Never Younger

- The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra celebrated its 85th anniversary never younger and never in a better mood, says Ivan Tasovac, pianist and director of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, who has been working for the last six years in the best interests of this institution.

By Radmila Stanković
Photo by Milan Melka

One of the few Serbian brands at the moment in the field of culture is the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and its trademark Ivan Tasovac (42). Recently, the charming and the legendary doyen of Yugoslav music, Oskar Danon, openly said to the author of this text that the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is the most successful institution of national culture that Serbs today have and that the greatest merit for this goes to director Ivan Tasovac. This post Tasovac has been holding for the last seven years and the success he has achieved with this institution he shares with associates and members of the Philharmonic (111 in total). Asked how he feels at the head of a house that is marking its 85^th anniversary, Tasovac simply says:

- Its 85^th anniversary the Philharmonic Orchestra celebrated never younger and never in a better mood. If we are considered at this moment – and we are – the most recognised institution of culture in Serbia, our intention is in the next period to become the most recognisable cultural institution from Serbia that will establish its position in the region, in Europe or even in international competition.

- When will the great world’s doors open?

- Next season we are going on a great Chinese tour with 15 concerts. The conductor will be Lior Shambadal and the soloist Robert Bokor. Currently we are negotiating a European tour and some new Asian tours in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

- Many were surprised to see that the new managing board of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is composed solely of women. How come?

- Our female team, as late sport reporter Mladen Delić would have said, headed by President Aleksandra Drecun and members Žaklina Kušić, Snežana Spasojević, Marina Nenadović and Svetlana Stančev- Radovanović, together with the Artistic Board and my humble self, have worked out the idea of repositioning the Philharmonic and on scheduling the next season. The idea is also to enlarge the Managing Board up to nine or eleven members of the fair sex because the Philharmonic faces great and complex projects that go beyond even the European framework. A Managing Board composed solely of the members of the fair sex comes as the result of the recognition that women in their public and private activities prove to be more tolerant, albeit determined, successful but sensitive, clever but emotional, powerful but gentle…

- You have a new international Managing Board. What would you say about it?

- The Board comprises Dimitri Ashkenazi, Robert Bokor as the President, Gordan Nikolić, David Stern and my self. This Board has conceived the artistic concept of the season and with contacts and authority the members have efficiently contributed to rightly refer to the next season as ‘Boulevard of Stars’. The quality of the first and second series is in full balance. Barry Douglas, Swingle Singers, David Geringas, Rinat Shahan, Gordan Nikolić, Krzysztof Penderecki, Thomas Sanderling, David Stern, Sarah Chang, Asher Fisch, Hagai Shahan, Željko Lučić, Ivry Gitlis, Aleksandar Madžar … are only some of the names in the next season. The next season is such that every single concert can be announced as a gala event..

- Tell us something about your first impressions connected with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra?

- I was 12 years old when I had a debut with the Zagreb and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestras at Kolarac. I was terrified. I couldn’t dream that my career would take this turn and that some 20 years later life would bring me here. I went to Moscow when I was 15 years old, where I graduated and subsequently received my master’s degree from the Tchaikovsky Conservatorium.

- You have given up a very successful international career in order to become the first man of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and declared that you would not perform with the Philharmonic Orchestra during your tenure. Have you ever regretted leaving the piano?

- I have, naturally. Not once. Though I still nurture whether a hope or illusion that at one point I will be able to return to the piano. At the moment, returning to the stage doesn’t attract me, but about 15 minutes or a half hour a day, closed in four walls, I spend playing Bach, primarily. This is a less artistic pretension but more my intimate yoga by which I bring myself into mental balance before beginning the day or at its end.

- Who helps you to run this job successfully by the highest criteria?

- The Philharmonic has a team that excels in its work. First, when I came, these people showed an ability to face their weak points. We first decided to correct all that and to make a vision of our future work. My every associate in the administration and management knows much more about its own job than I do. The same applies also to the Orchestra, which in the meantime has passed through several difficult auditions.

- Today, it is the youngest Philharmonic Orchestra in Europe and, having been appointed in 2001 to this post, you are the youngest director of the Belgrade Philharmonic in its history.

