The Sentimental flute, as Anton Gustav Matoš described this instrument in one of his essays, whose sound in a special way fills the space, became magically attractive to the Croatian flutist Ivana Zahirović, when she was only a nine-year old.Today she lives in Munich.

Ivana Zahirović: “A flute completely fills me, it is my instrument. If you devote yourself to one instrument there is no time for another (instrument)”, said Ivana Zahirović in the interview I conducted with her in December 2014/January 2015.

Ivana Zahirović is one of the few solo flutists in the world and she plays the golden flute. “I have selected the golden flute and it is a matter of taste”, said Zahirović explaining that different materials affect the flute’s sound quality and a flute is usually made by precious metals.

Ivana Zahirović: “Golden Flute is now more or less standard. This is a question of taste. Gold flute has a sophisticated color tone, rounded and dark. It is says that the sound of the gold flute wins more indoor space than those made of silver, but it is also a question of some ideas that one has about a sound.”

The sound of Ivana’s gold flute has filled the spaces of many concert halls of Europe, South America and the United States.

In 2010, Ivana Zahirović performed at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan in New York as the winner of The Alexander & Buono International Flute Competition.
Ivana Zahirović: “It was very exciting. I was very impressed with the musical world in America who is much more open to new people than it is the case in Europe. My impression was that in America, there are options open to all people. Nobody asked me where I had studied music and who was my professor. Quality and ambition are very appreciated there. I had a feeling if someone tries to achieve something, there are opportunity to attain it.”

Ivana Zahirović has received an invitation to perform again in New York as a former winner of The Alexander & Buono International Flute Competition, but she has been prevented to go there because of the birth of her first son.

Ivana will again perform in America, in August 2015. She has been invited to perform at the Convention of the American Association flutist in Washington, DC. She will play and present Croatian music for flute.

Ivana Zahirović finished the Music Highschool in Croatia in Zagreb and graduated at the University of Mozarteum in Salzburg and at Zürich University, she did postgraduate studies at University of Mozarteum in Salzburg and further education in Germany.

Asked what is the main difference between the University in Salzburg and one in Zurich, she replied:
Ivana Zahiroviä: “Salzburg is known as the strongest music center. Studying with professor Irene Grafenauer helped me to be formed as a musician and as a person. Zurich was kind of supplement training for me. Zurich is also interesting and a great center. Today, all music universities have become very international and all of them provide high level of teaching. In Zurich, perhaps more attention is paid to contemporary music than in conservative Salzburg.”

Ivana Zahiroviä has the largest possible repertoire of all musical epochs.
Ivana Zahiroviä: “Today it is an obligation for the classical musician to be perfected for all musical epochs and to be flexible in all areas.”

Ivana Zahiroviä performs extensively, as a soloist and in various ensembles, but always with different concert programs. She enjoys to play chamber music. Her engagements also include regular performances with members of the Bavarian State Opera. Since 2005 she has been a member of the ensemble for contemporary music called “Ultima Rara”.

Ivana Zahiroviä: “I am the co-founder of the ensemble “Ultima Rara”. There are only three musicians in the ensemble. We used to perform a lot in the first years, but less in the last two years. From the beginning we used to go in the direction of complete avant-garde. A lot of contemporary composers have composed for us and we have premiered all this compositions. For me it is very interesting to play that kind of music. It requires much more exercise and effort than the music that is standard literature. This is something completely new and it is always a trip into the unknown.”

Asked if the performance art activity, which the ensemble usually performs during certain music compositions, is scripted and given as the part of the composition, or if musicians are free to choose different movements, Ivana said:

Ivana Zahirović: “Composers mostly know exactly how the works should sound and we have to transfer their ideas. We are in contact with most of the composers because they are alive and we can ask them directly and they give us a pretty clear answer how their works should be carried out. And performing activities are exactly conceived by composers and they give instructions for them. All performing activities are scripted and there’s hardly anything left to chance.”

Jasna Lovrinčević: “So, your performing activities like acting is not spontaneous or random?”
Ivana Zahirovic: “In some cases explicitly not, but if a certain piece is written as an improvisation then we are quite free. For instance, the composer has written a model, notes and has given the instruction: according to the will – then we are free.”

Ivana Zahirović often performs in Croatia and with Croatian musicians, and she plans to hold flute master classes in Croatia. She still remembers the concert she recently held with pianist Mia Elezovic in the palace Gvozdanovic in Zagreb which was well received by the audience. In 2007, she translated the book “The Flute and Flute-Playing” by Theobald Böhm into Croatian and she presented it at the Music Academy in Zagreb.Ivana Zahirović: “Theobald Böhm gave the flute a new path. It was crucial for me to translate this book into Croatian.”

In Croatia, Ivana Zahirovic often performs with guitarist Viktor Vidović. On his last album recorded at “Croatia Record” she plays flute as a guest artist.

Ivana Zahirović: “It is important for me to perform in Croatia and to be there. ”

Ivana is especially dedicated to the Croatian contemporary music. In February 2012, together with pianist Mia Elezovic, she released an album titled ” Croatian Flute Album” with the works of Dora Pejačević, Bruno Bjelinski, Krsto Odak, Davor Bobić and Emil Cossetto.
For this album she adapted to flute Slavic sonata in B minor, Op 43. by Dora Pejačević originally written for violin.
Ivana Zahirovic: “I like arrangements because it is the way to enrich our repertory.”

The Sonata op. 41 by Krsto Odak, created in 1946, on the album “Croatian Flute Album” was discovered, edited and published in Germany by Ivana Zahirović.
Ivana Zahirović: “An acquaintance of mine gave me this sheet music in the manuscript. Mia Elezovic edited for the piano, and it was issued by the publishing house “Kosssack”. ”

In December 2014 I spoke with Ivana Zahirović just before her rehearse of the Christmas Oratorio by J.S. Bach with members of the Bavarian State Orchestra. I asked her about baroque sound in relation to the flute used in the Baroque epoche and if she is interested in playing old types of flute.
Ivana Zahirovic: “In the last few decades there is a “boom” of performances with transverse flute. They have been used again since the beginning of searching for the old flute sound. There are already successful flutists who specialize in these kind of flutes and they use to play only on them. As a part of my studies in Zurich I acquired some fundamentals of how to play that kind of flute but I have not been dedicated to it because I believe that it is not possible to play both equally well. Some flutists play only traverse flute, but it was not my way. I think it is good to know how to play on it, and also to play sometimes on it because it’s definitely a sort of enrichment.”