Marinko Pepa
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Marinko Pepa | |
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| Nationality | Serbian Canadian |
| Other names | Michael Pepa |
| Occupation | Composer, music professor, artistic director |
| Organization | International Society for Contemporary Music Canadian League of Composers Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) Canadian Music Centre |
| Known for | Contemporary classical compositions; promotion of Canadian musicians |
Marinko Pepa, also known as Michael Pepa, is a retired university music professor and a distinguished Serbian Canadian composer who has promoted Canadian musicians throughout his career..[1]. Though retired, he continues to perform as artistic director of Les AMIS Concerts. He is nationally and internationally recognised for his many compositions for chamber groups, orchestras, and various other musical groups. Pepa is a member of the International Society for Contemporary Music, Canadian League of Composers, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, and is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre[2].
Biography
Marinko Pepa was born in Romania in 1939 to ethnic Serbian parents. Following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, in June 1940, Romania accepted the loss of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region in favour of the USSR (as stipulated in the Soviet ultimatum of 28 June 1940).[3] Thus, King Carol II of Romania secured an alliance with Nazi Germany. With a stroke of a pen, Romania was somewhat spared from the horrors of war at home, in contrast to neighbouring Slavic-speaking countries, namely Yugoslavia.
After the war, Marinko and his parents left Romania for Yugoslavia, where he went to grammar school and took private violin lessons and music theory. Life in Yugoslavia during the early Tito years was repressive. In 1950, the Yugoslav government offered anyone who was foreign-born a choice to leave. The Pepa family chose to follow the hundreds who crossed the border daily to the Free Territory of Trieste, then under the United Nations's Mandate.
San Sabba Refugee Camp
At the transit refugee camp of San Sabba, Pepa continued taking violin lessons from another refugee, an older, classically-trained Russian musician[4]. As things turned out, such experience has a silver lining. From there, along with his parents, he emigrated to Canada. In 1953, the Pepa family arrived at Pier 21 with the rest of the European émigrés.
Education
In Toronto, he attended high school and graduated from university and the Toronto Conservatory of Music[5], where he studied composition under the tutelage of Dr Samuel Dolin. Pepa graduated with an ARCT diploma of the highest honours. He successfully passed the required examinations in Theory and Practice of Composition, and was admitted as a Fellow (FTCL) of Trinity College of Music, London, England. Pepa holds a Teacher's diploma in the Art of Violin Playing (LTCL) from Trinity. He's also a graduate with a Master of Arts in Music Education.
Musical Career
In 1955, Pepa and his parents were among the many founding members of the Saint Sava Church in Toronto[6]. At Saint Sava's, Marinko Pepa took over the direction of the church choir from Betty Labas Kovac[7]. As a youth, he organised the first Serbian orchestra[8] and folklore ensemble Stražilovo in Toronto[9][10].
Pepa founded Les AMIS Concerts and has been the driving force as the Artistic Director since its inception. Many international (Claire Bernard, Gabriel Popa, Alexandra Gutu, Jovan Kolundzija, Nada Kolundzija) and Canadian artists (Scott St. John, Martin Beaver, Barry Shiffman, Lynn Kuo, Erika Crinó, and Rivka Golani) have all performed Pepa's works on their programmes. He has toured Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Western Europe, and the Balkans[11]
Marinko (Michael) Pepa taught at York University for many years before retiring. He has been living in Coburg, Ontario since 2014.
References
- ↑ cite book | last1=Ruprecht | first1=Tony | title=Toronto's Many Faces | date=14 December 2010 | publisher=Dundurn | isbn=978-1-4597-1804-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5Pz7TRQllwC&dq=Michael+Pepa&pg=PA346
- ↑ https://cmccanada.org/
- ↑ "Faksimile Nichtangriffsvertrag zwischen Deutschland und der Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken, 23. August 1939 / Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB, München)". 1000dokumente.de. Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ↑ "Cobourg composer to be honoured with 26-piece orchestra for 80th birthday". 29 November 2018.
- ↑ Tomashevich, George Vid (1987). Serbs in Ontario: A Socio-cultural Description. Serbian Heritage Academy. ISBN 978-0-920069-06-6.
- ↑ cite web | title=St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church Choir » History | url=https://www.stsavachoir.com/history-2/
- ↑ https://www.sabornik.com/ourchoir
- ↑ https://books.google.ca/books?id=3eERAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Marinko+Pepa%22+-wikipedia&dq=%22Marinko+Pepa%22+-wikipedia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjG8IfzvrORAxWkJzQIHUihORQQ6AF6BAgCEAEpage217
- ↑ https://books.google.ca/books?redir_esc=y&id=N2sMAQAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Marinko+Pepapages346and670
- ↑ https://www.novine.ca/ms/www.novine.ca/arhiva/2013/1380/zajednica_Crkva_Svetog_Save.html
- ↑ https://www.lesamisconcerts.org/michael-pepa
External links
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