thesilkroadtoday
This year marks an important anniversary — 25 years since the death of one of the most important Serbian conductors of the 20th century, Živojin Zdravković. He was an artist whose work shaped concert life in Yugoslavia and also left a mark on the international music scene.
Born in 1914, Zdravković belonged to the generation of musicians who, between the two World Wars and in the post-war period, built a professional orchestral culture in the area of former Yugoslavia. His name is most strongly connected with the Belgrade Philharmonic, where he worked for many years as a conductor and one of the key interpreters of the symphonic repertoire. His approach to music was based on orchestral discipline, clear phrasing, and a strong balance of sound, which made his interpretations of classical and Romantic music recognizable.
A less known but internationally important part of his career is connected with Cairo. In the late 1950s, Zdravković worked as a conductor of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, where he was active from 1959 to 1960, during the early development of this institution, which was founded in 1956 under the leadership of Franz Litschauer. At that time, the orchestra was still building its identity and repertoire, and the presence of European conductors like Zdravković helped its professional development and its connection to the wider international music scene.
Although his time in Cairo was short, he is remembered as part of the first generation of guest and permanent conductors who shaped the sound of the orchestra in its formative years. This episode is now often mentioned as an example of cultural exchange between European and Egyptian musical traditions in the second half of the 20th century.
Zdravković died in 2001, leaving behind a rich conducting legacy that still holds an important place in the history of Serbian performance art. His work remains an example of an artist who acted both locally and internationally, connecting institutions and musical traditions through a precise and consistent conducting practice
Source: Dr. Ana S. Gad, Serbia poet , editor and writer, residing in Dubai
