Maja Popović, director of musical programs at KIC Budo Tomović (the Budo Tomović Cultural-Information Center) in Podgorica, is the leader of the Montenegro Summer Camp for Chamber Music. Our conversation with her was published in the August edition of Gracija magazine under the heading “Chamber Music In Our Focus”.
“This year’s summer camp – the seventh to date – was attended by over 50 musicians. They came from Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, France, Norway and USA. The mentors – the term we use in lieu of “coaches” – at this year’s camp were outstanding musicians and musical pedagogues from Montenegro, as well as from elsewhere in our region and Europe. I am overjoyed that this year’s iteration of the Summer Camp for Chamber Music was marked by an intense, yet harmonious, working atmosphere in the idyllic scenery of our location at Ivanova Korita inside the Lovćen National Park. We had a record number of attendees this year. They showed true passion, curiosity and dedication to cooperating and bettering their skills, learning from extraordinary mentors and young associates, as well as developing excellent communication and friendship through music. Old friendships were rekindled and new ones were forged. By the end of the camp came the stunning realization that we had put together 25 chamber ensembles, as well as a chamber orchestra, which this year for the first time performed a symphony, Mozart’s 29th. This amounts to almost five hours of very diverse music!”
Celebrated musicians and musical pedagogues worked at the camp, which is a testament to its quality and renown. “The quality of the Summer Camp depends on all participants; the participants, mentors, associates and organizers. We, as the organizers, try to recruit passionate artists and professors who can inspire and encourage our participants and help shape their artistic potential. We strive to provide the best conditions on site, which we organize in cooperation with the management of the JU Lovćen-Bečići recreational-educational facilities at Ivanova Korita, and, as of this summer, the management of Lovćen National Park itself. Any improvement in working conditions is very important for us musicians, and we pay a lot of attention to that, in hopes that each year we can cooperate and advance together.”
Affirmation of chamber music
“We are focused on chamber music because it expresses a collective and intimate musicianship effort, where everybody has their role in shaping the music. There is a vast repertoire in chamber music. Almost every composer wrote compositions for chamber ensembles, some of which are among the greatest masterpieces of music in general. We find that chamber music isn’t well represented in our society, so we wanted to emphasize its role and importance in music, education, and the advancement of every musician. We wanted to raise awareness about this form of music in high schools and the music scene in general. The same sentiment led to the creation of concert cycles at KIC Budo Tomović dedicated to chamber music. The Summer Camp is also a project that facilitates and encourages cooperation among musicians of different nationalities, ages and musical skills. Being international, it’s a place open to novelty. Our programs, during the summer as well as the regular season, include pieces never before heard by our audiences,” explains Maja. She says that what sets the camp apart is “…the great enthusiasm for work, and the great interest expressed by both the participants and the mentors, plus the increasingly more advanced skill level of our participants, especially the young musicians from Montenegro and the region, all of it alongside the impressive diversity of our programming, in great part due to our participants, associates, and mentors, culminating in, if I may say so myself as the director, the enthusiastic, unusual, inspirational and above all excellent public final concerts – musical evenings unlike any other in Montenegro.”
Free education and training
We asked Maja how important is interaction among young musicians and if there is any possibility of establishing some form of international cooperation and exchange. “After seven years of active work and cooperation with musicians from Montenegro and abroad through the Summer Camp, I think that we are already on a good path, but it will take some time for this to develop naturally. Young musicians hear of our camp in many different ways, from their colleagues, friends, teachers, etc. Our camp is one of the few which offer free classes and training, and it’s the only one specifically specialized for chamber music. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsorship partners, who have, throughout the years, supported us financially, and made it possible to keep this project going for the sake of young musicians, as well as any other interested musicians who wish to further advance their musical skills and experience.” The closing concerts, held in Cetinje and Podgorica, represent the most impressive results of the Camp. “With them comes a special air of excitement and enthusiasm, but the concerts also demand a lot of responsibility on the part of the musicians and their mentors since they are presenting seven days’ worth of work. Everyone wants to present themselves in the best light, and everyone wants to elevate their performance so as to inspire reverence and excitement deserving of the piece being played. Our closing concerts, which in the last several years have exceeded the standard concert length, are in fact unique in every location. A different repertoire is performed in every location. This speaks volumes about our production, and the underutilized capacity to do even more of these concerts in the future,” concludes Maja.