Boat“Cepelin”
12th November, 9pm
Milena Jančurić, flute; Milan Jančurić, saxophone; Lazar Novkov, keyboards
Boris Hložan, guitar; Srđan Stević, bassguitar; Lav Kovač, drums
MILENA JANČURIĆ
The flutist, born in Novi Sad, graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in 2010. In the summer 2011 she went on to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. She graduated, Magna cum laude, in 2013 from the Department of Performance of this contemporary music college of the world renown. Her academic achievement was crowned, at the end of the Spring Semester 2013, with a Performance Division Dean’s Award in Recognition of Outstanding Musicianships.
Over the years and during her studies, she developed an original musical expression, through hard work and diligent professional moulding: improving through collaborations with established artists and musicians such as Aleksandra Horvat, Ljubiša Jovanović, Matt Marvuglio, Fernando Brandao, Scott Free, Mitch Haupers, and many others.
The experience gained in Boston and during the studies at the Berklee College of Music helped Milena to discover new areas of her musical sensibility, besides her pleasure of playing classical music – her propensity for improvisation and composing. This is where she started playing her original music.
In February 2013, she founded the Milena Jančurić Trio, making her debut and successful presentation to the musical audiences of Boston. A Boston based online art magazine, The Art Fuse, reviewed the series of music events “When Cultures Converge” held in the Art at Armory Cafe as one of the major events of 2015, putting the concert of the Milena Jančurić Trio in the foreground.
Building her solo career, Milena has taken part in a number of concerts and music projects as a soloist or a member of an ensemble, chamber orchestra, small and ad hoc music bands, as a studio musician… Besides her own Milena JančurićGoup, she has performed with musicians and artistic ensembles such as: Lazar Novkov& Frame Orchestra, Women of the World, Tomoko Ozawa Quintet, Yabuno Ettun Project, Ehud Ettun Trio, Jacinsta Clusellas Group, Gaia Petrelli Willmer Octet, and as a member of the YakirArbib project with “Vision of Waves”, she performed at Washington’s Kennedy Centre in 2013.
During 2016 she established a successful collaboration with the musicians gathered around the “Internal Compass” project in Jerusalem (Israel) with whom she participated in a series of concerts and music workshops throughout Israel, presenting her original music.
She has also performed at a number of venues: from Belgrade’s Kolarac to the Boston Symphony Hall and Rhodes College Hall in Memphis. As a member of the Berklee College Orchestra she played at the concert of the group “Dream Theatre” at the Boston Opera House. She has performed at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, Kennedy Center in Washington, as well as at a number of venues among which is the Boston Cafe 939 and the famous New York jazz club Blue Note. Milena has appeared at the Panama Jazz Festival and Novi Sad Jazz Festival.
Besides the towns and cities of Serbia, she has performed in the USA, Panama, Germany, Italy, France, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, and Israel…
MILAN JANČURIĆ
Born in Novi Sad, Milan Jančurić graduated and received his Master Degree in Sound Recording and Sound Design from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. Since 2008, he has been teaching vocational courses in the professional field ofmusic production in the Music School in Subotica. He is active inthe field of recording and production of contemporary artistic music.
Besides this, he plays the saxophone and the clarinet. Milan has attended jazz workshops organised within the Music School “Isidor Bajić”, Academy “Glen Buschmann” in Dortmund, as well as at the Novi Sad Jazz Festival. He has collaborated with a number of bands that play their original music in a wide range of styles are: Lost Propelleros, Drum’n’zez, Ringišpil, Josip a Lisac, Azil 5, (ne)normalni… He is one of the founders of the Jazz Youth of Vojvodina. With the Big Band of the Jazz Youth of Vojvodina he has performed at the Jazz Festivals in Novi Sad and Pančevo. As a member of small jazz ensembles, he regularly appears on the jazz club scene of Novi Sad.
LAZAR NOVKOV
Lazar gained his formal education in the instrumental Accordion Department of Music School ‟Isidor Bajić”, going on to the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, where he studied piano, solfeggio, conducting, arrangement, and composition. His musical identity has been forged through collaborations with a number of diverse music ensembles, which helped him develop stylistic versatility. As an author and instrumentalist specialising in keyboard instruments, he has worked on more than 20 studio albums, as well as on music for theatre and film. By the end of the year 2011, he formed the acoustic Frame Orchestra, which performs his original music. The second album of this ensemble is to be released this year.
BORIS HLOŽAN
Guitarist Boris Hložan is one of the prominent young jazz instrumentalists, whose activity contributes to and continues the rich jazz tradition of the Novi Sad music scene.Born in Novi Sad, Boris Hložanwent to the Music School “IsidorBajić”, where he studied the classical guitar in class of Prof. ZoranKrajišnik.He has beenactive in rock and reggae music (performing with the bands “Lost Propeleros” and “Josip a lisac”), but jazz is the most important field of his musical activity.
He learned the basics of jazz guitar performance by himself, advancing his knowledge in workshops and master classes of VanjaKevrešan, RatkoZajča, Peter Herbolchaimer, Jerry Bergonzi, Uwe Plath, AntalPusztai, among others. He has performed at festivals in Germany, the Czech Republic, Serbia and the countries of the region.
He is one of the founders of the Jazz Youth of Vojvodina, an association whose mission is education of young musicians and popularisation of jazz music in Serbia. Currently, Boris is performing with the Ivan Švager Octet, Swingeraj Jazz Kombinat and as a member of the Milena Jančurić Quintet.
SRĐAN STEVIĆ
Srđan Stević was born on 25th May 1984. He completed his studies of contrabass at lower music school ’Isidor Bajic’. He plays with a number of bands from Novi Sad, with whom he has performed both in our country and abroad (Croatia, Slovenia, Germany), appeared on TV and recorded in studios. He is actively playing in a jazz quartet (The Voyage Quartett), and he has appeared in some other small jazz bands. Since its beginnings he has been a regular student of the jazz class at music school under Professor Igor Molnar. He has participated in a number of jazz workshops organised at the Novi Sad Jazz Festival. He is a student of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad.
LAV KOVAČ
Although he completed his primary and secondary education at the Music School “IsidorBajić”for classical percussions, his primary instruments are drums and piano, as of lately.He graduated from the Jazz Department of the “Prins Claus”Conservatory in Groningen, Holland, inclass of Steve Altenberg. His active creative career started in Western Europe, within the groups KUHN FU, Howling Owl, HAKOS trios and the Boris Kovač New Ritual Group, being the author of music in some of them. On the local scene the band he is most active with is Dragon’s Fuel, honing the idea of live jazz band that regularly performs at the same club, but always with a different repertoire.
He is active as a composer as well, and is interested in exploration and finding out possibilities of eclecticism in music. Stylistically diverse, yet not belonging to any of the established movements, he approaches both the instrument and the music authorship in the most intuitive and inclusive way, seeking the freshness of musical expression.
Some of the names he regularly performs with include: Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer, VasilHadzhigrudev, Christian Kuhn, Enrique Oliver, Julian Sanchez, Boris Kovač, and Michael Moore.
Some of the festivals he has had a chance of performing at are: The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Sounds Of Music Groningen, ZomerJazzFiets Tour, Mittelfest, Fusion Festival, Positivus, Interzone, Novi Sad Jazz Festval,…