With the desire to present the flute as a unique musical instrument and bring its splendor, refinement and power closer, a young Montenegrin flautist Petra Lekić will hold a solo concert in Cetinje today, at the Royal Theatre Zetski Dom at 20 p.m.
"In addition to my solo presentation, this concert also aims to introduce the flute as an instrument to the audience so that it can gradually gain the place it deserves in Montenegro and thus promote itself even more. I notice that the same instruments are mostly represented here, and I would like, both now and in the future, to raise awareness of other instruments, primarily the flute," she points out.
Lekić adds that this is how she conceived the repertoire of her first solo concert in the capital. The flautist, accompanied by a pianist, will Vladane Perovic, to perform works Prokofiev, Vidora, Eneska i Tchaikovsky.
"Although I have had several solo concerts in Podgorica and Bar, this is my first such presentation to the audience in Cetinje, where I have previously performed with a chamber ensemble, but not solo. I hope that this is just one of many opportunities to present myself as a soloist to the Cetinje audience in the Zeta Dom, but also to perform all those pieces that are dear to me, which represent a standard flute repertoire that speaks more about the instrument itself," Lekić announces to Vijesti.
She was born in 2000 in Bar, and since 2018 she has been studying at the University of Music and Theater Arts in Vienna in the class of prof. Hansgeorga Šmejsera, Karin Boneli i Ting-Wei Chen, where she first completed her primary education, and is now completing her master's degree. In an interview for Vijesti, she points out that it is a unique and particularly important experience that required a lot of work, effort, investment, and sacrifice, but what she has gained so far, along with everything that lies ahead, proves that it is worth it. In various bands, she has already performed throughout Montenegro, Europe, and the world, and in an interview for Vijesti, she reveals that she recently returned from a tour of Japan that left a special impression on her. She also talks about her development, the music scene in Montenegro, the reception and experience of classical music, the position of young artists...
You will hold a solo concert in Cetinje accompanied by Vladana Perović on the piano. Is the piano perhaps the right instrument to accompany and elevate the flute?
The flute and piano go together perfectly. As for every melodic instrument, there is usually always a piano accompaniment, that is, the piano goes with almost every melodic instrument. That's why I don't like to call this type of performance "piano accompaniment" because it's more of a duo where we have very similar difficulty of parts that we have to play, so Vladana will play as much as I do, so this is more of a chamber concert, I would say. Of course, there are exceptions when the flute can be played solo, without the piano, but many more works are written for the flute and piano because the piano provides harmonic support to a melodic instrument on which two tones cannot be played at the same time. All that harmony, when combined with a melodic instrument, in this case the flute, provides a beautiful whole.
How did you set the repertoire and what were you guided by while preparing the performance?
As for the program, I chose it specifically and purposefully for this concert and for the concept of this program. This is my first solo performance in Cetinje, although I have performed before... I tried to choose several different compositions, but to make them somehow easy to listen to and interesting to a wider audience, not just classical musicians. I simply chose some eras that are dear to me. For example, Prokofiev's Sonata is one of my favorite works for flute. It is a very large work written for flute and piano, and I can say that I am perhaps most looking forward to performing it at the concert.
You said that you want to bring the flute as an instrument closer to the Montenegrin audience. Besides playing the music itself, how is that possible and, on the other hand, how can we bring the flute closer, if there is still a degree of distance towards classical music in our country, which is perhaps still perceived or even positioned as elitist?
The very term that some art or branch of art is elite is something that has remained from before and is still being carried over. I would not agree with that, because I think that art is for everyone and that everyone can experience it, accept it, understand it, feel it, or perceive it in their own way. Everyone is an individual for themselves, so everyone should approach art, in this case classical music and the flute, and allow themselves to get to know and experience these spheres through themselves. I think that our view of classical music as if it is intended exclusively for people who understand it or who deal with it themselves is not very good. Classical music is accessible to everyone, I think that everyone can find themselves in it, it just needs to be brought closer to the wider public in some way, to inform people, to say something more about the program, and not just to perform it and the like. What I can say is that each work is mainly written based on some emotional state of the composer, and emotion is something that exists in everyone, not only in art connoisseurs and artists, but in all people on this planet. As such, I would like to bring classical music closer, because it is not so unknown and distant, but I think we can all understand it very easily, maybe sometimes it should be simplified, and not presented as something that is difficult to understand, because it is not. Of course, although I think that all composers composed mostly from their emotional states, there are many rules that we need to know, but the core of everything remains emotion and something that we feel while listening to classical music, and maybe we don't have to understand... Basically, I think that you just have to overcome the prejudices about classical music and leave them behind before entering the hall and simply surrender to the art, music and emotions...
Considering all that, how do you see our scene and the position of young musicians?
Montenegro has been working a lot on classical music in recent years, bringing in world-famous and renowned artists and musicians, and I am extremely glad to see that this awareness of classical music and art in general has really started to develop. The establishment and activity of the Music Center of Montenegro is a great step forward, as is the hall itself that exists and is intended for the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, which thus has its own space for work, creation, practice, functioning... I am glad about that, because, as far as I can see, it is getting better and better.
As for young artists in Montenegro, I would say that we are given a lot of chances, there are auditions for concerts that you can apply for, spaces for performances and presentations to the audience, but I think that all of that is small and scarce and that more chances could be provided to young promising artists, musicians, especially those who, for example, are studying abroad at the best world universities for music and dramatic arts. I think that we should be shown a little more trust and provided with more space in Montenegro. When you, as young people, go to study abroad, you develop there and reach some professional domains, and when you return to Montenegro, it seems to me that people here still remember and see us as children and beginners, which we are no longer. That is why I think that we should be trusted more and given more space, because I think that we can only bring some good things and novelties from Europe, especially from those parts of Europe where classical music is at a high level and is highly developed. I think that in this way we would progress a lot as a society, the art scene, but also as individuals. I am now at the end of my master's studies, I finished my primary education, and six or seven years ago I left Montenegro and continued my education abroad, at the University of Vienna. I am not the only one, there are many young classical musicians from Montenegro who are all over the world and they are all excellent and promising musicians, and we should all be given some space and a chance, at least to introduce ourselves more often.
