Aleksandar Carić

Aleksandar Carić works predominantly in the selection, integration, guidance and education of musically gifted people. Formally, since 2008 Aleksandar has worked as artistic director of the project "Orquestra Criativa de Santa Maria da Feira" for the Municipality of Santa Maria da Feira in Portugal. This project is based on social and educational work addressed to non-musicians and the population as a whole, with the aim of making music-making accessible to everyone – to men, women and children of all ages from all walks of life. In twelve years of activity, more than 12,000 participants have passed through this orchestra in various roles, ranging in age from three to ninety-eight, from socially vulnerable groups to the most distinguished members of society and people with special needs.

Within this project Aleksandar very carefully identifies specific talents and determines the role of each individual in a large ensemble, which very often numbers over one hundred and fifty musicians on the same stage. This project is funded by the Municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, the Portuguese Ministry of Culture and the European Union.

Over the course of fifteen years Aleksandar Carić worked in Italy for the "International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation" within the MUS-E programme. This foundation, present in sixteen countries, provides funding for a large number of workshops. In these workshops Aleksandar worked on identifying the talents and aptitudes of participants, for whom he found suitable roles in the ensemble, enabling them to take part and to build and increase their self-confidence.

Over a period of more than thirty years of artistic and educational work, Aleksandar Carić has performed and given workshops and lectures in countries on several continents, among which he has worked most in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, the United States of America, Armenia, the Republic of South Africa, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Since 2003, Aleksandar has been the selector for the international programme of the Buskers Festival in Novi Sad, an event that draws an enormous number of spectators thanks to its exceptionally varied programme. Continuously over 20 years he has selected and presented artists from over thirty countries on all continents. He has also collaborated on the organisation and programme selection of similar festivals in Italy and Portugal, into which he has included artists from Serbia.

Aleksandar Carić, in the capacity of group leader or leader of a national delegation, has taken part in numerous projects funded by the European Union under the Europa Cultura, Creative Europe and Erasmus+ programmes. These projects involved a very large number of participants and were based on intensive international cooperation.

During the Covid crisis, alongside his regular activities, he also worked on developing digital platforms for music tuition, in the Moodle, Soundtrap and Noteflight formats.

Many years of work with such diverse groups of people from different cultures required and built in Aleksandar an ability to recognise giftedness, human virtues and individual differences well. This fact contributed to Aleksandar joining, alongside his other activities, the CCSS team (Comprehensive Candidate Selection System) as an associate and representative. Together with Lisete d’Acosta he is responsible for the application of the CCSS methodology in the Portuguese-speaking countries.

In his free time Aleksandar is engaged in composing, writing poetry, art photography and translation. He has published a collection of poems and a CD of his own compositions, and many of his original works have been published in group anthologies, on CDs and in journals.