Commemoration and funeral for Dževad Šabanagić on May 13

(Patria) - The Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo announced that the commemoration for Professor Dževad Šabanagić will be held at the National Theatre Sarajevo on Monday, May 13, 2024, at 12:00 PM, and the funeral will take place the same day at the Faletići cemetery at 5:15 PM.

Dževad Šabanagić, a respected violinist and long-time professor at the Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo, was born in Sarajevo on April 21, 1945, where he graduated from the Music Academy under Professor Kurt Hauser in 1971.

From his early student days, he distinguished himself as a chamber and orchestral violinist. From 1964 to 1966, he was engaged with the Symphony Orchestra of RTV Sarajevo. From 1966 to 1974, he worked as a violin teacher at the Music School "Dr. Vojislav Vučković" in Sarajevo, and then served as its director from 1973 to 1983. During this period, he worked intensively on the development of music education in the city of Sarajevo and opened several branch departments, which later grew into independent music schools. For this commitment, the school was awarded the Sixth of April Award of the City of Sarajevo in 1976.

In 1983, he became an assistant for String Chamber Music at the Music Academy in Sarajevo, and subsequently held the positions of assistant professor (1987), associate professor (1994), and full professor (2000) until his retirement in 2015. At the Music Academy, he was an exceptionally active teacher and member of the administration, serving as the president of the artistic activity commission of the Music Academy in Sarajevo (1989, 1991), head of the string department for two terms, and was the vice-dean of the Music Academy in Sarajevo until 1999.

Dževad Šabanagić's artistic work is reflected in his active solo, chamber, and orchestral activities. As a soloist, he performed with the Sarajevo Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of RTV Sarajevo, and the Symphony Orchestra of Mostar. He realized the majority of his artistic engagement with the Chamber Theatre 55 String Quartet in Sarajevo, which he led from its founding in 1968.

The quartet later became known as the Sarajevo String Quartet, with which Dževad Šabanagić performed for over 30 years, appearing in over 300 concerts at home and abroad. For over two decades, he was also a member of the Sarajevo Baroque Trio with flutist Bećir Drnda and pianist Ljiljana Pećanac, with whom he successfully held more than 100 concerts at home and abroad. His involvement in the MOMUS ensemble (Modern Music Sarajevo) is significant, which in the seventies of the last century performed numerous works by Bosnian-Herzegovinian composers such as Josip Magdić, Vojin Komadina, Miroslav Špiler, Milan Jeličanin, Nada Ludvig-Pečar, and Anđelka Bego-Šimunić.

As one of the most active artists in Sarajevo during the siege, Dževad Šabanagić made an immeasurable contribution to preserving the city's cultural life under the difficult conditions of wartime destruction. From 1992 to 1995, with the Sarajevo String Quartet, he held over 100 concerts in Sarajevo and about 50 on wartime tours abroad. He actively performed with the Sarajevo Baroque Trio, and Šabanagić's involvement in the restoration of the Sarajevo Philharmonic's activities, where he became concertmaster in the post-war period, is also significant. He also left an indelible mark on maintaining the continuity of teaching and artistic activities of the Music Academy during the war years.

In his concert career, Dževad Šabanagić performed an exceptionally rich and diverse repertoire, encompassing compositions from Baroque to contemporary music, some of which received their world and Bosnian-Herzegovinian premieres. With chamber ensembles, he recorded for RTV Sarajevo, RTV BiH, and Radio BiH, leaving behind recordings of trio sonatas by J. B. Locatelli, J. J. Quantz, J. Haydn, V. Hassenberg, F. R. Fricker, I. Bugarinović, as well as Quintets by L. Boccherini, String Quartets by J. Haydn, E. Grieg, A. Dvořák, F. Schubert, W. A. Mozart, S. Rachmaninoff, and the Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra by A. Vivaldi.

Audiences across former Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Spain, Norway, England, the USA, Italy, and beyond testified to his performances. He performed at numerous festivals in former Yugoslavia and abroad: Music Days Budva - Sveti Stefan, Contemporary Music Forum in Opatija, Music Festival in Farfa - Italy, Sarajevo Winter, Baščaršija Nights, Summer at Kamerni, Sarajevo Music Evenings SVEM, Sarajevo International Music Festival SINF, and Bihać Summer.

As a professor of chamber music at the Music Academy in Sarajevo, he achieved significant results with his students at republican and federal competitions in Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Mostar, Priština, and Belgrade. He was a member of the jury at competitions in Belgrade, Mostar, and Zagreb.

In addition to his artistic and pedagogical activities, Dževad Šabanagić was involved in social work and held numerous positions: Member of the Executive Board of the Cultural-Educational Community of BiH (1967-1969), President of the Association of Music Schools of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1973-1983), Secretary-General of the Union of Associations of Music Pedagogues of Yugoslavia, president of the organizing committee for music teachers' seminars (1998-2000), president of the Association of Music Pedagogues of Bosnia and Herzegovina, president of the Association of Music Artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina, president of the Association of Music Pedagogues in the Federation of BiH, president of the Management Board of the Sarajevo Philharmonic, member of the Management Board of the National Theatre in Sarajevo, president of the Council of the Sarajevo Philharmonic, president of the Executive Board of the Music Academy in Sarajevo.

He received the Charter of the Music School "Dr. Vojislav Vučković" for the development of music education, the Charter of the City of Sarajevo for the work of the String Quartet during the war, the Certificate of Appreciation from the 5th Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Charter of the International League of Humanists for 1996, the Award of the Association of Music Pedagogues of BiH for the work of the String Quartet, and the Sixth of April Award of the City of Sarajevo for 1999.

"Another promising name has emerged in the Yugoslav violin scene... A subtle sense for romantic phrasing, for a line that is pure and continuous. A special characteristic is a beautiful tone, sonorous, almost always pure, of extraordinary color and intensity, which in my opinion is one of the primary qualities for a violinist. His interpretation is mature and inspired." (Jagoda Martičević, critic from Zagreb; "Encounter with Youth", Radio Sarajevo, January 1974)

In the report for promotion to associate professor, his colleagues David Kamhi, Faruk Sijarić, and Bećir Drnda said about Dževad Šabanagić: "Dževad Šabanagić has achieved exceptional results in the educational process. The results he has achieved in all areas of his work were possible thanks to his organizational abilities, teaching-pedagogical experience, socio-political activity, as well as his professional approach to work and interpersonal relationships, which are at a high level.

He initiated visits and cooperation of school departments with prominent music schools to improve teaching and expand the musical culture of teachers. He was characterized by objectivity, moral-work qualities, and especially his relationships with people, all of which resulted in the improvement of music education."