The United States Embassy in Podgorica is organizing a tour of the duo Poetica Musica in Montenegro March 23-27. The duo consists of soprano Eleanor Valkenburg, Artistic Director of Poetica Musica, and pianist Natasa Mitrovic. Poetica Musica will hold concerts entitled “American Beauty” at the “Dara Cokorilo” Music High School in Niksic on March 23 at 7 p.m., at the Montenegrin National Theatre in Podgorica on March 24 at 8 p.m., at the Music High School in Herceg Novi on March 25 at 7 p.m., and at the Ministry of Culture in Cetinje on March 26 at 8 p.m. In addition to the concerts, Poetica Musica will also conduct workshops with music school students in Podgorica, Herceg Novi and Ulcinj.
Poetica Musica will perform contemporary and traditional American music.
Poetica Musica, whom the New Times has dubbed “Good Will Ambassadors”, is a New York-based consortium that is currently serving as Artists-in-Residence at Old Westbury Gardens. Poetica Musica has toured Europe and the Middle East performing at prestigious festivals. They have also performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the St-Martin-in-the-Fields and the Holywell Music Room of Oxford University in Great Britain. Poetica Musica performed in the Balkans countries: Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Slovakia, Croatia and Serbia participating in the Sarajevo Festival in Bosnia, and performing in the Liszinski Hall in Zagreb.
Eleanor Valkenburg, Artistic Director is a graduate of the SUNY at Stony Brook and received her Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her Master of Science degree in Speech Pathology from Hunter College. As an active singer and chamber musician, she has performed at the Bergen Festival, the Sarajevo Festival, the October Festival du Carthage as well as the St-Martin-in-the-Fields Series in London, the Library of Congress Series in Washington and at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. As a teacher, she has given master classes for singers at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, the Music Conservatories in Belgrade, Sofia, Sarajevo, Ankara and Istanbul as well as private teaching.
Natasha Mitrovic, pianist, received her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the Music Academy in Belgrade where she now teaches piano. In 2005, Ms. Mitrovic received a Fulbright Grant to attend the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she continued her studies in piano. Further studies included work at the Moscow Conservatory of Music and piano studies in Vienna with Ava Kouyoumdjian and in Prague with Jan Novotny. Ms. Mitrovic studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and has won many prizes for piano performance including a prize from the Music Academy in Belgrade for her contribution as pedagogue and performer, First prize at the International Competition in San Bartolomeo al Mare in Italy and Second prize at the International Competition for pianists in Rome.
