Diana Brekalo (Photograph: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Pianist star Diana Brekalo, who by her musicianship and virtuosity inspired the leading English composers Christopher Gunninag and Peter Fribbinas to write works especially for her, while Croatian composer Milko Kelemen entrusted her with the premiere performance of his Sonata oubliée in London, and the German composer Hubertus Schwinge with recording his works on four albums, for her piano recital in Germany and in London she chose works by female composers from the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The concerts titled Rebellious Female Composers she performed in Liederhalle in Stuttgart on March 10th and in the Lancaster Hall in London on March 14th.

In the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the enthusiastic audience did not stop with loud ovations and thunderous applause as an expression of sincere joy and gratitude after each performance.

Diana Brekalo introduced herself to the audience in Liederhalle not only as an excellent pianist, but also as an excellent presenter, introducing each composer individually. She chose interesting and key details from their biographies that best characterize them; their personality and approach to music. She told about Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, that her father did not allow her to perform in public, so her brother Felix performed her works under his own name, while Clare Schumann’s father strongly encouraged her to compose.

Brekalo started the piano recital with two movements by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel work The Year: January The Dream and February Scherzo and at the very beginning she impressed the audience with her convincing and inspired interpretation,with her lightness and virtuoso octave performance. Brekalo emphasized how Anne de Belleville/Oury met the leading composers of her time, Beethoven, Chopin and Verdi, and played together with Paganini. In her composition Rigoletto Phantasy, these acquaintances are precisely reflected through the processing of recognizable themes by famous composers. Melanie Bonis sent her compositions to competitions where she won under the pseudonym M. Bonis, and the members of the jury considered that it was a male person. Lily Boulanger, with lasting health problems what can be felt in the melancholy of her works was the first woman – composer won a competition. It was Prix de Rome. Brekalo performed three movements from her Trois morceaux pour piano, with meditative parts and beautiful pianissimo. For Dora Pejačević, Brekalo pointed out that she was looking for new musical forms and that as a countess she could not identify with the social class to which she belonged by birth and how she spent most of her time in the company of artists and publicists. For the concert in the Liederhalle, Brekalo chose Sonata op. 57. by Pejacevic.

Diana Brekalo played each composition with lithness, dynamically impeccable, virtuoso and with a lot of feeling and expressiveness, and on the other hand temperament and energetic, but always very musically. Her pianissimo is beautiful, quiet but sonorous which few can achieve. She fantastically conveyed to the audience all that radiates from the performed works and all the feelings that she brought into the interpretation.

Diana Brekalo (Photograph: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Her entire performance in the Liederhalle, from her first step on stage to taking a bow at the end, was a fantastic performance that captivated the audience from beginning to end. Diana Brekalo simply moved the audience with her performance, smile, immediacy, presentation of the pianists, posture and creation of a special atmosphere, which the audience rewarded with a standing ovation, everyone stood up in delight to pay her respects and thank her.

Following Diana Brekalo concert in London I spoke with her about her impressions of her London concert and about the resonance about the female composers

Diana Bekalo: The concert in London was also very successful. The audience was very excited about the stories of the lifes by the women composers. Their favorite music in the concert was the Pejacevic Sonata and the Rigoletto Phantasy by Anne de Belleville. They all thought it was throughout a fantastic concert, where they learnt a lot and were fascinated to discover some more music.

Jasna Lovrincevic:How did you do your research and scores for the female composers and their lifes!?

Diana Brekalo: It was quiet challenging to find the only biography about Dora Pejacevic written by Koraljka Kos. My cousin sent me a link to a second hand store in Zagreb, where I was able to order the Croatian version of the biography.
Some of the scores I was able to find on the Internet. However I did have a score which I received from the Croatian consular in Stuttgart a long time ago. During that time it was lead by Dr Vera Tadic and the cultural attache Mrs Belamaric. Apart from that I visited the Pejacevic castle in Osijek back in 2019 and actually was going to visit the Castle in Nasice in summer 2023. Unfortunately there were refurbishments at the castle at that time, so I am planning to continue my research this summer. I’ll be looking forward to see the grand piano on which she was practicing and composing. Apart from that I was also visiting the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig where I read a few letters by Fanny Mendelssohn and her father. It was very exciting and interesting to see the garden in which the famous garden concerts took place. I remember reading that Fanny used the possibility to perform her music at this concert. There are a few books and biographies however I feel it is missing more informations.

Jasna Lovrincevic: Do you feel a difference or something female like in their music?

Diana Brekalo (Photograph: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Diana Brekalo: To be honest I don’t feel a difference while performing music by the female composers. Maybe the flower titles are more likely to be written by a female composer. However it was the best example that Melanie Bonis won a composition competition by signing her score as M. Bonis, so nobody assumed it could be a women writing such wonderful music.
I especially feel the second Sonata by Pejacevic and definitely Fanny Mendelssohn’s work have a strong and deep musical insight so it is worth performing it more in the future.

Diana Brekalo was born in Stuttgart, where her talent for music was recognized very early, she is the winner of several national and prestigious international competitions for pianists. She completed her music studies at the Guidhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she also obtained a Master of Music for performance.
She is engaged at the School of Music in Würzburg, gives master classes and she is a member of different pianist competition juries in Germany and England. Her performance of the Clara Schumman concerto was selected for the Canadian film The White Fortress, presented at the 2021 Berlinale International Film Festival.

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs (Photograph Otto Witte (s/w)

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs is a singer-songwriter, guitar player and author of poetry book, who impress with her love for music and her life energie. In interview I conducted with her at the beginning of March 2022 Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs spoke about her continuous love for music since her childhood, including learning how to play guitar, playing with her bands as a young musician, teaching music at her own music school “Musikraum Fuchs”, and finaly her big turn in life when she started to play on the stage with her band Myriam Unplugged.

Since 2016 she has released several albums and for her song “Brown Mustang” she received an Award at the 39. German Rock and Pop Price 2021 in the category for the Best Country Song. In 2020 her album “Dreamcatcher” was awarded 1.Price at 38. German Rock and Pop Price by German Pop Foundation in the Country Section. At the same Competition her band MyriamUnplugged was awarded 2.Price as the Best Countryband. This year Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs is nominated for Vecernjakova Domovnica, the competition organised by newspaper Vecernji list and the winners are selected by readers.

