Ensemble Renaissance (Aнсамбл Рeнeсaнс) from Belgrade, Serbia is the first early music ensemble in Southeast Europe. The group began its life in the Autumn of 1968, when they played early music scores on historical instruments that Dragan Mladjenovic Shakespeare had brought from Prague and Vienna. The founders of the Ensemble, Miomir Ristic, Ljubomir Dimitrijevic, and Dragan Mladjenovic Shakespeare (supported by two ladies Dusica Obradovic and Iskra Uzelac) gave their first concert on January 14th, 1970 in the Gallery of Frescoes in Belgrade. In its forty year long history the Renaissance Ensemble gave more than 3,000 concerts all around Europe (6 in France, 7 in Spain, Portugal, Finland, 6 in Italy, Cyprus, Greece, 3 in Bulgaria, 4 in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Sweden), in the Middle East (Syria) and in North Africa (Algeria), and during the Adriatic summer tours (1982–88). Many splendid commentaries of music critics witness the artistic success of the Renaissance Ensemble: For a long time now such cries of praise and enthusiasm have not been heard (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, August 1975). The cultural event of the season (Cyprus Weekly, December 1981). The audience capable to compare the top-ranking musicians who have very frequently performed here in Paris called out “encore” many times to Belgrade musicians (St Julian le Pauvre, Paris, April 1982). Successo vivissimo! (An enormous hit!) (La Stampa, Turin, December 1982). The audience did not want to leave the hall (Vjesnik, Zagreb, January 1984). Much applause for everything (Bonner Rundschau, April 1984). They are all apostles of Byzantine and Serbian music (Pannonian Early Music Festival in Hungary, August 1985). A top concert! (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, August 1986). Early Music Ambassadors: It is enough only to form a retrospective and to try to sum up the results of their activities. Then compliments such as “creative” and “successful” sound rather modest (Sarajevo Winter, February 1989). Renesans la estrella del Ferstival (The Renaissance Star of the Festival)(Sestao Summer Fest, July 1991). El concierto del anno! (The concert of the year!) (Gran Fiesta in Bilbao, El Correo Espannol, Bilbao, August 1991). Ovations to Renaissance! (Santa Maria del Mar Cathedral in Barcelona, December 1993). Splendid contact of the Renaissance Ensemble with the audience (Serbian Music Festival, St Petersburg, June 2000). Golden relief “To The Ensemble Renaissance in the Name of Universal Art”, Renaissance lit up the Mediterranean Festival (Bari, August 2000–2001. Carmina Burana of Renaissance artists Per-fekt-no! (Danas, March 29th, 2008). Discography: Music of the Old Serbia Music of the Old Adriatic Greatest Hits Mon Amy Hommage a l’amour (Produkcija gramofonskih ploca RTB, 1983–88) Marco Polo - The Journey (Artelier Music, Cologne, 1992) Renaissance en Barcelona Los primeros siete annos (Edi Vox, Barcelona, 1993) Gems of Medieval Music (Musica Viva, Athens, 1993) Journey to Jerusalem (Al segno, Cologne, 1995), Anthology (2 cd’s, Al segno, 1997) Journey Through Dalmatia Al segno, 1999) Roots of the Balkan (Classic Produktion Osnabrück, 2002). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.