Celebration of the 70th Anniversary the UNSA Academy of Music Concludes the 18th May Music Festivities
After a month-long, diverse program of the 18th May Music Festivities, which marked the 70th anniversary of the University of Sarajevo University Academy of Music, a concert by the Choir and Symphony Orchestra of MAS was held on June 18, 2025, at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ensemble performed in a grand lineup under the baton of Emir Mejremić, a professor at the Conducting Department of the Sarajevo University Academy of Music.
The central celebration of this significant jubilee brought together students, representatives of the academic community and authorities, as well as numerous friends of the Sarajevo University Academy of Music. In a festive spirit, addresses were delivered by the Dean of the Sarajevo University Academy of Music, Prof. Mr. Ališer Sijarić; the Rector of Sarajevo University, Prof. Dr. Tarik Zaimović; the Prime Minister of Canton Sarajevo, Nihad Uk; and the Advisor to the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports, Anita Vlašić.
Marking this important anniversary was also an occasion to award gratitude certificates to long-standing partners of the Sarajevo University Academy of Music for their ongoing support of its work. These were received by the Director of the Sarajevo Philharmonic, Vedran Tuce; the Director of Hayat TV, Elvir Švrakić; the Provincial of the Franciscan Province of Bosnia Srebrena, Fr. Zdravko Dadić; and the Director of the Bosnia and Herzegovina National Museum, Mirsad Sijarić.
In line with the celebratory atmosphere, the impressive program was opened with Johannes Brahms' “Academic Festive Overture” op. 80 in C minor (1880), followed by a contrast to the initial exuberance — Brahms’ monumental choral-symphonic work “Schicksalslied” (Song of Fate), op. 54, based on verses by the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin from the collection “Hyperion’s Song of Fate.” To conclude the festival’s “grand finale,” the MAS Orchestra performed Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in G major.
Photo: Vanja Čerimagić