In 2015 Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs published her poetry book MyriamUnplugged, a sample of little stories and poetry.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “You are famous and popular as a country music songwriter, guitar player and singer. How have you developed love for country music. What do you like about that music?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “Thanks for the compliments, well when I learned to play guitar one of my first and favorite songs was “Blowin in the wind” from Bob Dylan. I also played hits from Johnny Cash, like “Ring of fire” and more. I still like this music very much. Country music and Blues are the roots of our Popular Music.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “When did you start to play guitar?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “Well, I´ve got my first real six string in the age of threeteen years. A black dreadnought by Ibanez, a present from my parents to my confirmation. I was very proud and I love this great instrument which I´m still playing. When I started to play guitar, I felt that it was very important to have a good teacher to keep playing. Maybe this was the reason for me to open my own little music school. I love to teach with heart and soul – individual lessons for individual people – to let them get in touch with the music.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “You and your band Myriam Unplugged have released several albums. The first one titled “From Las Vegas to L.A.” , published in 2016, is connected with very interesting story about your journey through America. It is especially impressive that you almost every day wrote one song. What was so inspiring for you on that trip?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “I´ve got the inspiration to my first album “From Las Vegas to L.A.” during a road trip across Nevada and California. The amazing Mojave-Desert, the Grand Canyon and the Sin City –Las Vegas are reflections in the lyrics and music of my songs. Especially Wild, wild Pony and Beautiful Balloon, close your eyes and you are riding on a train trough the desert sun. You find yourself in the middle of the Big City Lights again and get married to the song Take me to the moon.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “The lyric for your second album “Heartbeat-Soulbleed” is also associated with your same trip to America but from Chicago do Detroit. Could you please say something more about your second album?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “The album “Heartbeat-Soulbleed” picks up some political themes – primarily the situation of homeless people, especially in songs like Waterfall and Hopeless Avenue and Trump. The Song Adriaan, a song about the famous Painter Adriaen Brouwer… and also the song Spring… written in the Hotel Monaco, April 2017 in Chicago. The Album Cover shows me at the 16th floor of the MGM Hotel in Detroit.” Detroit, the city of motown and Chicago, the city of blues, really impressed me.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Your album “Dreamcatcher” was awarded 1 First price and your band won the Second price at 38. German Rock and Pop Price. Your song Brown Mustang received an award at 39. German Rock and Pop Price (Deutschen Rock und Pop Preis). Who do organised that competition and what does it mean for you that prices?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “In 2020 we published our third album “Dreamcatcher“. Songs about our earth, oceans and the wheel that keeps turning. Hard work, with great musicians, by the way. And then came the corona-pandemic. No concerts, no release, it was very sad. So, I decided to send our new CD to the 38. German Rock and Pop Competition 2020 that was organized by the Deutscher Rock Musiker Verband (German Rock Musicians Association) and the German Pop Stiftung (German Pop Foundation) in the Country Section. And guess what, we won the first price as the best German Country Band. What a pleasure, we were very happy and proud. After this we´ve been invited by the State “Rheinland-Pfalz” to play a Streaming Concert, without public. You can see it on Youtube Open Stage RLP-MyriamUnplugged and on OKTV. 2021 I get an award for my Song Brown Mustang from the 39. German Rock and Pop Competition 2021, as best Country Song

Jasna Lovrinčević: “When did you found your band Myriam Unplugged?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “I found the members of my band 2018 on an Open air concert in Wiesbaden/Germany. Erich Altenkirch, guitar player and Ralf von Horstig, percussion. Wiesbaden is a very special place – here I found my producer “Peter Richter” and his Living Room Studio in which we recorded our music. Our “special guests” were Gerd Vogel (Dobro & Slide-Guitar), Helt Oncale (Banjo & Fiddle) and Martin “Martino” Gerschwitz (Keyboarder – Iron Butterfly).”

Jasna Lovrinčević:”Your band Myriam Unplugged have played on different stages in Germany, and also at popular music club Crown in Darmstadt where you have met some famous people. Are those people inspired you for you song “Meet & Greet” ?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “Our first Gig was in Darmstadt in the Crown – an old famous location for live music. Later on we played in many Blues Bars, Cultur Clubs and Open Airs in the Rhein-Main Area. 2018 I met a very famous Irish Singer-Songwriter in my Hometown Ingelheim, the great musican “Chris de Burgh”. We talked together and I´ve got the chance to ask him: “How do you write a song?” – and after our conversation I was inspired to wrote the song “Meet&Greet”, Number 5 on our CD Dreamcatcher.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “The latest song you have published is the song “I´m Here – Behind You” with the lyric written by Croatian poet Marijana Dokoza, who is also chief editor of Fenix -Magazin.
The Music Radio Show has presented it and it can be heard on YouTube. Will you include that song on your next album?”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “February 2022, I published the song “I´m here – behind you”, written by Marijana Dokoza. She asked me to find a melody for her lyrics. That was a good addition. I was able to put myself in the shoes of the text very quickly. And the musical editing was fun. I was so inspired that I made a video clip afterwards. That was a great experience. This song will appear on our next CD.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Your third album has a very interesting title: “Dreamcatcher”. Is it possible to catch a dream? ”

Myriam Kavelj-Fuchs: “Maybe, Dreamcatcher caught at least one.
Plans for 20222 – a new album – 12 brand new songs are waiting to be heard. Some Live-Concerts, but first of all „health and peace“ more important than anything else in these times.”

Helena Mamich (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

“Through avant-garde music, I have absolutely felt my freedom of expression”, stated soprano Helena Mamich, whom I have interviewed on 27 th of March 2019 during her pause in Split between performing and rehearsals in Berlin. In October she will perform the role of Madam Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini) in Sydney and at the beginning of the year 2020, she will perform the role of Magda Sorel from Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Consul in Melbourne.

Helena Mamich, Canberra born medical doctor and musician, at age of five came to live in Split, Croatia, where she completed her studies in Medicine at the University of Split. She studied music at School of Music, Australian National University where she obtained Master’s degree in music performance in the class of Australian tenor Dr. Paul McMahon.

She has devoted herself to classical contemporary music repertoire. She has won the first prize at Australian Competition for Contemporary Music, New Music Art Song 2015.

As a soloist she had performed in Croatia, Italy, Germany, Estonia and France, and in the previous two years she has been regularly performing with the chamber music ensemble Arbor Vitae Trio.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “In Berlin you have been engaged at Opéra Ivre where you usually perform new composed music. Is that your first experience of singing the new, recently composed works?”
Helena Mamich: “No, I had already such experiences, but with the chamber music repertoire and art songs. It was in Australia during my undergrad. Those were composers Gerhard Stäbler, Kunsu Shim, Kyle Ghann, Calvin Bowman, and there were plenty of young composers who were preparing compositions for their exam. The main point of collaboration was that a work was performed for the first time.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “What are the differences between your approach to a role in the opera and approach to solo songs or chamber music?”
Helena Mamich: “The differences are obvious. When one prepares an opera, a musical play on the stage, especially this sort of opera that I am now preparing in Berlin which inludes also fragments with dance, one must be a good dancer, a good singer with an ability to memorize very fast and to have a excellente rhythm. All these factors need to unite to achieve the desired result. In the chamber music, there are no movements on the stage.

However, in contemporary chamber music there is one very difficult point that many of us are not conscious of. Unlike the opera, in an avant-garde composition can be over 35 different instruments including different percussion instruments what can be very confusing. At this point anatomical section beginns, sometimes you need to work on half of bar because of its complexity. Especially the rhythm can be very complex. Therefore it is necessary, as I would like to say, to adopt microsurgical approach in avant-garde to achieve the desired result.

