Let’s step into the summer in the European Capital of Culture with great cultural events that we recommend you see in June. The month ahead will be enhanced by numerous interesting developments, which will be crowned by the ECOC programme segments – Heroines and Fortress of Peace, and we invite you to follow our calendar on the site to keep up to date with events in the city. As always, we have suggestions for all ages and everyone, so we invite you in advance to visit some of the events that we single out for you this month.

Fruška Gora Fairy

3 – 5 June, Vrdnik, Fruška Gora

The first weekend in June brings us a real family adventure because, in the heart of Fruška Gora, a festival for friends and family awaits us – ‘Vila’, meaning ‘Fairy’ (3-5 June, Vrdnik). An interesting three-day programme for all generations will be a unique experience and attraction in the greenery of the national park. A great musical, gastronomic, and children’s programme in nature awaits you. Take your kids to workshops and dance performances, and we are sure that they will follow the three fairies with rapt attention – Anica Dobra, Nataša Tapušković, and Nataša Miljković, who will read fairy tales to them.

In addition to a rich three-day programme for children, adults will be treated to concerts held by real music fairies, European art heroines – Kaliopi, Tarja Turunen, Amira Medunjanin, Jenny from Ace of Base, Warpaint, Simone Lamsma (check out the interview with her on our website ), E-play, Tabea Zimmermann, and Natali Dizdar. We suggest you check out the detailed programme and schedule on our website and be sure to learn about why you shouldn’t miss this festival. Find out how to get to the ‘Vila’ festival here.

Zmaj Children Games

6 – 12 June

Another family festival in June that awaits Novi Sad residents and visitors to the European Capital of Culture is the traditional Zmaj Children Games, which will be held between 6 and 12 June at various locations in the city. In honour of the famous Serbian children’s poet and doctor – Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, whose monument adorns the entrance to the street of the same name in the city centre, this event for children will be held for the 65th time. This traditional event, which announces the beginning of summer, and which kids have enjoyed endlessly for generations, contains multimedia programmes for children and youth including all types of artistic creations for and by the children. More information about the programme can be found on the organiser’s website

Autonomous Festival of Women – AFŽ

6 – 12 June, MSUV

During the Heroines programme arch of the European Capital of Culture, this month will mark the third Autonomous Festival of Women, which will be held from 6 to 12 June at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina (MSUV). During the second week of the month, Novi Sad will become a unique city of women in which issues of feminism, gender equality, and a culture of non-violence will be promoted through public discussion, workshops, and performances. You can find the rich seven-day programme of the festival on the AFŽ page, and you can also read interviews with the organisers who highlight events worthy of attention on our website. One of our recommendations is the Zombijana Bones sales exhibition, which will donate all the proceedings to the SOS Women’s Centre and the Suicide Prevention Centre ‘Srce’.

Beethoven Marathon

26 June, City Concert Hall and Petrovaradin Fortress

At the end of June, the European Capital of Culture brings us one of the biggest events in classical music in Europe – the Beethoven Marathon! Nine symphonies in one day will give you an unforgettable experience, so we invite you to mark the 26 June on your calendars and get your tickets on time. Through the all-day programme in the City Concert Hall, the Belgrade and Dortmund Philharmonic and the Slovak Philharmonic Choir will perform eight symphonies alternately, led by conductor Gabriel Feltz, the author of the project and chief conductor of the aforementioned philharmonic orchestras. The marathon performance of eight of Beethoven’s symphonies in the City Concert Hall will have its grand finale under the open skies of the Petrovaradin Fortress, where we will enjoy the Ninth Symphony and the ‘Ode to Joy’. Read the joint interview with Gabriel Feltz and Tobias Ehinger, the director of the Dortmund Theatre.

Exhibitions in the Capital of Culture

June in Novi Sad brings us many important exhibitions, so we invite you to a tour of institutions and cultural centres. You can get to know the European Capitals of Culture Heroines programme through these six exhibitions, and if you haven’t had a chance to visit the exhibition Time and Universe, about the journey from darkness to light and from chaos to space, you can do so by the end of the ECOC title year. Let your tour of Novi Sad take you to Liman, to the Suba Plateau, where you can see an exhibition of works on as many as 49 flag masts until 18 June – Leave or Stay? Then stop by the renovated Creative District and see two exhibitions open until 12 June – the exhibition of tapestries The Female Thread and a fantastic exhibition of children’s and youth artwork, Drawings Travel Through Time, that we are sure the youngest ones would especially enjoy.

