Martina Govednik
The eclectic, multi-talented mezzo-soprano Martina Govednik graduated in classical piano performance at the University of Belgrade, her home town, then moved to Québec to obtain Master’s in Solo Voice at the McGill Schulich School of Music and has since been a presence on stages in Canada and Europe. Highlights include the title roles of Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ and Piazzolla’s ‘Maria de Buenos Aires’, Métella (La vie parisienne), Zita (Gianni Schicchi) and The Old Lady (Candide). Since moving to Vancouver in 2015, Martina has been a regular with Vancouver Opera, Opera Kelowna, Vancouver Chamber Choir and premiered the role of Grizelda in A. Cocciani’s debut opera ‘Alma’ Martina is dedicated to reviving Serbian traditional song though different arrangements and styles. Her debut album Songs Of Kosovo for voice and piano was released in 2012 and is available online, as well as her ethno-rock project Byzantine Blue II, recorded in 2018.
Mark Bender
Mark has been an acoustic and electric bass player for over forty years, enjoying a wide variety of performance experiences. He has toured with a Top 40 rock band, played in numerous dance and jazz groups, and has gained both TV and recording experience. Mark has played abroad in both Japan and Germany, and has over twenty recording project credits. He keeps his classical bass playing current by continuing to play in community orchestras.
Mark’s talents are in increasing demand. He plays in the greater Vancouver area with a wide variety of jazz groups, including the Doe Bender Trio, Footprints, Wanda Nowicki, the Sanctuary All Stars and the Urbana big band. Mark demonstrates his versatility by having played with JD Miner, an acoustic roots-oriented trio, and Illiteratty,a folk fusion group, and he plays with various worship bands. Mark even tours regularly in the US with an Oktoberfest band!
Mark truly enjoys working with creative people, and appreciates how music can capture and stimulate a wide range of emotions, often in a very intimate or spontaneous way. He can hardly wait to see where music will take him next!
Bojan Bugarinovic
Bojan is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in the Vancouver area. For many years, Bojan has been studying jazz, blues and pop music. As he grew up in Eastern Europe, his studies have been greatly influenced by the music of the Balkans and Mediterraneans. Bojan’s passions gravitate around the music of percussive rhythmic qualities and odd time signatures.
Over the years, Bojan has played in many jazz bands, jazz combos as well as folk groups and rock bands. As a bass guitar and sitar player, Bojan has collaborated with Ranj Singh on Found A Way Home LP. His curiosity for eastern music led him to learn new instruments and work on layering folky textures over western folk-rock base.
Besides the recent collaboration with Martina Govedink and Mark Bender, Bojan has been collaborating with Thomas Beckman, Vancouver based composer and violist. They formed Elation Duo that currently performs in the Greater Vancouver area, aiming to present a mix of swing, latin and gypsy jazz alongside a budding repertoire of original works. In the last 3 years, Elation Duo got engaged in producing their own EP via Pacific Coast Jazz label.