The avant-garde seeks the greatest accuracy because if you make the slightest mistake, it is evident, no matter how many people say it is not audible. Individuals who understand the avant-garde music will hear any mistakes. And a small mistake will become a big, cardinal error; each minimal rhythmic or melodic failure. Therefore, avant – garde chamber music is not easy. It is often underestimated in comparison to an opera, but that part of chamber music makes it quite complex.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Accuracy is required mostly in all music genres, isn’t it?”
Helena Mamich: “It is required everywhere, but in a work from romanticism it will not be so audible, those minor mistakes are forgiven. Avant-garde is not considered as a lovely music, we have to know it. It’s an aesthetic of uglyness. Many people who listen to it, they experience it in that way. And then, if a performer makes the smallest mistake, they become even bigger because it’s not a pretty music. The people do not see the beauty in avant-garde music, so a small mistake escalates to a big mistake. This is not just my observation, it is a remark of my colleagues who deal with that music, but also of those who are not inclined to this type of music but they listen to it for educational purpose.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “When did you decide to pursue avant –garde music?
Helena Mamich: “During my undergraduate studies, it was a small part of the chamber music course and then I realized through this program that it was very good for me and that I could continue my master’s degree dedicated to the contemporary composers. But that little part was responsible for starting seriously with avant-garde because I have absolutely felt my freedom of expression.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Have you continued with the reportoire of contemporary music?”
Helena Mamich: “Everything from the twentieth century is my sphere in which I have been active. Following my studies I have been promoting these composers from the beginning of the twentieth century untill now.

Helena Mamich (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Jasna Lovrinčević: “How do you draw back the difference between the beginnings of a modern opera from the beginning of the twentieth century such as Berg and the composer of the third millennium?”
Helena Mamich: “Berg was an interesting introduction to the twentieth century. He was still under influence, I would say Tchaikovsky, but Mahler, he had fused harmony that was still very beautiful for the ear. However, all that emerged after the First World War, around 1920, 1923 and 1927, caused a sense of discomfort because the harmony was a little too condensed and because of the content itself. The background story of these works was depressed. It contained death, tragedy, illness, mental illness as a result of war, starvation, or all those horrors that occurred during that period and that’s why it caused such reactions of the audience. All this was part of the taboo, but unfortunately that is still happening today, it means we have not much changed in that matter.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “You often sing the vocal music of Olivier Messiaen, as you mentioned in our previous interview few years ago?”
Helena Mamich: “Olivier Messiaen is a category for himself. He is just something else. He was influenced by oriental music and dances and he used to listen the birds singing in nature . By recording it on paper he created music. He had the tremendous power to harmonize birds singing. He had relied on an songbird as it was a vocal line while he harmonised the rest. Sometimes there was a situation when he composed according to several singing birds and he recorded it as a polyphony of four simultaneous lines or four voices melorythmic dictation. That was really very effective and interesting.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “The spirituality of Olivier Messiaen is well known and you have performed his spiritual music. How difficult or easy is it for a performer to transmit all spirituality and emotions behind his music?”
Helena Mamich: “At first I have red what it is all about and then translated lyrics written in French into Croatian language. French is a beautiful language, it is very melodic and it has facilitated the situation for me. When one feels a sense of ecstasy in his songs, and its energetic charge, by singing that music you receive desire to dance because of all these asymmetrical measures, which I’m fond of. The impulses in your soul, evoked by that sense of ecstasy are unbelievable. You simply dance in your soul, but you stay calm beside the piano. Your soul dances and it is manifested on your voice being focused on it. The feeling that can be produced by this melody is incredible, you feel like a singing bird in nature.

It is one of my impressions, directly from my soul. I feel it like that. It gives me an incredible feeling of soul ecstasy because that bird was created by the beloved God, and with his music Messiaen has returned his talent to God, thanking Him for such a wonderful nature.

I feel very much inspired by Messiaen and I cannot stop admiring this composer. Discovering him as a composer was due to my lecturer from university who told me that I had a perfectly suitable voice for his music. When I have listened and tried to sing a little bit his melodies, I have been completely stunned by his music and then I have realized that my heart is in his repertoire, whether it is his instrumental or vocal music. I got intoxicated in a positive way with his instrumental music. Later I used to listen to his music during my working shift in clinic where i used to work. This had been for educational and therapeutic reasons. It was a dual effect.

When I listen Messiaen’ Improvisations on the organ, recorded by himself, I could sense those moments when he was in a fusion with some supernatural; In those momoment it looks like his soul, mind, and body were floating in paradise. His fingers and a pedal might have been glued to that organ, but he was somewere else, in some other sphere.

He was so inspired by something supernatural what we as a human species can not perceive it. Evidently he had received some gift which he converted into music so that we could also experienced it.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “You have recognised that in his interpretation and in his music, but it is hard to expect that all of performers to be so convincing.”
Helena Mamich: “I’m pleased that I have found his music very interesting, and that I gladly return to listen and learn his vocal reportoire. It is a great pleasure to me to find all of his vocal opuses – his music is an excellent exercise for the brain.”

Helena Mamich (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Jasna Lovrinčević: “In Melbourne you will perform the role of Magda Sorel from the opera The Consul by Gian Carl Menotti. The libretto of The Consul is gloomy like most of the operas by Alban Berg. It is about imigration, one of very actual themes today.”
Helena Mamich: “I have been choosen by that opera.Through the main character of Magda Sorel I have seen the struggle of my parents. My parents found themselves almost in the same situation as Magda Sorel. They emigrated from former Yugoslavia very young because of unpleasant factors. They were looking for a better life in Australia. Long-lasting oppression in our homeland unfortunately has forced many people to go out of the country.

I can connect The Consul with exodus of that time, but of course also with the struggle of those people for their rights in the sea of bureaucracy which is unpleasnt in every foreign country. These problems do not last for a month, but for a year or more. They create a serious sense bitterness.

But when it all terminates, we ask those who work in bureaucracy when will they become human beings and be able to feel what we feel. One day it will be a situation when we will be free from that horrific sense, but then it comes to my mind regarding the question, if there is a refuge for a man who has died across the border. Considering all of this, I could make the regie for The Consul because I can absolutely understand Magda Sorel. She was a very young woman whose soul had aged very quickly. She was in an extremely desperate situation. She fought. We have lot of Magda Sorel. Magda Sorel is the mother of many of us who have emigrated. The mothers like Magda Sorel have made the first breakthrough and have raised their children in other countries, desiring a better life for them. They have not liked to live under the opression of the regimes which destroyed them, and not just them, but also their children and their grandchildren. They just had good intentions.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “It is interesting that you, with similar experience of your parents have been selected for this role? You also have been forced to seek a job abroad as a medical doctor!”
Helena Mamich: “That is so interesting. I have not looked for that role, she has found me. This is something like destiny. It has found me because I have an important message to convey to my audience. I will, through the image of Magda Sorel, revive all the mothers who have been migrated with their children. I have migrated to Germany because of similar situation. Maybe I am Magda Sorel too, who struggles with that bureaucracy, and who has fought with a corrupt system that I have abandoned with a hope for a better and happier time. Perhaps, with my example, I could show that it might be possible to break this sad cycle of Magda Sorel. My mother says “never,” but I say, probably there is hope.”

