FACTA UNIVERSITATIS Series: Visual Arts and Music Vol. 6, N o 1, 2020, pp. 19 - 32 https://doi.org/10.22190/FUVAM2001019C © 2020 by University of Niš, Serbia | Creative Commons Licence: CC BY-NC-ND Original scientific paper ORCHESTRAL PRACTICE IN NIŠ AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR – FROM THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT OF THE NIŠ NATIONAL THEATER TO THE NIŠ SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (1953–1965) UDC 785.11”1953/1965” (497.11 Niš) Sonja Cvetković University of Niš, Faculty of Arts in Niš, Republic of Serbia Abstract. The paper deals with the founding of a professional orchestral practice in Niš, and its beginnings that are related to the 1950s and 1960s. The research, conducted with the aim of considering the cultural and artistic contribution of the symphony orchestra, as an institution, to the dynamics of the musical life in Niš is based on local press insights and available archival material. Frequent changes in the organizational structure, financial and personnel problems, artistic rises and falls, polemical tones of the cultural public that followed the establishing of the orchestral practice in Niš after the Second World War testify to the dynamic atmosphere during the first decade of existence and artistic work of symphony orchestras that were predecessors of the Niš Symphony Orchestra, which until the mid-1960s was the only symphony orchestra ensemble in Serbia besides the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. Key words: Niš, concert orchestral practice, Music Department of the Niš National Theater, Niš Philharmonic Orchestra, City Symphony Orchestra INTRODUCTION Concert orchestral activity is a very important factor in the structure of the entire musical life of a community. Considering its continuity/discontinuity, professional engagement, and the institutional organization one can point not only to musical but also to many other aspects – ideological, cultural, economic – that have marked a certain historical period. Therefore, in this paper the music institutions in which the orchestral music practice existed in Niš is viewed in the context of an institutional theory of music, which interprets music institutions not only as a “liberal and democratic order/infrastructure of competent Received January 11, 2020 / Accepted April 6, 2020 Corresponding author: Sonja Cvetković University of Niš, Faculty of Arts E-mail: cvetkos@mts.rs