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 audience rewarded the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra with several minutes of standing ovations for the final concert of its American tour, held in preeminent Carnegie Hall in New York. This historic concert marks the beginning of the new era of the orchestra’s international success.

In a concert hall that represents the artistic dream of any musician, the Belgrade Philharmonic was breathlessly listened to by more than 1500 people. Taking a firm step, the orchestra opened the grand finale of its first American tour with Tchaikovsky’s Slavonic March. The voice of Željko Lučić, who joined the Belgrade Philharmonic by courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera, raised a storm of delight in the audience. The unity and closeness felt in his appearance with the Belgrade Philharmonic brought them back on the stage for encore, in which they performed the aria Eri tu from Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.

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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.

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The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ohio National Guard’s Army Band together performed the American and Serbian national anthems at the beginning of the concert at Cleveland’s Severance Hall. As a symbol of American-Serbian friendship, the musicians joined forces and played the two anthems in ceremonious fashion.

The Belgrade-based orchestra brought two programmes on the U.S tour and Cleveland got Khachaturian’s Masquerade and The Legend of Ohrid written by Stevan Hristić, a founder and the first Chief Conductor of the orchestra. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 is common to both programmes. The special performance, which the audience rewarded with ecstatic applause, was augmented by the acoustics of this dazzling concert hall, for which it is well-known around the world.

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Београдска филхармонија је величанственим наступом у Чикагу отворила своју прву турнеју по САД-у. Под управом маестра Мухаја Танга, уз чувеног баритона Жељка Лучића, изазвала је овације у пуној сали раскошне дворане Симфонијског центра у Чикагу.

Енергичним тактовима Словенског марша Чајковског, Београдска филхармонија је закорачала у своје музичке победе на најелитнијој међународној сцени. Одломци из  Вердијевих опера Магбет и Риголето, у маестралном извођењу Жељка Лучића, подариле су публици дух европске традиције, а Филхармоничарима ужитак да се представе са својим омиљеним солистом.

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Свет је ових дана обишла вест да је Ричард Ли Норис (39) из Мериленда, човек коме је пре две године урађена најкомпликованија трансплантација лица на свету поново ужива у животу и да је успео готово у потпуности да поврати некадашњи изглед. Више се не стиди да се слика, научио је поново да једе и говори и нашао је девојку. Захвалан је лекарима што су му вратили веру у живот, извевши једну од најкомпликованијих трансплантација у историји медицине.

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The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra arrived in windy Chicago, where they will start their American tour on Monday, 6 October.

The 108 members of the orchestra and support staff used their free time to rest and have fun in the USA's third largest city. The photo taken in the Millennium Park, with the Belgrade Philharmonic members reflecting in the symbol of modern Chicago, is the orchestra's first document created in North America. Cloud Gate, the mirror-like object seen in the photograph, is the first public sculpture of Anish Kapoor in this continent. It was designed to reflect the sights of the Millennium Park, celebrating the beginning of the new millennium, which is why it was symbolically chosen as the place of the Philharmonic's new success.

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For the first time in their 91-year history, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, will tour the U.S., visiting four major markets in October 2014.

The Orchestra, under the direction of its Chief Conductor Muhai Tang, will appear first at Symphony Hall in Chicago on October 6th, then at Severance Hall in Cleveland on October 7th, at Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, MD on October 8th, and at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium in New York City on October 9th. Serbian baritone Zeljko Lucic, a Met Opera sensation, will perform as a soloist.

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SA

 

People Directory

Stella Jatras

Stella Louis Jatras (nee Katsetos) from Camp Hill, PA, was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, as the fourth and youngest daughter of Louis (Leonidas) and Marina Katsetos, originally of Sparta, Greece, and later of Harrisburg and Carlisle.

Stella was quite literally a daughter of Sparta - and her father's name was Leonidas, no less. As Julia Gorin noted, she was Sparta, truly worthy of that heroic heritage. Axia!

In addition to the U.S. Department of State, her professional work included service with the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and the Veterans Administration.

In 1953, she married George Jatras, also the offspring of Greek immigrant parents, and began a long and varied life as the wife of a career U.S. Air Force Officer.

As a career military officer's wife, Stella traveled widely and lived in several foreign countries where she not only learned about other cultures but became very knowledgeable regarding world affairs and world politics. She lived in Moscow for two years, where she worked in the Political Section of the U.S. Embassy. She also lived in Germany, Greece, and Saudi Arabia. Her travels took her to over twenty countries.

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Publishing

Man and the God-Man

by Archimandrite Justin Popovich

"Father Justin Popovich, pan-orthodox witness to the God-revealed and Christ-given Eternal Truth, whose testimony can be even seen within this collection of his articles - that "the mystery of Truth is not in material things, not in ideas, not in symbols, but in Personhood, namely the Theanthropic Person of the Lord Christ, Who said: I am the Truth (John 14:6), Truth perfect, never diminished, always one and the same in its complete fullness - yesterday, today, and forever (Heb.13:8)."

The treasure to be found in this anthology of neopatristic syntheses consists of: "Perfect God and perfect man" - Nativity Epistle, where Fr Justin boldly exclaim that "man is only a true man when he is completely united with God, only and solely in God is man a man, true man, perfect man, a man in whom all the fullness of Godhead lives."; "The God-man" - The foundation of the Truth of Orthodoxy - Ava Justinian language of love in Christ-centered reflections of Truth; "The Supreme Value and Infallible Criterion"- contemporary philosophical reflections on visible and invisible realities; "Sentenced to Immortality" - a homily on the Resurrection or Our Lord Jesus Christ; "Humanistic and Theanthropic Culture"-criticism of European anti-Christian culture; "Humanistic and Theanthropic Education" - indicative pondering of consequences of education without God.. ; "The Theory of Knowledge of Saint Isaac the Syrian" - Faith, prayer, love, humility, grace and freedom, the purification of the intellect, mystery of knowledge; "A Deer in a Lost Paradise" - Ava's renowned poetic essay, a confession, and deepest longing for all-sweetest Jesus...