Nikola Radan
Nikola Radan, instructor, director of the World Music Ensemble, Fulbright College of Arts and
Sciences. Radan has had the privilege of working at the Honors College with an amazing
cohort of students, faculty and staff. In May 2018, he participated in the Honors Passport Pilgrimage course, which followed the Camino de Santiago through France and Spain. He instructed students
in medieval music techniques and taught them 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria that were composed by Alfonso X of Castile. The ensemble busked in town squares and
performed in various spectacular historical locations along the Camino, including
Alyscamps, a Roman necropolis in Arles, France, and the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
in Conques, France. Here on campus and at Subiaco Abbey in Paris, Arkansas, Radan’s
World Music Ensemble, in partnership with the Schola Cantorum choir directed by Stephen
Caldwell, presented Songs from the Camino, featuring music that medieval pilgrims
would have heard performed in churches during their journey. These concerts captured
in Europe and Arkansas, together with music composed by Radan using the medieval hurdy-gurdy
and santoor, provided a historically accurate and spectacularly rich tapestry of sound
for the award-winning film based on the trip, Buen Camino. Radan and the World Music Ensemble also presented an Honors College House Concert,
Il Mediterraneo, that highlighted traditions ranging from the tarantella, flamencos and boleros to the urban blues of Greek rebetikos.
Radan has built several honors courses around creative, non-traditional and appealing
topics, including his current seminar Music and Globalization, co-taught with Jake Hertzog