65 Years of Ensemble Lola

Belgrade, Nov.25, 2009 (Serbia Today) - This weekend in Sava Center, the Academic Cultural and Artistic Society ’LOLA’ marked its 65th anniversary with the program - `Lola Forever`. In a speech before the concert, Mihajlo Rabrenović, president of LOLA, said that the academy, with 1000 members, was the biggest non-professional arts academy in South Eastern Europe.
In the last 6 decades LOLA has been promoting Serbian tradition, as well as modern art programs, and concerts in the festivals around the world. In this, anniversary year, they have visited Austria, France, Tunis, Romania, Greece and BiH and successfully presented a wide variety of programs.
The Academic and Cultural Society LOLA has National Folk dance Ensemble, Chorus and Folk Orchestra, and amateur theatre section - `Teatar Levo`. The concert in the Sava Center presented a diverse program, which was comprised of a ’best of’ selection from productions spanning 6 decades.
The LOLA chorus performers from 1980s ensemble, conductor Miloje Nikolic, performed compositions by Josip Marinkovic, Dmitri Bornjanski, Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac..
The chorus was followed by theater performances of a selection of scenes from popular plays of Branislav Nusic and Stevan Sremac, two of the more significant Serbian writers from 19th century.
The National Folk Dance Ensemble presented a program with dances from Sumadija and Southern Serbia and, for the first time, programs `Fresca Viva` and ` Natama` were performed. Special guests of this significant concert, were Folk Dance Ensemble from Salzburg, Austria and chorus ’Postojna’ from Slovenia.
The Ivo Lola Ribar Youth Cultural-Artistic Society, which was established in 1944, directly after the liberation of Belgrade. The Society was named after Ivo Lola Ribar, the popular youth and student leader from the WWII era, who was killed in 1943 at the age of 27. Since its foundation, LOLA has been situated at Resvska 11 in the center of Belgrade.
The LOLA choir repertoire includes all of the significant vocal-instrumental works of international music, spiritual and secular music. The national dance and song ensemble has in its repertoire over 40 choreographies from all parts of Serbia.The LOLA Folk Orchestra plays Serbian national music, but also music from other nations. The LOLA theatre stage ensemble was the first stage for some prominent Serbian actors, such as Zoran Radmilovic, Petar Kralj, Mirjana Karanovic, and Seka Sabljic.
Several thousands of young people have passed through the ensembles of LOLA. This Society held thousand of concerts in Serbia and all over the world. Some of the most significant awards for their work were the first prize for “LOLA” Folk Dance and Song Ensemble at the European Folklore Festival in Kiev, and the first prize at the meeting of all previous champions at the International Folk and Dance Festival in Dijon.
Mihajlo Rabrenovc, president of the Academic Cultural and Artistic Society LOLA, said that this society was an unavoidable part of the educational and cultural strategy of Serbia and the promoter of Serbian relations with the world, and that it contributes to the preservation of the Serbian identity in a time of globalization.