Speaking of studying abroad, are young musicians from Montenegro in some way forced to study abroad? Certainly, most of these academies are actually prestigious in themselves, but what does that experience bring?
As for me personally, I will speak from my own experience, because I believe that they are all different. For example, I first had to pass the entrance exam at the University, which is very difficult to pass, and out of 80 people, three or four pass. For me, honestly, it was already a great success - to pass that entrance exam at the University of Music and Theater Arts in Vienna at the age of 17, and especially in the concert department, because there is a performing and a pedagogical department at the university, and it is very difficult to get accepted for the performing department. I was very happy after that. Of course, I have to compare and say that simply the education in Montenegro, although of course it is very good and I have great respect for the education that I also received here, and our professors are excellent, but simply what our country offers and the opportunities it gives young people are very scarce, so I think that is a big reason why many young people leave and try to study somewhere abroad. That is why I left. I have to say that my education abroad brought me a lot, a lot of experience, a lot of concerts, I went through and saw a lot of things, heard all the world-renowned classical musicians, and that's because Vienna is one of the cities that is most focused on classical music and has a lot of events. Even in one night there are five classical music concerts in five different places, and such events are very important for young musicians who need to listen to concerts, to move, but also to perform and play themselves. I now have a lot of projects at the University that I'm involved in. I played at the Musikverein in the Golden Hall in Vienna, at the Concert House in the Great Hall, now we have a new project, I was recently on tour in Japan where we held 11 concerts in 14 days. Last year I performed at a festival in Ireland where we played in the National Hall in Dublin. So, I simply gain experience, both in life and in music, which I think is very important for every young musician - to have the opportunity to experience all of that, to be able to see and learn something new, and then to somehow transfer that into our musical practice and the way we interpret a piece. All of that is a huge experience that is created, while in Montenegro we somehow don't have the opportunity to get to such things at all, and they are very important.
Did a performance or encounter leave a special impression on you?
I have the honor and privilege of studying in the first flute class of the Vienna Philharmonic, professor Walter Aura, who is my flute teacher at the moment. I think that is a privilege in itself, because I have direct contact with such a person who plays on world stages and in one of the best orchestras in the world. I really learn a lot from him and I can learn a lot, because he, both as a person and as a professor, teaches us all some values that need to be maintained and appreciated, and for that I am grateful. As for the performances that I would single out, I think that each one is special in its own way, but the recent ones are the freshest in my memory, so I will single out the concert when we played the opera Đani Skiki which is part of Puccini's triptych, in the Schönbrunn Palace Theater in Vienna. It is a smaller theater that is beautiful, and was built in the 18th century at the request of Maria Theresa, where it is also Mozart had premieres of his works, so the feeling and experience was wonderful and unique, just because I know that I am in such a place and that I am standing in the same place where such a great classical music person stood and presented his works. In addition, I would also single out the tour of Japan, because it is a different mentality, civilization and society compared to what we are used to. We were in seven different halls, large halls in Japan, in five different cities and all of that together, as well as the experience of the tour in general and the orchestra on tour, was a unique and beautiful experience, especially because I had never had the opportunity to go on tour with an orchestra before.
How would you summarize your development path and have you ever felt that you perhaps had much more to offer, because you come from a smaller country, compared to your colleagues who already had a lot of experience and, I assume, opportunities for improvement, acquaintances, and music making?
I started playing the flute at the age of seven, as a hobby, like everything children do, basically. I received my primary education at the “Petar II Petrović Njegoš” Music School in Bar, in the class of Professor Biljana Dedic. After that, I enrolled at the Vasa Pavić Secondary Music School in Podgorica in the class of professor Boris Nikšević, and immediately after graduation I was accepted to the University of Music and Theater Arts in Vienna in the class of Professor Hans-Georga Schmeizera. I continued my education in Vienna, where I completed my undergraduate studies in 2022 and then continued with my master's degree. I was on exchange for one semester as part of the Erasmus program and spent one month in Rome at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, which was also a wonderful experience, but something completely different from Vienna. I also participated and won many awards at international competitions, attended numerous master classes with world-renowned musicians, and all of that meant a lot to me...
When asked if it is harder for foreign citizens, or rather foreigners, to succeed somewhere else, I think it is harder and that we have to try harder to be recognized at all or to get our place in that society. However, sometimes I think it is perhaps even harder for someone who went abroad to come back and prove themselves here, although it shouldn't be that way because I think our country and the audience should welcome us with open arms. Simply put, sometimes it is the hardest in your own place, but of course, there are different difficulties everywhere. I can't say that it is impossible to do something abroad as a foreign citizen, it is certainly more difficult, but in the end it all somehow pays off. The satisfaction that musicians have on stage is priceless and everything we do, that is precisely why we do it.
Tonight, the audience in Cetinje will be able to witness your experience, emotions and work...
That's right, that's why I would like to invite the audience to a concert at Zetski dom, at 20 p.m. I think they will like the repertoire, because the program includes works that are very beautiful, romantic and appealing, and I think that the wider audience will like it, because I am also the program, so that everyone can enjoy the concert. I wouldn't add anything more, just that I would like my efforts and work to show and say everything that needs to be said in the future. Of course, there are many more concerts planned, and I hope to perform at some of our Montenegrin festivals during the summer.
Bonus video:
