The female chamber choir Banjalučanke from Banja Luka won a gold medal in the traditional music category at the prestigious 19th International Choir Competition held in Budapest.
This year’s edition of the renowned five-day competition brought together more than 30 choirs from 11 countries across three different continents, competing in several categories.
Choir conductor Mladen Matović expressed pride that Banjalučanke once again maintained a high standard of performance on the international choral scene.
— I congratulate all members for their great effort, sacrifice, love, and dedication, which have contributed to this 20th international recognition for our choir. Performing in the iconic Palace of Arts in Budapest was a truly special experience for all of us. We thoroughly enjoyed the incredible acoustics and the delivery of each tone and phrase in our competition pieces — Matović told SRNA.
He emphasized the special honor of receiving the award personally from the competition’s artistic director, Maestro Gábor Hollerung.
The choir performed selected compositions by notable domestic composers. Soloists Neđica Mijajlović and Jelena Vulin took part in the performance, as well as instrumentalists Mladen Janković (piano) and Andrej Petković (percussion) in two pieces.
All ensembles were evaluated by an international panel of esteemed experts in choral music from Israel, Hungary, Germany, and Sweden.
Banjalučanke was the only representative of Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the competition and also delivered a highly praised performance at the final concert of the best choirs, where they presented a demanding a cappella program.
The choir’s participation in the Budapest competition was made possible with the support of the Office of the President of Republika Srpska and the City of Banja Luka.
Source: RTRS
