In memoriam: FARUK SIJARIĆ (Mostar, May 17, 1942 - Sarajevo, January 19, 2021)

The Academy of Music of the University of Sarajevo hereby informs colleagues, friends and the general public of the passing of violinist, our esteemed professor and longtime dean Osman-Faruk Sijarić.

He was born on May 17, 1942. in Mostar, with father Ćamil and mother Sabina. He completed primary and secondary music education in Sarajevo, and then the Academy of Music in Sarajevo, in the class of K. Hauser. He attended the postgraduate study of violin at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and continued it at the State Conservatory in Moscow at the department of D. Oistrakh. After two years of specialization with G. Barinova, he completed his master's studies in Moscow in 1972 with P. A. Bondarenko. In 1975, he completed his study fellowship in the USA.

After returning from Russia, Faruk Sijarić first worked at the High School of Music, and since 1974 at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo. At the Academy, his career evolved from a teaching assistant to full professor, in which capacity he retired in 2012. He was the Dean of the Sarajevo Academy of Music from 1987 to 2003. He was a Vice-rector of the University of Sarajevo in 1994-1995 and 1996-1997.

Through his pedagogical activity, he raised generations of active violinists, and as a prolific reproductive artist himself, he gave concerts in Europe and North America. He was a member of the Symphony Orchestra of the Sarajevo Radio-Television and the Sarajevo Philharmonic. As a promoter of American art music, at the invitation of the Cultural Center of the American Embassy, together with pianist Kooicher he held a series of concerts throughout Yugoslavia in 1979. In the same period, he dedicated a significant part of his artistic activity to promoting the works of Yugoslav composers and thus released a gramophone record with works by Magdić, Cipra, Slavenski and Komadina as one of the few discographic releases of art music in BiH. His concert activity was regularly followed by very affirmative reviews in the most important media of the former Yugoslavia.

In addition to pedagogical and artistic activities, Osman-Faruk Sijarić was extremely active in the social and cultural life of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in various professional cultural organizations and institutions. He was the President of the Association of Music Educators of Yugoslavia, the President of the Council for Music Activity of RTV BiH, the President of the Assembly of the SIZ of Culture of BiH and a delegate in the Assembly of the SIZ for Higher Education of BiH, in addition to numerous other positions. For his socially invested work, Sijarić received a number of significant awards, including a plaque from the City of Sarajevo and the Order of Labor with Silver Rays.

Faruk Sijarić's activity in the role of the Dean of the Academy of Music in besieged Sarajevo played a crucial role in the survival of the institution in the most difficult days of its existence. Present daily at the Academy, he fought so that it would not interrupt its work and that its teachers and students would have the conditions for continuous action. Despite the devastation of the war, thanks to its international engagement, the Academy received the necessary instruments and library fund and entered strengthened the years of its post-war development. In the same period, Sijarić managed to provide twenty international scholarships for talented young artists at prestigious European academies, which are today the backbone of the Academy’s faculty. During the war years, with his artistic and dean's engagement, and then as the initiator of the relaunch of the Sarajevo Philharmonic, he made a crucial contribution to today's globally recognized phenomenon of the musical life of Sarajevo under siege, during which over 2,000 concerts were held.

Memorial service for Prof. Osman-Faruk Sijarić was held on Saturday, January 23, 2021. at the National Theater in Sarajevo. The event was attended by a limited number of visitors, with the application of recommended epidemiological measures. The funeral of Prof. Sijarić took place at the Bare city cemetery on Saturday, January 23, 2021.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTrs6YRXbl4