Cultural Intertwining at the Music Academy of the West

One of our most exciting exchanges to date was having members of the Santa Barbara Symphony travel to our Sister City Kotor, Montenegro to perform at the KotorArt 2024 International Music Festival.  Santa Barbara Symphony conductor, Nir Kabaretti, along with the Symphony’s principal strings:  Jessica Guideri (violin), Ina Vel (violin), Eric Rynearson (viola), and Trevor Handy (cello) were joined by featured violinist and former Symphony concertmaster, Gilles Apap.

In a concert titled Santa Barbara Connection, held in the courtyard of St. Nicolas Franciscan Monastery, the Santa Barbara Symphony string quartet debuted three pieces which included Mozart, Montgomery, Dvořák, and a special arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

In addition, with the launching of the 2024 Tivat Music Festival, Porto Montenegro’s Dom Vojske Auditorium was all glamor and glitz as Nir Kabaretti conducted Santa Barbara Symphony musicians alongside KotorArt Symphony musicians in a concert titled California Dreaming: From Baroque to Rock.  The orchestra brought the house down and received a standing ovation from the concert attendees, which included U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro, Judy Rising Reinke, and Santa Barbara visitors George and Denise Lilly, Vickie Williams, Franki Williams, and Roberta Christiansen.

For those that attended our ME&US Cultural Intertwining Concert in October 2022, at the Music Academy of the West, may remember Milutin Radulović, a talented young violinist from Montenegro who performed with five other young musicians from Santa Barbara and Montenegro.

Since his last visit to Santa Barbara in 2022, Milutin’s musical journey has further developed.  In January 2023, he had the chance to perform as soloist in front of the orchestra in Sarajevo.  Less than a week after that, he passed the entrance exam in Hochschule für Musik Saar (Saarbrücken, Germany).  In April 2023, he moved to Saarbrücken and is studying under the direction of professor Gordan Nikolić.  Currently, he is a student of two music academies: Hochschule für Musik Saar and Sarajevo Music Academy (Bosnia and Herzegovina).  Milutin has been engaged on several occasions as a member of the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, the Sarajevo Philharmonic, and the Mostar Symphony Orchestra.

In early February of 2024, he completed his application and audition video for Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West’s Fellow’s Program for the Summer of 2024.  The competition to become a Fellow is tough and, if accepted, Milutin will learn and work with 140 other “Fellows” from around the world, ages 18-34, they will study and perform for eight weeks with 50+ teaching artists to become not just great musicians, but great leaders.