Split (Photo: Helena Mamich)

Jasna Lovrinčević: “This is a libretto, dramatic part, and what is your opinion about the music part of The Consul opera?”
Helena Mamich: “I can honestly say Magda Sorel is the best choice for my type of voice. Menotti was sesitive to singers’ needs. Menontti hasn’t written a big number of tones on the passaggio part. They are few of them, but they are set in a logical way that is not taxing for the voice. Menotti demands a very good singing technique and all other vocal elements. In this case it is not tiring to sing his works. It suits me to sing Menotti as I have a darker vocal timbre and currently my vocal fach is a young dramatic soprano.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “When will be The Consul performed and where?”
Helena Mamich: “In February, 2020, at the Culture Center in Melbourne. This is an independent project of our fellow colleagues who were together at University and several contract singers from the Melbourne Opera. We are all over the world with Australia connecting us.”

Diana Brekalo (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Enigmatica Opus E is the latest album by internationaly recognised pianist Diana Brekalo with the music from German composer Hubertus Schwinge. The album is recorded in Potton Hall Recording Studio in England. A musical exploration of truth, perception and delusion through eight contrasting movements, Enigmatica presents the theatre in two acts with four scenes. Celebrating the launch of the CD in Stuttgart, on April, 13. 2018, Hubertus Schwinge explained that the sources for his music were the piano improvisations based on classical musik he created during his twenty years accompaniment of the dancers (at the piano) at the “Studio for Rhythm” in Hannover.

This is the second Brekalo’s album with musik by Hubertus Schwinge. The first one was “24 Nocturnes Opus N”, published 2015.

With Diana Brekalo, known for her brilliant technique and musicianship, especially the ability to elevate the performed work to a high artistic level, I spoke after release of her new album.

Diana Brekalo and Hubertus Schwinge (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Jasna Lovrincevic: “How did it happen that you recording the music by Hubertus Schwinge again?Did you already perform the Enigmatica?”
Diana Brekalo: “Hubertus Schwinge was very enthusiastic about my recording and the performances of the “24 Nocturnes”. And because that CD had sold quite well, he asked me after the celebration of his 70th birthday, if I could imagine to record his big Enigmatica. Of course, I was very touched with that opportunity and I agreed.”

Jasna Lovrincevic: “The Enigmatica lasts quite long, for 71.26 minutes. How long did you prepare for its recording?”

Diana Brekalo: “My impressions of Enigmatica are that it is a very long, profound work, very rich in contrast in its character and style. For example the contrast between the first movement and the Minnelied (the third movement) is very big. Furthermore, it was also a challenge for me to learn the whole work of 72 minutes and to take over this responsibility for its first recording. I am a person who likes to take on challenges and do my best to make the music accessible to each listener.”

Jasna Lovrincevic: “What were the recording conditions of the recording studio?
Diana Brekalo: The circumstances for the CD recording were great. Hubertus Schwinge said I could choose a studio in England that I like and that is financially viable for him. We had several options but none was 100% perfect. Since I recorded the Sonata for Pianoforte by Christopher Gunning at Potton Hall back in 2014, in Potton Hall I knew what a great grand piano I would have. So I suggested this studio because it was also very secluded from the city. We could record at any time. The accommodation was right next door, our hosts made food for us when we wanted, the piano tuner adapted to my needs, and I also had a swimming pool, sauna and steam room. So it was everything that makes me happy and there were the best conditions for a successful CD recording. With the sound engineer Luca Gardani I had already worked together several times and we have, as always, understood each other very well.”

Trio Solarek

Jasna Lovrincevic:”For the last period of time you have often performed with Trio Solarek. When did you beginn to play with it? What kind of repertoir do you have? How do you coordinate your rehearsals, because the Trio’s members lieve in different countries?”
Diana Brekalo: “I have been playing with Trio Solarek since 2011. I played piano concertos twice, 2008 and 2010, with violinist Marina Solarek, who was the Concert master in the orchestra. At that time, Germany played at the World Football Championship against Brazil and I was allowed to leave the rehearsal earlier. I sent Marina Solarek the scores via sms while she kept rehearsing with the Orchestra. Since she also comes from Germany and we both were looking forward to Germany, we got along very well right from the start.

Then she called me in summer 2011 and said, her pianist got sick and if I would play a concert in Bremerhaven with her trio. Of course I had to check my appointments and confirmed it. We played Brahms Trio Opus 8, Trio in D major by Joseph Haydn and a little bit more. I got along really well with the cellist Miriam Lowbury and we have been playing concerts together since then. The repertoire is very extensive. Our last concert consisted only of female composers, then from time to time we perform something contemporary, Brahms, Shostakovich and the classics of course. Our rehearsals always take place when I am anyway in the UK, have concerts in London or they visit me in Stuttgart. Then I play my recitals and we rehearse in between. As Marina still plays the violin in the Royal Opera House and Miriam in the BBC Concert Orchestra, we always have to coordinate the dates together. But so far it has worked very well and I enjoy playing music together with them. Learning and shaping together, other repertoire is a lot of fun. Marina, for example, flew to the Schott Publishing House in Mainz to copy the notes of a “forgotten” composer named Johanna Senfter. She will now rewrite the manuscripts on a computer program so that we can prepare another of the five trios for concerts in 2019. Johanna was a student by Max Reger and wrote a total of 9 symphonies and has an interesting compositional style. We are very curious to see how this discovery will continue and we look forward to further joint projects.”

Jasna Lovrincevic: “Last year you made your music theatre debut. What kind of challenge was it for you?”
Diana Brekalo: “The concert theater under the direction of An-Ting Chang 2017 was a very exciting project. We performed Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall together with two actors and myself on stage. In several performances I have performed Skriabin 24 Preludes, Mozart Violin Sonata in B flat major, Brahms Rhapsody op. 79 and the Edward Ballad. We rehearsed around the twelve weeks in the first four months of 2017, made the backdrop together, edited the lyrics together, discussed costumes and what role I schould play in the piece. The actors acted from time to time in the rhythm of the music, sometimes the music amplified the dramaturgy. Sometimes I played Annabella and with eyes and facial expressions showed different reactions, so I improvised very extensive. I had a lot to do. Ninety minutes almost constant playing without break was very exhausting. We had a great response and a lot of fun, but also we had a bit of drama during the intense rehearsals. It was also interesting for me to see how different actors work and understand music.”

