prominent Serbian musicians, and is an active member of the scene through various formations. She is currently working in a duo formation with Gabriela Koso, and is leading her own quintet and an independent project “Flow Vertical”.
She is engaged in teaching, developing methods of informal education in ecology and music for children, and is currently employed as a teacher at the Higher Vocational School in Subotica. Having been educated in India, Slovenia, Italy and Serbia as a yoga instructor, she gives workshops and lectures, and runs the yoga centre “Iskra joga” in Subotica.
She is also the author and leader of artistic and educational projects for children and contemporary art through the NGO Citizens’ Association “Artrust”, whose president she is. The most notable projects are “Mjuziklaža”, “Improv Kolektiv International Music Residency”, “12 Tons of Music” and “Sound of Birds”, and www.igraona.edu.rs . www.artrust.org.rs
Jasna is the initiator and leader of the New Spark Jazz Orchestra project.
TONI KITANOVSKI
Toni Kitanovski is a composer and guitarist whose first love is jazz. His activities on the international scene reflect his curiosity about diverse musical styles in a variety of settings from big band, symphonic music, film scores, to gypsy brass, Afro-Cuban and all things African. Toni’s first mentor was Dragan Gjakonovski – Shpato. The Robert Share Memorial Award in the form of a full scholarship allowed him to graduate from the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He is currently the Chairman of the Jazz Studies Department at the UGD in Stip.
ANTOINE SIMONI
Antoine Simoni is a bassist from Normandy, whose diverse interests in music led to his involvement in groups which stylistically cover the ground somewhere between rock/pop, progressive and experimental jazz and African music. He has played with Balaké Sissoko, Andy Sheppard, Charlie Winston, Larry Coryell, Anthony Joseph, Mamani Keïta, Gilles Coronado, Olivier Py, Emmanuel Bex, and with the conductors Denis Badault and Mark Foster. As a producer, he has produced the albums for Jeanne Balibar, Maestro, Bow Low, Le Petit Label. His latest musical associations are with a quartet featuring the master of African balafon Lansine Kouyate (African tour in more than 21 countries).
Participants:
ANETA SANEV
Has been composing since the 2nd grade, and started singing professionally at the age of 15. Afterwards she started to work on numerous projects in Macedonia as a composer, arranger, lyricist and backup vocalist. She graduated jazz piano from the UGD Stip, and has worked on over 100 titles, either as a singer, a lyricist, keyboard player, arranger or backup vocalist. She regularly performs with her trio.
BRUNA MATIJEVIĆ
Graduated from and earned the MA degree at the Music Academy Cetinje in the class of Professor Ljubiša Jovanović. Since 2005 she has been working as a flute professor in the Tivat Music School. She performs as a solo flute player, and also in chamber ensembles (Flute Trio, Flute and Accordion)
FANNI POSA
She has been playing the instruments since she was 10 years old. Currently, she is on the third year at the Music High School of Subotica, Classical Music Department, but is very interested in jazz music. She plays in a local jazz band and the school’s big band.
GABRIELA KOSO
Graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. She played in many classical orchestras and chamber music ensembles. Gabriela works as a bassoon teacher in the Isidor Bajic Music School in Novi Sad.
GABRIELLA BENAK
Graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in the class of Prof. Dejan Mihailovic. In three subsequent years she was elected a concertmaster of the chamber orchestra and the leader of the second violins in the symphonic orchestra on the Festival for Young Artists in Bayreuth, Germany. She is interested in ethno, jazz, rock, American country and electro-pop music.
IVANA GAVRILOVA
Studies at the UGD in Jazz Department in Stip. She plays in a school band, loves music, books, and in her free time she likes to think about life.
MAJA GRUJOSKA
She lives and works in Skopje. She started to play as a child, graduated in music theory from the Academy of Classical Music in Skopje. Now, she is a singer and bass guitar player in her own band, with a decade of professional performing and teaching experience.
MARIJA ŠUMARAC
Studying Sound Recording and Design at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. She plays trombone, makes jewellery and loves reading books.
NEVENA MARTINOVIĆ
Is a student at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. She has been playing the violin for 14 years, and has played at numerous concerts and competitions across Serbia. She also has experience in playing in orchestras and various chamber ensembles.
SANDRA DROPO RAMAJI
Is a student on master studies of classical saxophone at the Arts Academy in Novi Sad. During her career, she has won numerous prizes at prestigious festivals and competitions. She is a saxophone section leader at the Vojvodina Youth Big Band, performs in various chamber ensembles, and teaches saxophone in the Isidor Bajic Music School.
ELENA CASIKOVSKA
Works in a military orchestra as a percussionist. She also sings in the professional choir St. Zlata Meglenska, plays percussion with her own band, as well as performing solo concerts on vibraphone.
MILICA SVIRAC
Milica Svirac was born in 1985 in Pančevo. She graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, in class of Prof. I. Kalman in 2008. During her studies she won a number of prizes in national, federal and international competitions. She has attended master classes with distinguished cellists (K. Janković, S. Apolin, T. Stosik, J. Crouch.) She received a grant from the charitable fund “Agora” (10,000 USD) to purchase a new instrument in 2009. She is a permanent employee of the Serbian National Theatre Opera, and occasionally performs with the Vojvodinian Symphony. She is a member of the “KotorArt” festival orchestra. Besides orchestras, she plays chamber music, in particular between 2008 and 2013 with the piano trio “Noster Modus“, with the violinist M. Kojadinović and pianist M. Rajnović Babović. She occasionally collaborates with the Serbian National Theatre Drama. She has participated in projects from the field of contemporary music, among which the most notable are: “Contemporary Composition in Vojvodina”, 2012 and 2014; the project with guitarist Ivan Čkonjević “Cities of Refuge”, the project with saxophonist Boris Kovač “Times of Day“, 2013.