The Fortress of Peace programme, which will begin on 17 June, brings a new exhibition to the citizens of Novi Sad and visitors to the European Capital of Culture on the same day: Ester – a Graphic Novel on Holocaust Education, which will be exhibited at CS Svilara, and represents a graphic depiction of life before, during, and after the Holocaust. Only a day later, on the Quay of the Victims of the Raid, the exhibition The Future of Remembrance – From Raid to Auschwitz awaits us, through which we will get acquainted with some of the trends and challenges of European and Serbian culture of remembrance.

On the same day, the documentary exhibition Apollonia and Marija will open – a shocking and tragic life story of two friends of different nationalities, before and during World War II. Another shocking exhibition that ‘opens the eyes’, and will be realiased on the same day, is the international photo-essay exhibition One Person Crying: Women and War, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marissa Roth. Also, from 18 June, in the Small Art Salon of CC Novi Sad, you will have the opportunity to see the Exhibition of Paintings by Melita Kraus within the project Synagogue – a Meeting Place, which will present elements of the Jewish faith and tradition. As of 23 June, three new exhibitions are waiting for you in the European Capital of Culture, so don’t miss the photo exhibition The Stringers, in the Creative District, which presents the horrors of wars recorded with a camera lens, the interesting interactive exhibition Media Labyrinth and the open-air exhibition at Suba Plateau – Imaginary Borders. We also bring you the story of the creation of post-war Europe through the exhibition In Search of Europe, which you can see from 26 June on the Belgrade Quay, Quay of the Victims of the Raid, and Sunny Quay as part of the Fortress of Peace programme.

On Theatre Stage…

The repertoire of the oldest theatre in the country, the Serbian National Theatre, brings us some interesting achievements this June, so we first recommend that you take your family to the musical Fairytale Shop, which will delight you with beautiful songs and costumes, scenography and a sweet smile. It will be staged on 5 and 6 June. Another part of the European Capital of Culture Heroines programme is the play A Lullaby for Aleksija Rajčić, produced by the National Theatre in Belgrade, which addresses the issue of violence against women. Don’t miss this performance on 6 June at the Serbian National Theatre.

And the next day, attend an unusual performance Journalists ask Heroines within the ARS E FEMMINA project. Four actresses (Jasna Đuričić, Gordana Dimić Đurđević, and Nataša Ninković) will revive Novi Sad’s heroines Mileva Marić – Einstein, Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Marija Trandafil, and Milica Miletić Tomić, performing a dramatic text in front of journalists who will ask them questions. The Youth Theatre brings us the premiere of the play for children – Učene mišice, which will take place on 4 June at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., on 5 June at 11 a.m., and on Thursday, 9 June at 6 p.m. This June, take your children to the educational musical Gde su boje? which will take place on 13 June at the Laza Kostić Grammar School, starting at 7 p.m. The story follows the girl Senka, who has not seen colours since she was a child, and most of all she wants to be a painter. That is why he is looking for colours… The play is performed by the acting and dance section of the Foxy School of Dance and Performing Arts and is intended for all ages. Ticket info: 0637236864.

Concerts in Novi Sad

In addition to the unusual all-day Beethoven Marathon, which you really shouldn’t miss on 26 June, we wholeheartedly recommend you get tickets for the Rock Opera and the Serbian National Theatre on time, an event that will entertain all rock fans on 20 June at 8 p.m. Vlatko Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadić are also coming to the European Capital of Culture, and they’ll perform at the oldest theatre, Serbian National Theatre, on 21 June at 8 p.m. Don’t miss the concert of the Macedonian guitar virtuoso Vlatko Stefanovski and one of the world’s best guitarists Miroslav Tadić, who will join forces in front of the Novi Sad audience and entertain them with their already famous performances of flamenco, rock, blues, jazz and world music combined with traditional Macedonian music. Massimo will also brighten this June with a concert which he’ll perform at Dom Kulture on 4 June, and on the same day we will have a performance by Bosnian rapper Edin Osmić, known as Edo Maajka, in Hall 2 of the Novi Sad Fair, starting at 9 p.m. Croatian pop singer Toni Cetinski is also coming to Novi Sad, and he will perform on the roof terrace of SC Promenada on 17 June at 8.30 p.m.

Author: Marina Marić

Photo: Jelena Ivanović