Diana Brekalo (Photo: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Jasna Lovrincevc: “What is your next project?”
Diana Brekalo: “In July 2018, I will have the pleasure to play at the Syssma Chamber Music Festival in Finland. Together with Elisar Riddelin we will perform a piano quartet called “Chasse Neige” written by young Sauli Zinovjev and Franck ‘s Violin Sonata. Violin: Elisar Riddelin, Viola: Vuokko Lahtinen, cello: Sirja Nironen are the musicians I am going to collaborate together. In the second concert half we will play Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor. It will be a lot of fun, as the violinist was my piano student.”

Diana Brekalo

Since the beginning of her career piano star Diana Brekalo has been performing regularly in Great Britain and in Germany, and in both countries she has recorded the albums. In May 2016, her second album was realesed with works by contemporary German composer Hubertus Schwinge, and in 2017 she will performe world premiere of Hubertus Schwinge’ s Enigmatica.

In December 2016 I spoke with Diana Brekalo about her new album, upcoming concert in London and about Fazioli pianos.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Since September 2016 you have been performing frequently in UK and Germany. Alongside performances n Cambridge, Munich and Würzburg you have performed several times in London and Stuttgart. Could you say more about your performances in London and in the UK. Who das organize the concerts and how do you choose the program? ”

Diana Brekalo: “The past few months I’ve been several times in London and Cambridge, where I had a number of different projects. The concerts in London are organized mostly by the organizers I already have since my study time in London, and cooperation with them has always been a joyful meetings with nice people.

In Germany, one of the concerts was with my dear sister Dolores Brekalo, also a pianist. She won the second prize at Federal German Competition for Chamber Music in 2000 in Berlin. Dolores Brekalo studied music science and obtained her masters degree in history. Most of my concert programs I choose in consultation with my sister Dolores.

In a short time I try to select a program which is interesting and unusual for the audience. Sometimes I try to educate audience too and I don’t focus only on the standard, well known musical works. I like to include in my concert program also the works by Croatian and contemporary composers. Of course, such a program can be performed in the metropolis where audience is opened for contemporary music. I’m not supporter of mainstream concert program. By that, I mean the standard scheme of the music program.”

Emperor Concerto With Darrell Davison

Jasna Lovrinčević: “On 11 February 2017 in Croydon you will play the great Emperor concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven. Could you tell us more about it. Have you already had rehearsal? Do you have some new approach to this concerto regarding your interpretation of the same concerto ten years ago and your recent performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra? ”

Diana Brekalo: “In Croydon I will perform with the Croydon Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Darrell Davison. I have had great pleasure to perform five or six times with this extraordinary conductor. Concerts with the conductor Darrell Davison have been performed following my first prize at Contest Concerto Competition in Croydon and the winning aword included few performances with that orchestra. I have already performed Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto, Rachmanjinoff ‘s Concerto No 2 and No 3, Tchaikovsky’ s concerto and Sergei Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2. Rehearsal for a concert in February 2017 it will be just before the concert and it means I will have only one rehearsal.

My first performance of Beethoven’s No 5. piano concerto was 2007, in Coesfeld in Germany, under the baton of German conductor Alexander Scherf. My interpretation in relation to that concert will be certainly different because I am now ten years more mature and I have more routine and my motivation and inspiration are probably quite different. Now I can more deeper and more studiously go into details and I am now more independent and self confident. This is one of my favorite piano concerto so I think I’ll enjoy it.”

New Album

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Recently, in Stuttgart, you have performed Toccata from Rhythmiana by Hubertus Schwinge. Could you say more about the latest collaboration with composer Hubertus Schwinge, his Rhythmiana as well as Enigmatica whose world premiere you have announced for 2017. ”

Diana Brekalo: “The renowned German composer Hubertus Schwinge composed Rhythmiana when he was still active as a pianist, playing with dance groups in Scandinavia, so that the most of the works from Rhythmiana are dance music. In May 2016 I had recorded it and CD will be realised next year. World premiere of Enigmatica is also planned for 2017. It is quite demanding musical work with two movements. Hubertus Schwinge calls it Music Theatre. Enigmatica is divided on the scenes. The titels od the scenes are, for example: “Rumpelsstilzchen ” or “Dancer in the Arena.” The works last about 45 minutes and I really look forward to premier it. Unfortunately, I have had no enough time to go into details because I have been very busy: alongside teaching at the University of Music in Würzburg and at the musical school in Stuttgart, I had performances of my students and I adjudicated different piano competitions.”

Fazioli Grand Piano

Diana Brekalo, Paolo Fazioli (right), Slavko Brekalo – Diana’s father (left)

Jasna Lovrinčević: “In November 2016 you performed on Fazioli grand piano at the Piano Fischer Musikhaus in Stuttgart. It is interesting that you know prof. Paolo Fazioli, famous piano designer and producer, since your childhood, and several times you have met him. You have been always very happy to play on Fazioli piano. Could you tell us more details about Fazioli piano, when did you play for the first time on the Fazioli piano, what distinguishes Fazioli piano from Stainway piano ones and what is for you especially attractive abou this piano? Where have you played on the piano Fazioli and do you have desire to own one? ”

Diana Brekalo: “I met prof. Paolo Fazioli when I was six and a half years old. He was very favorable, and already at that time he prophesied and expressed desire for my bright future and trusted in me. In recent years I have met prof. Fazioli several times. During my studies at University in London I had a chance to talk with the masters – piano makers. They emphasized and praised the fantastic work of Fazioli piano producers. Fazioli pianos are made by hand not as a Steinway by machinery and the company produces about one hundred pianos a year. This is my favorite piano and I have always had a lot of pleasure when I performed and played on the Fazioli piano. Fazioli pianos do not “screaming” in the descant like a Steinway pianos and they are higly sophisticated and very balanced and how to describe; it is “a fascinating perfection of the art”. After the concert on 5 November on the Fazioli piano I described a feeling when you play on that piano as a driving a Maserati, a car with a perfect machine. A few times I have played on Fazioli piano in Munich and Stuttgart. In the year 2004, at Züblin- Haus I played on Fazioli piano Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto. Of course, I would like to own one Fazioli piano, but I need more space for it, and who knows how many times I’m going to move in the future. ”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “What did you performed on the Fazioli piano on 5 November 2016? Did you personally select the program for that concert?”

Diana Brekalo: “At the concert on November 5th 2016, I performed a couple of preludes by Alexander Scriabin op 11: No 1, No11, No 12, No 18, No 19 and No 24. I also played Romance by Jean Sibelius, because I consider that the Sibelius music for piano is unusual and very interesting. At the end, I crowned my performance with the first waltz of Franz Liszt’s Mephisto, so the audience listened something known as a superb piano work.”

Iva Schell Photo:(Permission by Iva Schell)

The soprano singer Iva Schell is on concert tour with the famous violinist and conductor André-Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra, who brings a lot of pleasure to his large audience all over the world for more than twenty years.

I talked with Croatian – German lyric soprano singer Iva Schell on the 10th of February, between her tour performances in Rostock and Trier. This is my second interview with Iva Schell who wins with her openness and natural warmth.

