A LATE VOCATION

The story of Dime’s career is anything but stereotypical, his path being far from conventional or secure, without the guidelines secured by a typical music curriculum, without readily recognisable stages at the outset of his musical progress; a path free of any mystification about professional discipline, free of the usual tales or anecdotes. Dime’s path has, indeed, been a long, unconventional and often difficult advance, marked by a tardy start, a lengthy unfolding, offset by his unfaltering faith in himself and his music, fuelled by his insatiable passion for singing. The only aspect of Dime’s career which one might conceive as conventional is his late vocation; the story of an artist who, in spite of discovering his talent and a unique urge to perform relatively late in life, passionately embraced that talent, rapidly developing it, remaining ever faithful to it.

THE BEGINNING

Before devoting himself entirely to music, Dime was engaged in a wide range of activities, from the exciting and challenging to the mundane and conventional; sometimes driven to the stage as a youth, delving into the world of drama as an actor (with several minor roles as a professional actor in smaller as well as major Belgrade theatres), also working as a salesman and bar tender, everything culminating in a somewhat successful career in insurance. Dime’s years of professional wandering were not, however, without consequence: combined with a natural musical talent, great strength as a performer as well as a technique developed through advanced voice training, this period gave flavour to Dime’s performance – a rich life experience and appreciation of human nature colouring Dime’s voice with profound sensitivity and complex emotion.

TUSCANY 1993

Meeting and working with Gaettano Bardini, the famous old-generation Italian tenor, proved to be a turning point in Dime’s career. Bardini’s interest, teaching style and generosity soon compensated for the uncertainty with which Dime travelled to Tuscany in 1993, unprepared, with moderate means sufficient only for a few weeks of training, yet relentlessly enthusiastic. There ensued months of intensive, continuous work and friendship. The acquaintance with the old master, the memory of his hospitality and in particular, the sharing of his immense knowledge and experience, gave enormous impetus to Dime’s art. In addition to his greatest gift - the fundamental secrets of belcanto singing – Bardini also revealed to Dime how thorny his chosen path might be.

FIRST PUBLIC PERFORMANCE IN ITALY

Having built up significant initial experience through a number of solo concerts in Belgrade (primarily in concert halls renowned for chamber music venues, such as the “Cvijeta Zuzoric Pavillion”, the SANU Gallery, National and Ethnographic Museums etc.), Dime made his first international appearance in Sicily in 1997. Whilst the performance met with praise from music experts and encouragement from colleagues, the most resounding endorsement came from Professor Cattaldi Tassoni: “You must now go on to reach the highest technical level so that your voice can rise to European standards – to become really good . No one can guarantee that you will become a great performer. No singer is declared great before being great!” Dime always remembers these words.

SPRING 1999

The next, perhaps most important stage in Dime’s training/career came in the form of classes with Olivera Jovanovic, herself a student of the famous mezzo-soprano Biserka Cvejic. Classes were held in the short intervals between NATO air raids on Serbia, one of the most difficult periods in the country’s recent history, when music in Belgrade was played against the background of the explosions of falling bombs. Dime’s efforts produced good results: a new, more mature performance and successful appearances, including concerts at the National Theatre in Belgrade.

AN EXCURSION INTO POPULAR MUSIC

The popular music festival “Suncane skale 2002” in the town of Herceg Novi, where Dime’s duet “Sta cu tebi ja”, reflecting the trend in the rest of the world, uniting popular and opera singers, clearly showed that Dime’s timbre and tessitura leave no one different. Further proof came in the form of an award for the best vocal duet in 2002/2003, for a song performed jointly with the singer Dzo of the pop group “Nocne ptice”.

A PLEDGE FOR THE FUTURE

Dime’s career started out with a paradox: powerful artistic development, a positive process combined, accidentally or not, with the destruction to which a tormented Serbian society was exposed in the final decade of the last century. With the dawn of a new century, marked by renewed momentum in artistic development, Dime finally reaped the fruit of his hard work and advanced training, and perhaps, more importantly, saw potential for future development and further success; final proof that Cassus Dime was not simply an escapist search for salvation from the darkness of the nineties which had clouded his world. A pledge for the future is perhaps best expressed in the words of Vinko Šale, close friend of the famous tenor Mario del Monaco, pronounced having heard Dime’s voice: “I have never heard anything like this. What are you waiting for? To Italy! The world awaits you!”