Pera Ilić Choir History

Our choir was organized in 1957 and named after Serbian composer Pera Ilić. Lead by directors Mr. Novak and Mr Lobay, the choir sang its first two years at the local Armenian church and occasionally at the Episcopalian church in Sacramento. After moving to our newly founded Serbian Orthodox church on 65^th Street & 14^th Avenue, Mrs. Irene Vickers lovingly volunteered to direct the growing choir until a regular director could be found. Very soon, Irene’s musical abilities shone bright. Together with Daisy Freeman and the late Mike Fostar, Irene was instrumental in setting the core foundation for the choir responses for all services throughout the year. Irene dedicated much of her life to our choir, and for this we are all truly grateful. When speaking of the “good old days” of our choir, most everyone who was there looks back with pride upon the years when Irene Vickers “filled-in” to direct our choir . . . 37 years later – our choir came under the direction of Nadine Stanisljević, who led us well until the arrival of Dimitry Gortinsky. Dimitry then directed our choir from 1994 until 2002. In his youth, Dimitry was an accomplished director who in his early 20’s directed a 70-voice choir in Beograd. Kim Glazzard, a dedicated choir member for many years, often stepped-up to help direct our choir when we were in need. Kim’s dedication to the Orthodox faith and clear reverence of the Liturgy helped to sustain us.

The Pera Ilić Choir, with its fluctuating membership, has stood the test of time by keeping Serbian Orthodox musical traditions alive. The fathers of our church music, Mokranjac, Stanković, and Marinković have been the mainstay of our Liturgical responses. In keeping with our attempts to hold onto our culture, our choir is proud to have been an associate member of the Serbian Singing Federation since our choir’s inception. We also have a history of reaching out to other Orthodox churches in the Sacramento area by participating in the Pan Orthodox Service (Sunday of Orthodoxy) every year.

In summer 2003 Marija Krapčević was invited to direct our choir. Under her direction, we have introduced our youth choir not only to the Serbian Orthodox Liturgy, but to traditional Serbian Christmas and Easter music. Marija has rekindled our connection to our Serbian music. Her energy and optimism is endless, and quite possibly comes from her family. Her late father, Proto Dragoljub Krapčević was key in providing a spiritual foundation for Marija. The late Proto Milan Markovina and Vladika Stefan Lastavica, both close family friends, left Marija with a spark for passing-on the traditions of our Serbian Liturgical music. With Marija, we recently reinstated our membership with the SSF, and were honored to present 50 year SSF pins to four of our dedicated members at our Vidovdan celebration last year. Elsie Mrvoš, Mary Radich, Daisy Freeman, and Irene Vickers are simply some of the best examples our church has to offer of dedication to one’s church. Without such members, where would all our Serbian choirs be today?

Though membership fluctuates, we remain steadfast in keeping the traditions of our Serbian Liturgical music alive. Moving forward, our biggest accomplishment will be to provide future generations with a desire to sing from the heart, with pride in their Serbian Orthodox heritage. Hopefully, they will come to know, as we, that:

“Ko Peva, Zlo Ne Misli!”