Iva Schell: “I am on tour till the end of April. Besides Germany, I will perform also in Belgium, Turkey, Denmark and Sweden.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “What are your impressions after spending nearly a month on this great tour?”
Iva Schell: “It’s very nice. Everything is fantastic, it is very joyful, fantastic audience, dear colleagues, a lot of people…”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Who has selected your tour program?”
Iva Schell: “André-Rieu has suggested the aria. At first we had to see whether the aria “Liebe Du Himmel auf Erden” suits my voice and then we have made the decision together.”

Jasna Lovrinčević:”What is the reaction of the audience when you perform?”
Iva Schell: “I believe that the audience likes operettas and beautiful arias. I have a feeling that the audience is satisfied. I think that the audience likes my performance. I have such a feeling.”

The first performance on the tour was on the 14th of January and till the 10th of February Iva Schell already performed in nine German cities, in the halls which receive over sixteen thousand people or more, like the Lanxess Arena in Cologne which can accommodate 19,500 visitors.

Jasna Lovrinčevć: “Is it exhausting to perform every two days in a different city?”
Iva Schell: “It is not. I always receive new energy from the audience. The whole team is fantastic, we have a lot of pleasure and I feel more energy than tiredness.”

Performance And Energy From The Audience

Iva Schell, born in Ulm, has mostly performed in Germany and Austria, but also in Switzerland and America. In September 2015 she was on tour in Japan.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Last year, from the 3th to the 11th of September 2015, you were in Japan with the ensemble Seefestspielen Mörbisch as Adele in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss the Younger. What was the reaction of the audience in Japan?”
Iva Schell: “The audience is different, the concerts are quieter, the audience is very grateful, calmer, but at the end the people are very delighted. The Japanese audience loves classical music and likes operetta.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “On tour with André Rieu there is an energy exchange with the audience. Do you have a similar experience with other audiences?”
Iva Schell: “Whenever you perform in front of an audience if you perform well you obtain some kind of feedback energy.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “What is your experience from Leipzig?”
Iva Schell: “As everywhere in Germany, the audience is very positive. The audience knows the artists, people come to the theater because of the singers, they often even come several times to the same performance, so the artists know the audience, they almost know each other personally.”

Dancing and Singing

Iva Schell (Photo: Permission by Iva Schell)

Iva Schell is engaged in the Opera Leipzig in Musikalischen Komödie and last year she was involved in “Wiener Blut” as Pepi, in “Der Graf von Monte Christo” as Valentine, in “Im weissen Rössl” as Klärchen, in “La cage aux folles” as Anne and in “Die Scardasfürstin” as Stasi.

In July and August 2015 she also appeared as Frederike in “Der fidele Bauer” in the City Theater Baden bei Wien as well as on the Richard-Wagner-Festival-Wels with a role in “Tannhäuser”.

On stage Iva Schell sings, acts and dances because operettas require that.
Iva Schell: “Operettas as well as musicals include dancing and singing, and that is fantastic. I love to dance. I prefer to dance while I am singing more than to stand and sing.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Do you need to practice ballet regularly?”
Iva Schell: “Yes, I train regularly. There is a choreographer for each operetta and you receive the help for the dance.”

Iva Schell has attended ballet school for six years. It is interesting that she was already behind the scene when she was five years old. At that time her sister was a ballerina and Iva accompanied her and since than she has been fascinated by the stage. At the age of twelve she decided to become an opera singer.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “What did especially motivate you to become an opera singer?”
Iva Schell: “As a child I was always behind the scene, watching what was happening there. I was five years old when my sister performed as a ballet dancer. At twelve I decided to become an opera singer, but when I was fifteen years old I was enrolled in a solo singing class.”

Masterclass by Great Lyric Soprano Sena Jurinac

Iva Schell has studied singing at the High School of Music in Augsburg and the “Carl-Maria-von-Weber” in Dresden. It is interesting that she attended a masterclass by Sena, Srebrenka Jurinac (1921-2011), known as “the legendary soprano of the twentieth century”, born in Travnik, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose father was a Croat and mother a Viennese. After training at the Music Academy in Zagreb and starting a career at the Zagreb Opera, Sena Jurinac achieved international fame with her engagement at the Vienna State Opera signing the contract in 1944. In our first conversation a year ago, talking about the masterclass by Sena Jurinac, Iva Schell said that Sena Jurinac was very strict, but she also used to commend.

Iva Schell: “The masterclass with Sena Jurinac lasted for one week. It was a fantastic experience, I have learned a lot.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Did you know Sena Jurinac was Croat and did she know about you?”
Iva Schell: “Yes, we used to speak Croatian.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Did you know for her death and did you attend the funeral?”
Iva Schell: “I knew that, but unfortunately I could not go to the funeral.”

Social Engagement

Iva Schell is very socially engaged and she is a patron of various associations. In two schools in Austria she is a frequent and welcomed guest where she takes part in different projects for school children.

Iva Schell: “By invitation, I run cultural programs in two different schools. This includes reading, singing, making music together or going out into nature or something else.”

Connection with Croatia

Iva’s birth family name is Mihanovic, which is her father’s last name. Her father comes from Split. Iva Schell enjoys her visits to Croatia, which are always associated with her family, sea and beautiful experiences. She says that she is going to Croatia next summer.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “When was your last visit to Croatia?”
Iva Schell: “Last year in May. I was on the island of Brač and I also visited many other islands. I connect only positive things with Croatia: vacation, my family, sea, good food …”

The life in Alps

Iva Schell (Photo.Permission by Iva Schell)

Another place, where many people would be happy to spend their holidays enjoying the peace and beautiful views, Iva Schell has chosen for her residence. Iva Schell lives in Alm, in Kärnten in Austria, where she used to live with her husband Maximillian Schell, famous actor and Oscar winner, who died in 2014. In Alm, they wrote together the biography of Maximillian Schell, published in 2012.

Iva Schell: “I live in Alm. When I have no duties I am there. It is a very nice place and I want to stay there.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “Is it difficult for you to stay there due to the memories connected with your husband or is it maybe easier for you after two years?”
Iva Schell: “Yes, it is now easier for me. The passing time makes it easier in this regard.”

The two artists met in 2007 when Iva Mihanovic performed at a summer operetta festival Seefestspiele Mörbisch. She was involved in the operetta “Wiener Blut”, directed by Maximilian Schell. After that they often appeared together in concerts, but also in the operetta “Im weissen Rössl” in Munich.

Jasna Lovrinčević: “How do you feel now when you perform in “Im weissen Rössl” since you performed together with your husband Maximilian Schell?”
Iva Schell: “It is hard. The scene with the emperor is especially hard for me. However, the new performance has a different scenario, new colleagues and everything is different, and in this regard, I feel good.”

