Tivat Music Festival
2026

Thursday, June 25, 9 p.m.
Summer Stage, Tivat

Partners of the program:

OPENING CEREMONY: BETWEEN THE SKY AND THE SEA

Open-Air Opera Gala Concert – Opening Ceremony

Boka Symphony Orchestra
Jadran City Choir, Tivat
Mladen Tarbuk, conductor
Milica Lalošević, soprano
Ermin Ašćerić, tenor

PROGRAM

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Nabucco
Overture
Va, pensiero (chorus)

La Traviata
Libiamo ne’ lieti calici (Brindisi)
Duet: Violetta and Alfredo (Act I)
Alfredo’s Aria (Act II)
Noi siamo zingarelle (Gypsy Chorus, Act II)

I Lombardi alla prima crociata
O Signore, dal tetto natio (chorus)

Il Trovatore
Vedi! le fosche notturne spoglie (Gypsy Chorus)

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Die Fledermaus
Overture
Trinke, Liebchen, trinke schnell (duet)

Franz Lehár (1870-1948)
Die lustige Witwe
Vilja-Lied (soprano solo)
Lippen schweigen (duet)

Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953)
Die Csárdásfürstin
Heia, in den Bergen (soprano aria)

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Turandot
Nessun dorma (tenor aria)

Umjetnici

The Boka Symphony Orchestra is an artistic ensemble founded in the Bay of Kotor with the mission of advancing and promoting symphonic music in the region, as well as bringing together the most promising and distinguished musicians from Montenegro and beyond. The orchestra is rooted in the rich cultural heritage of Kotor, Tivat, and Herceg Novi – towns of the Bay of Kotor with a long and significant musical tradition. It brings together instrumentalists of different generations, from established artists and educators to young talents, thereby fostering intergenerational exchange of knowledge and experience while further strengthening the cultural life of the Bay of Kotor. In its artistic activity, the orchestra performs under the baton of the distinguished composer and conductor Mladen Tarbuk, ensuring a high artistic standard and interpretative consistency. The orchestra’s vision is to develop into a recognizable cultural brand of the region which, through artistic excellence, professionalism, and continuity of work, contributes to the international recognition of the Bay of Kotor and Montenegro.

Mladen Tarbuk, a prominent Croatian composer and conductor, completed his studies in Composition and Conducting in Graz, Zagreb, and Vienna. He has appeared in almost all European countries, Canada, the United States, and Mexico, often performing his own works. He has regularly collaborated with the German Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf), the Wiener Concert-Verein, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, and the Hungarian State Opera. Mladen Tarbuk is a holder of numerous Croatian and international awards and recognitions – Slavenski, Papandopulo, HAZU, Janáček, E. Vogel, Risuonanze Trieste, and Tolosa. His compositions have been performed at major world festivals such as the Enescu Festival, World Music Days, and Wien Modern. He served as the Director of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb (2002–2005), then as its Music Director (2013–2017), as well as the Director of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival (2015–2017). During the term 2020–2024, he served as the chairman of the Croatian Society of Composers. In the 2021/2022 season, Mladen Tarbuk conducted the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra. He is a Full Professor of Composition, Conducting, Music Theory, and Orchestra at the Academy of Music in Zagreb.

Milica Lalošević, soprano, was born in Kotor. She studied Vocal Arts in Belgrade and furthered her education at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. She is the recipient of numerous international awards in Italy, Slovenia, Germany (Grand Prix at the Opera Oder Spree Festival), Serbia, and Montenegro. She made her stage debut in 2006 while still a student in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea. At the Opera Studio in Belgrade, she performed the roles of Bastienne (Bastien und Bastienne, W. A. Mozart), Amor (The Coronation of Poppea, C. Monteverdi), the Shepherd (Tosca, G. Puccini), and Sofka (Koštana, P. Konjović). As Frasquita, she performed at the 70th Ljubljana Festival (Carmen, Bizet). She has also appeared as a soloist with the Collegium Musicum Choir from Belgrade, both in Serbia and abroad. Among her notable achievements is the performance of the oratorio A Child of Our Time (M. Tippett) at the Konzerthaus in Berlin. She has performed at renowned festivals including KotorArt, Theater City Budva Festival, Days of Music, China Shanghai International Arts Festival, the International Rostrum of Composers (2023), and Opera Oder Spree. In 2025, she debuted as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a production of the Montenegrin Music Center, and as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Operosa Montenegro Opera Festival.

Ermin Ašćerić, tenor, graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (under Professor Ž. Lučić). At the National Theater in Belgrade, he performed the roles of the Emperor (Turandot, G. Puccini) and Alfredo (La Traviata, G. Verdi). At the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad, he portrayed Remendado (Carmen, Bizet), Lensky (Eugene Onegin, P. I. Tchaikovsky), Alfredo (La Traviata, Verdi), and others. At the Sarajevo National Theater, he performed roles including Nicolo (King Tvrtko, A. Jažić), Uldino (Attila, Verdi), and Donald (Gallantry, D. Moore). He made his debut in 2025 at the Croatian National Theater (Diocletian, I. Tijardović), at the Opera Festival in Lisbon (La Traviata), and at São Luiz Teatro Municipal (Vanessa, S. Barber). He passed the audition for the Pehlivanian Opera Academy in Bled (Slovenia), where he prepared the role of Don José (Carmen, Bizet). Ermin Ašćerić is the recipient of First Prizes at the Lazar Jovanović International Competition (2020), the Slovene Music Festival in Belgrade, and the Canto Bene International Competition for Young Singers. He won the Grand Prix at the International Vera Kovač Vitkai Competition in Novi Sad (2022), as well as awards from Cultural Element and the Operosa Festival. In 2025, he received the Bravo Awards for Best Classical Performer of the Year in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater.

The Jadran City Choir was founded in 2024 under the auspices of the Tivat Cultural Center, building on a choral tradition in the town that spans almost a century. The choir gave its first official performance at the closing ceremony of the inaugural Tivat Music Festival (2024). During 2024 and 2025, the ensemble presented a series of independent concerts and collaborated with regional artists, including Radojka Šverko, Đani Stipaničev, and the Perper band. In 2025, at the Tivat Music Festival, it presented the thematic program “Tivat: A World in Itself,” a musical journey through repertoires from different countries and continents. In addition to its concert activities, the choir actively participates in the cultural and social life of the town through charitable performances and initiatives such as Breast Cancer Awareness Month (Pink October). Under the leadership of Professor Andrea Orlando Tripović and with the support of the Tivat Cultural Center, the Jadran City Choir has, in a short time, achieved a high artistic level and has become a recognizable part of the cultural scene of the Bay of Kotor, dedicated to preserving the tradition of choral singing and the cultural heritage of the region.