Jovan Kolundžija ( sr-cyr, Јован Колунџија; born 4 October 1948) is a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning " master" or "teacher," plural: maestros or maestri) is an honorific title of respect, sometimes abbreviated Mo. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and oper ...

and politician. He has served in Serbia's

national assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

since 2020 as an independent delegate endorsed by the

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party (, SNS) is a major populist, catch-all party, catch-all List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. It has been the Ruling party, ruling party since 2012. Miloš Vučević, the former prime mi ...

(SNS).

Early life and musical career

Kolundžija was born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in music from the

University of Arts in Belgrade The University of Arts in Belgrade ( sr-cyr, Универзитет уметности у Београду, Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu) is a public university in Serbia. It was founded in 1957 as the Academy of Arts to unite four academies. ...

and later studied with

Henryk Szeryng Henryk Bolesław Szeryng (usually pronounced ''HEN-r-ik SHEH-r-in-g'') (22 September 19183 March 1988) was a Polish- Mexican violinist. Early years He was born in Warsaw, Poland on 22 September 1918 into a wealthy Jewish family. The surname ...

. He performs on a 1745

Guarneri The Guarneri (, , ), often referred to in the Latinized form Guarnerius, is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati ...

us. Kolundžija is the founder of the Guarnerius Centre for Fine Arts in Belgrade, which the

Serbian government The government of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Governme ...

recognized as an institution of cultural significance in 2013. He has participated in more than four thousand concerts internationally, including performances at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. In 1994, Kolundžija was the featured violinist for a four-day program called ''The Ten Magnificents'', which comprised performances of concertos by J.S. Bach,

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin ...

Édouard Lalo Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo (27 January 182322 April 1892) was a French composer, violist, violinist, and academic teacher. His most celebrated piece is the '' Symphonie Espagnole'', a five-movement concerto for violin and orchestra that re ...

Henryk Wieniawski Henryk Wieniawski (; 10 July 183531 March 1880) was a Polish virtuoso violinist, composer, and pedagogue, who is regarded amongst the most distinguished violinists in history. His younger brother Józef Wieniawski and nephew :pl:Adam Tadeusz Wien ...

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, and

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

. In 2008, he presented a program called ''Do You Love Beethoven?'' in Belgrade, performing all of Beethoven's sonatas for solo violin and piano. He is the brother of the pianist Nada Kolundžija, with whom he has frequently performed.

Politician

Kolundžija received the third position on the Progressive Party's '' For Our Children''

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

in the

2020 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 21 June 2020. Initially organized for 26 April 2020, they were postponed by a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia, COVID-19 pandemic in the country. In the period before the ...

. This was tantamount to election, and he was indeed elected when the list won a landslide majority with 188 out of 250 seats. In announcing his candidacy, he said he would work in a non-partisan capacity for meaningful changes in Serbia's cultural sector. In his first term, he was a member of the culture and information committee and a deputy member of Serbia's delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) is an international organization established in 2005 by the national parliaments of the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region. It is the legal successor of the Conference on Security and ...

. He appeared in the ninth position on the SNS's '' Together We Can Do Everything'' list in the 2022 Serbian parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won 120 seats, falling below majority status but remaining the dominant party in the assembly. He was the leader of Serbia's parliamentary friendship group with

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

in the term that followed. Kolundžija was given the seventh position on the SNS's list in the 2023 parliamentary election and was elected to a third term when the list returned to majority status with 129 seats. He is now once again a member of the culture and information committee and a member of the friendship group with Eswatini.JOVAN KOLUNDZIJA
National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 9 August 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolundzija, Jovan 1948 births Living people Musicians from Belgrade Politicians from Belgrade Serbian violinists Members of the National Assembly (Serbia) Deputy Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean Independent politicians in Serbia