Christopher Gunning and Diana Brekalo

Extraordinary pianist Diana Brekalo presented her second CD in this year, “Sonata for Pianoforte” by Christopher Gunning, in London, on 12 December 2015. Christopher Gunning, world famous composer, outhor of music for the films Grace Kelly, La Vie en Rose, Firelight and for the TV series Poirot, four time BAFTA Aword winner (Britisch Academy of Film and Television Arts), in the CD booklet has written that he was impressed by Diana’s performances of contemporary music, which inspired him to write for her a piano piece “wich would explore her extraordinary technique and musicianship”.

Five movements Sonata for Fortepiano is conceptually challenging piano piece with rational structure, but overcome by composer’ ingenious musicality, which whole piece has elevated to a high artistic level, developing each initial idea to its fullness.

Diana’s performance is excellent with impeccable technique and dynamic. She performes technically demanding sections with lightness and brings each theme clearly with dynamic and nuances,
following development of the piece with great musicality.

Erste CD With 24 Nocturnes

The Diana’s album, titled “24 Nocturnes Opus N” , presented in Stuttgart in October 2015. has been well received with remarkable resonance. “The music pieces titeled Nocturnes represent night, and “they are reminiscent of a difficult times” said composer Hubertus Schwinge on the presentation of that CD. After hearing Diana’s performances of his nocturnes, Hubertus Schwinge, excited by her poetic nterpretation, immediately wanted Diana Brekalo to record a album with all his 24 nocturnes.

Promotion of Croatian Composers

Diana Brekalo and Monika Giurgiuman

With release of these two albums Diana Brekalo finished this successful year. In 2015 Diana performed also two world premieres, “Sonata for Pianoforte” by Christopher Gunning in the church in Notting Hill Gate in March, and “Sonata oubliée” or “Forgotten Sonata” by Milko Kelemen, Croatian and world leading avant garde composer. Performance of Kelemen’s Sonata took place on 19 May, in the center of London, in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, under the high patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Diana Brekalo shone in full light and won the audience. After the concert the people in long queues waited for her autograph.

The Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was the patron of the second Brekalo’s great concert in London, held on 22 January at Rosslyn Hill Chapel in Hampstead. Diana Brekalo performed piano pieces by Croatian composers Ivo Josipovic and Mladen Tarbuk. It was a benefit concert, held for charitable purpose, directed to rebuild the library at Primary School in Gunja, badly damaged by last year’s flooding.
At the same concert Diana Brekalo performed together with her international Trio Solarek and the mezzo-soprano Mae Heidron.

Clara Schumann

Diana Brekalo and Dolores Brekalo

This year was also for Brekalo characterized by great composer and pianist Clara Schumann. Diana Brekalo performed Clara’s piano concerto, Op 7, in A Minor, with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Stuttgart Orchesterverein in front of two thousand spectators at Beethoven Hall, in famous Liederhalle Concert Complex in Stuttgart.

The second concert connected with Clara Schumann, Diana Brekalo performed on 4. December 2015 at the National Museum in Stuttgart together with her sister Dolores Brekalo, master of history and science of music. Diana played works by Clara and Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, and Dolores Brekalo masterfully guided through their works. Diana performed on a Double Piano, called Pleyel, from the 19th century, set as an exhibit in the museum. The construction of the double piano Pleyel requires a special piano playing technique and Diana Brekalo had master it , offering an unique experience for the audience because they could exiperience how the piano music had sounded at the time of the great romantics. For the sensitive and virtuoso performance Diana Brekalo received a big applause and standing ovations.

Ana-Marija Markovina

The extraordinary pianist with an international career, Ana-Marija Markovina, conducted a concert tour and masterclasses in the countries of Central and North America.

The tour started on the 23rd of September and lasted till the 24th of October, 2015. A fantastic concert audience reception, extremely talented students, unforgettable encounters with great people, earthquakes, tropical storms, a walk on the mountain with an incredible view into the crater of an active volcano, a for the first time ever canceled concert and finally, the experience of the Canadian autumn beauty, are only a part of the events that came one after another during that beautiful and exciting tour.

Orchids (Photographer: Ana-Marija_Markovina)

“It was nice, exciting and very hard”, said Ana-Maria Markovina in an interview I conducted with her in early December 2015, after her concert in Berlin and before she started to record the complete works by Urspruch.

The Central American tour included countries located between the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, the countries of exceptional beauty, but also the land of volcanoes, tropical storms and frequent earthquakes.

Ana-Marija Markovina experienced a tropical storm and earthquake and she was very close to the volcano Poas at 2575 meters above sea level. During her piano masterclass in Costa Rica she experienced undescribable strong wind, thunder and shower known only in the tropics and an earthquake on the last night in El Salvador. ”

Vulcano Poas (Photographer: Ana-Marija Markovina)

Ana-Marija Markovina: “An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale was during the night. I thought I have to go out, but after two and a half minutes it calmed down. The following day people talked about it, although they are accustomed to earthquakes.”

During the tour, there were media report about heavy raining and landslides in Guatemala.
Ana-Marija Markovina dedicated one of her concerts to the victims of the landslide.
Ana-Marija Markovina: “I’ve dedicated the concert in Guatemala-City to victims of landslides and to their families. The people were very grateful. We held a minute of silence before the beginning of the concert.”

The first country of the tour was Costa Rica, famous of its flowers, where Ana-Marija Markovina arrived after a twenty-four hours flight. In the following two days she performed a concert and held a masterclass. Until the end of the tour, different events, concerts, lectures and receptions had been moving at an equaly tempo. In Jamaica, Ana-Marija Markovina gave a concert, master class, she had a reception and made a trip to the hills to visit her friends, all of that during only a forty-six-hour stay.
Ana-Marija Markovina: “The tour was thickened with a lot of traveling, and time was too short.”

Photographer: Ana-Marija Markovina

Although everything was organized in advance, during the tour Ana-Marija Markovina constantlay received requests to do more masterclasses.

Ana-Marija Markovina: “It’s a hunger for music. In these countries people take energy for their life from music. We don’t do that anymore. Here in Europe, concerts are kind of a social event, but for people over there, a concert is a source for mental strength.”

Beginning from her first concert till the last one, the audience was delighted with her performance. Standing ovations accompanied her concerts. “Bravo,” “thank you”, “please come again”, “we love you” were the words with which the audience greeted Ana-Marija Markovina.
Ana-Marija Markovina: “My concert was a national event everywhere, except in Mexico.”

Unfortunately, in Mexico, she had to cancel the concert due to illness. It has happened for the first time in her career. Until now, Ana -Marija Markovina has performed more than two thousand times.

Ana-Marija Markovina

Premieres in El Salvador

This tour is particularly important for El Salvador since Ana Marija Markovina has played two concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (KV 246 and KV 53) and two piano quartets (E-flat major, K. 493 by W. A. Mozart and Es -flat major op. 47 by Robert Schumann) which were performed for the first time ever there.

