A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

The American Capital Enchanted by the Belgrade Philharmonic

The concert at the Strathmore Music Center in Washington D.C was the third performance on the U.S. tour and, once again, the audience was completely enchanted. They first stood up for the American and Serbian national anthems at the beginning of the concert, but as the orchestra’s last tones reverberated in the hall they were on their feet again, calling for encore.

The Belgrade Philharmonic’s orchestra not only connected the Serbian and American audiences, but it also gathered members of the U.S. diplomatic corps. Beside the US Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby, the concert was also attended by his predecessor Mary Warlick.

“I feel so much joy to be in the Strathmore Center tonight for this exceptional concert of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. It has been a while since the last time I had the chance to hear them and I remember with affection all those delightful nights I spent at Kolarac. It is a great pleasure to welcome the Belgrade Philharmonic in America and an excellent opportunity for your orchestra to share its talent with the American people. Thank you so much for coming”, said Mary Warlick.

Ambassador Michael Kirby has followed the Belgrade Philharmonic in all concerts of the American tour so far. “Washington is a unique experience. After Chicago and Cleveland, two cities with longer music traditions, only the first-class orchestras come to play in the Strathmore Center. A large audience showed up and the concert was excellent. Each of the concerts was different due to diverse acoustics of the halls. Among the audience, there were many Americans. I think it was wonderful that The Legend of Ohrid was included in the programme and that a piece written by a Serbian composer was presented.”

In addition to the U.S Ambassador to Serbia, guests at the concert also included members of the diplomatic corps and the US Department of State officials.

Following the concert in the prestigious Strathmore Center, the Belgrade Philharmonic will conclude its U.S. tour on 9 October, with a concert in Carnegie Hall, New York.

Source: Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra

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Sava Vemić

Sava Vemić

Sava Vemić (born 1987), bass, comes from Belgrade, Serbia. He is a member of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in the season 2014/2015.

He studied singing in the Music School Mokranjac with prof. Tanja Obrenović and later at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade with prof. Nikola Mijailović. In Mozart’s Magic flute he made his debut as Sarastro at the opera stage of Madlenianum Opera & Theatre in Belgrade. He received scholarships from the International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) in 2013 when he sang Bartolo in an IVAI production of Le nozze di Figaro and in July 2014 when he sang Osmin in their production of Die Entführung aus dem Serial in Tel Aviv, Israel. In June 2014 he made his Carnegie Hall debut as Sir Walter Raleigh in Donizetti’s opera Roberto Devereux with The Opera Orchestra of New York led by Mo. Queler. In 2012 he performed at the Esterhazy festival in Haydnsaal, Austria.

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On Divine Philanthropy

On Divine Philanthropy

From Plato to John Chrysostom

by Bishop Danilo Krstic

This book describes the use of the notion of divine philanthropy from its first appearance in Aeschylos and Plato to the highly polyvalent use of it by John Chrysostom. Each page is marked by meticulous scholarship and great insight, lucidity of thought and expression. Bishop Danilo’s principal methodology in examining Chrysostom is a philological analysis of his works in order to grasp all the semantic shades of the concept of philanthropia throughout his vast literary output. The author overviews the observable development of the concept of philanthropia in a research that encompasses nearly seven centuries of literary sources. Peculiar theological connotations are studied in the uses of divine philanthropia both in the classical development from Aeschylos via Plutarch down to Libanius, Themistius of Byzantium and the Emperor Julian, as well as in the biblical development, especially from Philo and the New Testament through Origen and the Cappadocians to Chrysostom.

With this book, the author invites us to re-read Chrysostom’s golden pages on the ineffable philanthropy of God. "There is a modern ring in Chrysostom’s attempt to prove that we are loved—no matter who and where we are—and even infinitely loved, since our Friend and Lover is the infinite Triune God."

The victory of Chrysostom’s use of philanthropia meant the affirmation of ecclesial culture even at the level of Graeco-Roman culture. May we witness the same reality today in the modern techno-scientific world in which we live.

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