- It wasn’t our objective to have the age average of thirty years old. What we wanted was the best, from the Philharmonic to its doorman. Because the first impression about this house one gets when coming to buy a ticket is the doorman. There is an interesting story that I heard from Nikita Mihailkov who claims that a director should first motivate people around him and by this illustrate what he demands from his associates. When he was filming the second part of his Scorched Sun, one worker was drawing cables at the moment of the scene without dialogue. He wasn’t interested at all what was in the frame. Nikita immediately sacked him. I fully understand him, because to be engaged with art one must have people around who wish the same.

- What is currently the biggest problem at the Philharmonic Orchestra?

- The status of musicians still hasn’t been still exactly defined, because Belgrade has one Philharmonic Orchestra and the musicians selected as the best must be paid better than their other colleagues. However, it is not so. It is good that they have founded their Union so that they can fight for their rights i.e. their position in society.

- Many say that the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is successful owing to your confirmed ability to secure money for its work, to create good conditions for work, that you renew their instruments and all this apart from your annual budget?

- The Belgrade Philharmonic has the smallest budget for programmes of all other cultural institutions and it is one of five things that ought to change. We solve this by sponsorships that cover part of our costs. We are financed only by the Republic of Serbia though, principally, the national philharmonic orchestras worldwide are financed by either state or municipality and city. Formally, what we get from the state is much less than what some festivals of various music genres or other artistic disciplines are granted. Of course, I know that it is all in process and that problems in culture cannot be solved overnight. If we look how much things have changed in culture from October 5th, 2000, we see that many things are better but there still remains a lot to be done.

- During consultations regarding the formation of the new government, your name was also mentioned as a possible minister, but Nebojša Bradić was ultimately appointed. Were you sorry not to be appointed?

- The fact that I was one of the candidates for the minister of culture is a very nice compliment that the Philharmonic received for what it has been doing during the last 6-7 years. This is how I felt about it, and the whole team I work with also felt the same way.

- What is your personal biggest contribution to the success of the Philharmonic in recent years?

- It is the confidence of people I work with. I have seen this job primarily as a managerial one and then as artistic. Because an artist is primarily engaged with his own self. A manager deals with people in art, people in cultural institutions. My success is connected with what people around me are doing.

- If we judge by the budget for culture, we cannot boast that the government in Serbia, when it comes to culture, has showed too much understanding. How do you see this?

- Should the responsibility lie only on those in power, the directors of cultural institutions or festivals would be reduced to the level of a ficus. I think that the greatest responsibility is on us who lead cultural institutions. Our cultural life suffers from a provincial over-dimensioning of the cultural offer. We have more great and quite common events daily than there is any need of them. If we have a look at the number of festivals in Belgrade, it seems as if the city has not two million but 22 million inhabitants (true, is also accompanied by an adequate number of ministries). Here, the arrival of a great star for huge money is presented as a great victory. You see, if you pay as much as one asks, everybody will come to the Sava Center or Arena.

- Hence you think that there is not such a small amount of money in the budget?

- It is not the matter of either small or big money. There is money in the budget as much as there is, but there should be mechanisms for its distribution in the best way. In addition, the government should clearly define what is a state priority and what is not. Are these national institutions or private promoters? Will commercial projects be treated in the same way as are genuine art values? Mind you, I don’t think that art should be hermetic and boring. On the contrary, I think that culture should be so organised as to attract the highest possible number of people.

- Your relations with the music establishment of Serbia, more precisely Belgrade, sometimes seem not so cheery. What do you think, why is that so?

- First, I actually don’t know what the music establishment of Serbia means. I probably skipped that lecture at the Tchaikovsky Conservatorium. If you think about those who, in their endless care for the future of culture, generally don’t attend concerts, except if their works are performed or if they are among the performers, and if according to our analysis we can see that among our subscribers, though seasons are sold out, there are no lecturers from the Music Academy or members of the Composers’ Association, then things are clearer. We don’t worry about this at all. Obviously, they have no need to be in the mainstream of European events in the Philharmonic. This is I would say the definition of co-existence of differences in the time of transition. So I think that our relations are not bad at all.