With the ensemble Asarta she performed the piano quartets and two piano concertos by Mozart with the Orquesta Sinfonica El Salvador under conduction of maestro German Caceres, composer and university professor. The concert with Orquesta Sinfonica El Salvador was held in the prestigious building of the National Theatre. It is interesting that most of the members of the Orquesta Sinfonica El Salvador have two professional titles. Besides their engagement in Orquesta Sinfonica El Salvador they usually work as doctors, lawyers and etc.

Talented Students and Love for Music

Markovina gave piano masterclasses in each country. Students of music endeavour to be able to study music. It testifies their great love for music because they mostly do not have the conditions for a systematic music education. Markovina was visibly moved by their love for music, their desire to learn and their effort to gain knowledge. She mentioned the example of a boy from Jamaica.

Ana-Marija Markovina: “In Jamaica, I was fascinated with a little boy, he was twelve years old. He played Rondo and Capriccioso by Mendelssohn very well, but he used to exercise only at school because he did not have a piano at home. It is so touching how they are used to approach music.”

All experiences of the tour, have been extremely important for Markovina in a specific way.
“I came back changed. The tour has changed my perception of everything”, said Ana-Marija Markovina.

Music as a Spiritual Remedy

Ana-Marija Markovina (Fotograf:Jasna Lovrincevic)

At the end, Markovina once again emphasized how she is delighted with the genuine love for music of the people she met in the countries of Central America and Jamaica.
Ana-Marija Markovina: “The challenge is immense and it is a great joy to work there, people have a different understanding of music. They take it really as a spiritual medicine. A concert for them is not a social event, they really go to a concert to listen; they really want to understand music and they really want to learn. ”

Markovina ended the tour with a concert in Antigonish and Newfoundland in Canada.

Ana-Marija Markovina (Pfotograpfer: Jasna Lovrincevic)

Villa Henn in Cologne is synonym for an immediate meeting of artists and audiences.

In the great hall of the villa, the owners, husband and wife, the pianist Ana-Marija Markovina and university professor Helmut Reuter, have revived the salon culture of the nineteenth century with music projects and scientific lectures.

Villa Henn, birthplace of professor Helmut Reuter, built by his great-grandfather, is under monumental protection. To the visitors and music fans it is a fantastic experience of the former salon life, were music and inspiring socializing is offered.

The hall is comfortable and spacious with a foyer and a balcony overlooking the park. In the hall, objects of artistic value and valuable objects of use arranged on the beautiful antique furniture attract the attention of visitors. The concert stage with a piano is located in a glazed, semi-circular area. A view to the park through the window behind the stage completes the music experience. After the concert there are continuing discussions about music, arts and other topics.

This was the atmosphere during the concert of Ana-Marija Markovina on the 16th of September 2015 with a music program which it was a prelude to her great tour to Central and North America, accounted for late September. Concerts and masterclasses would be held by Ana-Marija Markovina in Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Guatemala, San Salvador and Costa Rica.

Ana-Marija Markovina (Photographer: Jasna Lovrincevic)

“This concert is a dress rehearsal for the tour.” said Ana-Marija Markovina in the conversation I had with her after the concert.

She had chosen technically and musically a demanding and a difficult program. All the music pieces belong to the German musical tradition. On the tour she would be performing works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Robert and Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Louis Adolphe Le Beau and L.V, Beethoven and concerts by W. A. Mozart.

The piano recital at Villa Henn was presented by Professor Helmut Reuter in a speech full of spirit and elegance of expression. Spouses also work together in terms of art. On occasion of Markovina’s historial recording of complete works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Professor Helmut Reuter drew his portrait, which was also on display at the music hall of Villa Henn.

Ana-Marija Markovina began the concert with the Sonata in C- minor, Wq 65/31 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. As she performed the Rondo, G – Major, Wq 57/3 by C.P.E. Bach, there were dancing raindrops outside, clearly visible through the windows, adapting to the syncope of that attractive musical work, full of diversity, rhythmic and dynamic, with beautiful melodious themes which interrelated as questions and answers. In a similar way, after the rain, the sun provided us with an interchangeable sight, twinkling through the leaves, corresponding with melodic passages of that Bach peace.

With Papillons (op.2) by Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt (Apres une Lecture de Dante. Fantasia quasi Sonata), theme and variations in F minor op. 3, by Louis Adolphe Le Beau and Clara Schumann (4 Pieces characteristiques Op. 5), Ana-Marija Markovina took the audience on a musical journey through romanticism. She played with the virtuosity of a genius and with incomparable energy, interpreting the works originally, with a lot of artistic freedom and personality. Her high sense of musicality linked each work into a compact unit with clear and differentiated motifs and themes as well as with colorful but temperamental dynamic expression.

peter Wayand und Rajko Radišić (Photo: Jasna Lovrinčević)

Peter Wayand (baritone) and Rajko Radišić (pianist) performed at the anniversary celebration of the 135th anniversary of the male choir “Cäcilia” Gladbach.

Rajko Radišić is the author of short Masses arranged with known melodies which are published under the title “Te Deum” and “Zdravo Tilo Isusovo”. He has held a number of concerts with Peter Wayand, versatile artist, poet, playwright, and singer. Peter Wayand was a former student of Rajko Radišić in the Kreismusikschule Montabaur and in Mons-Tabor High School in Montabaur, Germany. He attended piano and accordion classes by Prof. Rajko Radišić, and later he was his student in Mons-Tabor High School in Montabaur, Germany, where Radišić was a music professor. From that time it dates the friendship and cooperation between exceptionally gifted Peter Wayand and Rajko Radisic, an engaged Croatian intellectual. Peter Wayand, meanwhile graduated German studies, Catholic theology and history. Gifted in music, he also has studied solo singing.

Peter Wayand and Rajko Radišić (Photo: Jasna Lovrinčević)

He is an honorary member of the Croatian Cultural Association Koblenz whose longtime president was Rajko Radišić.

From 2000 to 2009, Peter Wayand and Rajko Radišić prepared Musical theatre and performance productions: Evening of J.S. Bach, Evening of G. Verdi, Evening of F. Schiller, Evening of W. A.Mozart, Evening of R. Schumann and H. Heine, Evening of J. W. Goethe and Evening of G. F.Händel.

Peter Wayand is known as the author of several books: “Der Fall Conan Doyle”, “Ich könnte weinen über Goethe”, “Sünde: Ein Schauspiel”, “Codename Blaue Blume: Eine Kriminalgroteske und 12 Bildern” and “Rosensieg: Der Tod Old Shatterhands. Eine scenic Collage “.

At the gala concert in Neuwied-Gladbach, in the church of the Assumption of Mary (Maria Himmelfahrt) which featured the male and female choir “Cäcilia” Gladbach, Radišić and Wayand performed a popular program: “Das ist der Tag des Herrn” by Conradin Kreutzer, “Ave Maria” by Antonín Dvorák, “Ombra mai fu” by Peter Strauch, “Caro mio ben “by Tommaso Giordani, “Die Uhr” by Carl Loewe and “Still wie die Nacht” by Carl Bohm.