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Youth Orchestra “MuzikArt” from Sarajevo: The connection between the auditory and the visual is our formula for success

Performing in front of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Sarajevo on December 30, last year, within the three-day New Year’s event, they opened the way to the starry sky. The Youth Music Orchestra “MuzikArt” from the Music Academy, founded by professor Emir Mejremić, delighted Sarajevans and the  guests of the city, who witnessed the most beautiful sounds of music by great masters. Merjemić founded the Orchestra in 2013, after extensive research of the music scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

– As a musician, I investigated what kind of manifestations we have, what is offered to us, and came to conclusion that the offer is diverse. We are offered everything, especially the bad music that comes from others. I also noticed that quality music, the one Sarajevo is used to, is very rare. Classical musicians locked themselves in their four walls because they see that they do not have any feedback from the audience, because this circle of audience is somehow closed, so that music has become very far from ordinary people. Therefore, I embarked on this ‘experiment’ that turned out to be very positive – Mejremić explains.

Music fusion

He brought together young people, students of the Music Academy, among whom no one is over 26. The composition of the orchestra is constantly changing, the arrival of new ones, and the departure of old students, although our interlocutor stresses, those who want to stay can do it even after completing the studies.

Emir Merjemić PHOTO: JASMIN BRUTUS

– You have to persuade young people to keep them here. So this orchestra was created with the intention of offering a good product to the audience, what the orchestras of this type usually offer, but also something that is not common for them. That’s why I gathered young people who are ambitious and we made a fusion of classics with contemporary arrangements, where you hear everything, from Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms in a completely different way, the way that belongs to the 21st century, to Frank Sinatra and his big hits … It’s music that will never lose its value – emphasizes Mejremić.

He described his own and the success of his team in the words of a music critic who said “History does not recognize the category of unacted talent” and added: “Quality anywhere, perhaps slower than usual, finds the way to the audience, and finds the way to understanding.”

– You must have quality if you want to succeed. We have to show the world, the region and ourselves that we do not need someone else’s quality, when we have our own. We have knowledge, but we have to direct it properly. I have a lot of ideas to do. We have finished the three repertoires and now we organize concerts in Croatia. During the summer, we would visit the entire Adriatic Riviera. In Sarajevo, we are planning several attractive concerts with a completely new repertoire – he says.

It will actually be a multimedia spectacle. It will play movie music that will be presented with video beams, it will have narrators, dancers of classical and contemporary dance, actors …

Culture and discipline

-Because it’s the 21st century, people will not just listen. Therefore, you have to turn classical music to something people can visualize. This connection between the auditory and the visual is the formula for success; therefore, I am aiming to this multimedia. From devoted and honest work, something good must be born. We do not have German culture and discipline, we are not responsible and punctual, but when we become aware, we can do anything. I have a constant spite, my working day is always longer than eight hours, and all I’m doing is bringing things to perfection, because there must be high criteria if you want succeed – says Mejremić.

Amna Hujić and Alek Isaković

We also spoke with students, members of the Youth Music Orchestra “MuzikArt”, Amna Hujić and Aleko Isaković. They especially highlighted the performance in front of the Sarajevo Cathedral where they had a special connection with the audience.

– We had many performances, but somehow until then it was in a somewhat smaller form, but this New Year’s concert has provoked enthusiasm, perhaps because it is something new in our city, which did not exist so far. We felt the need to show our young and older generations that our classical music can be promoted today – says Isaković, a student of the second year of the Academy of Music.

Hujić, a student of the fourth year, agreed with him, saying she was particularly pleased to see that people really enjoyed it, although some of them probably met for the first time with such kind of music.

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