Opera The Telephone (A Love Triangle)
May 11, 2025 – Belgrade
Jewish Cultural Center at 2:00 PM
On Sunday, May 11, 2025, at 2:00 PM, at the Jewish Cultural Center Oneg Shabat (Jevrejska 16, Belgrade), the one-act opera The Telephone by Gian Carlo Menotti will be performed – a comic opera about love and technology, organized by Rosi Fest.
With wit and musical charm, Menotti highlights the paradox of modern life: how means of communication can sometimes prevent us from truly hearing each other. Lucy is constantly engaged in phone conversations, while her partner Ben struggles to find the right moment for an honest talk.
The roles will be performed by Simonida Miletić (soprano) and Vuk Zekić (baritone), with Iva Stilinović on oboe and Stefan Zekić at the piano, who also serves as the conductor. The stage direction is by Aleksandar Spasić.
The Telephone is one of Menotti’s most frequently performed works, composed in a style known for its accessibility, psychological insight, and strong theatrical expression. Witty and elegant, the piece remains strikingly relevant today, especially in our digitally saturated age.
The Dobar glas Foundation, Erich Košuta (Danubia Group), and the Jewish Cultural Center support the performance.
Admission is free.
CAST
Lucy – Simonida Miletić, soprano
Ben – Vuk Zekić, baritone
Oboe – Iva Stilinović
Piano / Conductor – Stefan Zekić
Stage Director – Aleksandar Spasić
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007) was an Italian-American composer, librettist, and director, and one of the most prominent opera creators of the 20th century. He studied at the Milan Conservatory and the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. His work is marked by a combination of melodic clarity, psychological depth, and theater that communicates with audiences without elitism.
Menotti was one of the rare composers of his time who wrote exclusively operas with original librettos, which he also composed himself. His most famous works include Amahl and the Night Visitors (the first opera written for television), The Consul, The Medium, and, of course, The Telephone. He also founded the Spoleto Festival in Italy and the United States, aiming to bridge the European and American artistic scenes.
Menotti was an artist of dialogue between genres, cultures, languages, and eras. His operas resonate with contemporary themes, even though they are written in a tonal harmonic language that is accessible to a wide audience.
ABOUT THE OPERA
The Telephone (1947) is a one-act opera for soprano, baritone, and piano (or orchestra), a witty and ironic reflection on love and technology. Ben is trying to propose to Lucy, but she is constantly on the phone. Her conversations are superficial and endless, and Ben's attempt to say something meaningful is interrupted.
The opera was written just after World War II, at a time when the telephone symbolized both progress and alienation. Menotti uses this seemingly banal situation to pose an important question: Does technology bring us closer, or push us further apart?
The music is lively and elegant, written in a neoclassical style with elements of cabaret. Lucy is fast-talking, chatty, and emotionally fickle, reflected in dynamic coloratura passages, while Ben’s music is stable, warm, and resolute. In the end, realizing he can’t win against technology, Ben embraces it: he calls Lucy from a phone booth, and proposes over the phone.
This opera remains timeless. Today, when phones are no longer attached to walls but to our hands, The Telephone seems almost prophetic about the world to come.
INFORMATION
Admission is free.
This performance is made possible thanks to the enthusiasm of the artists and the support of partner organizations.
Thank you for supporting us with your attention.
Simonida Miletic, sopran
Simonida Miletic was born in Belgrade, where she completed the “Stankovic” Secondary Music School in the class of Professor Olivera Grujić. After two years of studying at the Belgrade Music Academy in the class of Professor R. Smiljanić, she continued her education in Florence at the Conservatory “Luigi Cherubini.”
She graduated in opera singing in 1996 in the class of Professor Kate Lafferty. In 2007, at the same conservatory, she earned a master's degree in chamber vocal music under Professor Leonardo de Lisi. In June 2011, she also obtained a master’s degree in opera singing in the class of Professor Gianni Fabbrini.
While still a high school student, she participated in the World Youth Choir (1989), representing her country among a group of 12 singers selected from the former Yugoslavia.
During her studies, she attended masterclasses at the Summer Music Academy “Mozarteum” in Salzburg with Galina Vishnevskaya, in Florence with Margherita Rinaldi, in Milan at the Baroque Music School with Claudine Ancerment, and at the Summer Opera Studio in Orvieto with Professor Gabriella Ravazzi.
Organized by the association “Amici della musica” from Florence, she also took part in courses with Professors Julia Hamari (opera studio), Irwin Gage (chamber music), and Jill Feldman (baroque singing).
At the chamber vocal music competition “Seghizzi,” she won the award for best interpretation of a French solo song as a finalist. She won third prize in chamber vocal music at the “Dino Caravita” competition in Ravenna and third prize in the opera category at the “Castello della Maggione” competition in Siena. At the “Spazio Musica” competition in Orvieto, she was selected as a finalist for the role of Fanny in Rossini’s opera La Cambiale di Matrimonio, which was performed at the summer festival in Orvieto.
She was awarded the “Francesco Tamagno” medal for a concert held at the “Liceo musicale” hall in the city of Varese.
She performed at the opera festival in San Gimignano in the operas The Telephone and The Old Maid and the Thief by G. Menotti, as well as Il segreto di Susanna by Wolf-Ferrari.
She continued her artistic career by participating in festivals across Italy, performing a repertoire that includes baroque music, Liederabend programs, and opera.
In Belgrade, she has performed multiple times at concerts organized by the Italian Cultural Center and the Music Center at Kolarac. Roles she has performed in Italy include: Susanna, Cherubino, Marcellina, Despina, Zerlina, Fanny, Violetta, Gilda, Adina, Donna Anna, Musetta, and Micaela. She has collaborated with conductors such as Piero Bellugi, Marco Balderi, Giorgio Proietti, Fabio Maestri, Alan Freiles, Giorgio Keiser, Grazia Rossi, and Ennio Clari.
In Florence, she gave a recital accompanied by Maestro Gonneli in all major concert halls, including a program of Serbian solo songs and works by Slavic composers.
In March 2011, she sang in Florence during the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
In Milan, she gave a recital at “Casa Verdi,” the home Verdi built for retired artists, which still hosts performances by leading opera figures. In Venice, she performed at “Lido di Venezia” during the film awards ceremony, accompanied by Austrian pianist Franz Moser.
She is currently a music professor in Florence and a voice teacher at the summer academies in Bristol and Llandovery (Wales).
