Always new, different, uncompromising: Ring Ring celebrates its jubilee
The jubilee, 25th Ring Ring Festival will be held in Belgrade, at three locations, from November 23 to December 3, 2021.
After being postponed three times due to a pandemic and accompanying restrictions, the 25th edition of the International New Music Festival Ring Ring will be held in Belgrade from November 23rd to December 3rd, with the participation of musicians from 13 countries.
The festival had its first edition in 1996. In the following period, the Ring Ring will turn out to be a key meeting place for people who are fond of sounds that are new, different, uncompromising…
This year, the festival marks two and a half decades of existence. Therefore, a suitably rich program was designed, which includes 13 concerts and a photo exhibition. The main, concert part of the program has as many as three world premieres.
The cooperation of local and foreign artists has always adorned the Ring Ring Festival. This tradition is also represented by the occasional, compilation audio release Ring Ring – 25 years, with local authors, whose publication is expected at the very dawn of the festival. It is also interesting that, in anticipation of the 25th edition, the festival gave the opportunity to some local artists to perform with foreign musicians of their own choice.
Szilard Mezei (photo: Zsofia Szerda)
Most of the local artists who will perform at the festival are already well-known names in Europe: Silard Mezei, Tijana Stanković, Milana Zarić, Kīr… The diaspora has not been left out either, since we expect singer Irina Karamarković as a guest at the performance of the Austrian band Szene Instrumental.
As befits the atmosphere of the jubilee, some of the participants of previous festival editions were invited, such as English singer Phil Minton, Norwegian guitarist Kim Myhr, Hungarian saxophonist Akosh Szelevényi, and drummers Tony Buck, Áron Porteleki and Ingar Zach.
Two stars of improvised music will appear in front of the Belgrade audience for the first time: the American-Dutch cellist Frances Marie-Uitti and the Austrian pianist Elizabeth Harnik.
One of the focuses of the 25th festival is the presentation of the Berlin improvised music scene, through concerts by two multinational trios (Jane in Ether and Der Lange Schatten), made up of musicians from Berlin.
A special surprise for fans of more complex genres and art forms is a new play / installation by French artist Laurent Bigot, as well as a concert by Polish accordionist Zbigniew Chojnacki, who complements the possibilities of the accordion with pedals and other effects.
During the festival, a photo exhibition Objectively from Šestica will be opened in the Radio Belgrade Gallery (entrance from Svetogorska). These are photographs taken by our renowned photographer el gvojos (Želimir Gvojić) at concerts in Studio 6 of Radio Belgrade. Studio 6 is another important connecting line of this year’s festival – in addition to the theme of the exhibition, there are two concerts in this cult space, as well as the performance of the Ensemble Studio6, which owes its name to this studio.
The organizers are additionally pleased with the fact that the festival will be opened with concerts in the venue where the Ring Ring Festival began its life in Jevrejska Street, number 16. The venue was once called the REX Cultural Center, and today it is the “Oneg Shabbat“ Jewish Cultural Center.
Kim Myhr (photo: Orfee Schuijt)
The festival was supported by: Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, Goethe-Institut, Collegium Hungaricum, Austrian Cultural Forum, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, French Institute, Teatroskop, Ministry of Culture of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Province of Styria, Graz Kultur.
Ticket prices are 500 dinars for concerts on November 23/26/28/29, while for November 27 the price is 700 dinars. Those interested can purchase a set of tickets at a price of 2,200 dinars. Tickets can be purchased through the tickets.rs website.
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