A conversation with classical guitarist Nemanja Ostojic
Classical guitarist Nemanja Ostojic, a master's student at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, has won 15 gold medals in international competitions around the world. He came to IU to study under Ernesto Bitetti, chair of the Jacobs School's Department of Guitar.
"He is a very gifted guitarist who balances a deep musicality with a wonderful quality of sound and a virtuoso technique," said Bitetti.
In February, Ostojic won first place in the prestigious Southwest Guitar Festival in San Antonio, a competition he calls "perhaps the greatest competition" he has ever won, but also the most difficult. This was his fourth first-place win since he began studying at the Jacobs School of Music last year. Ostojic will complete his master's degree in May and stay for another year to complete the Jacobs School's highly selective Artist Diploma program, for which only three students have passed auditions.
Here, Ostojic talks with Live at IU about his all-consuming love for classical guitar -- and why he chose the Jacobs School of Music for graduate school.
Live at IU: When and how did you become interested playing the guitar?
Nemanja Ostojic: I started to play violin first, when I was 6 years old. Then when I was 10, I switched to classical guitar. In Serbia, and most of the Eastern European countries, there are state-sponsored public and free music elementary schools for children. I went to two parallel elementary schools -- the academic and musical -- and did the same for high school and college.
LIU: When did you realize this is what you wanted to do with your life?
Ostojic: Very early. I think from the beginning of my guitar studies, which was in 1994, when I was only 10. That year, after playing the guitar for only a few months, I won a bronze medal in the state competition for youth child prodigies. I immediately knew that was what I wanted to do. The next year I came back to the competition and won a gold medal and appeared in television and radio stations across the nation. Then I continued to win gold medals in subsequent years until I became too old to compete and had to move on to another competition.
LIU: What made you decide to come to the U.S. and Indiana University?
Ostojic: I think every artist needs to go far away from home -- just keep moving and getting inspired by different people and places. I had some friends who had already been here and I had been hearing the best things about the Jacobs School of Music and IU. Since I was graduating from Belgrade University School of Music, I applied to many places abroad, including schools in Germany, Holland, Greece and the U.S. I was accepted to almost all of the schools, but Professor Ernesto Bitetti and IU offered me a scholarship I couldn't turn down. I decided to come here and enjoy all the benefits of being an associate instructor and a precollege teacher for the guitar department as well as improve my English skills, complete my master's degree in this highly acclaimed school -- and most importantly -- to travel around the country and win as many international competitions as possible.
LIU: What do you like most about IU and the Jacobs School?
Ostojic: There are so many things! I love the most beautiful campus in the country. I love the variety of people from all over the world. I love the fact that I've never felt like a stranger in Bloomington ever since day one -- it really feels like home. The Jacobs School of Music list of faculty members says it all. The school has been ranked as one of the top schools in the country for years.
Bloomington is a description of my ideal place to live. I am not a big-city person. I grew up in a city "jungle" with a couple million people. Bloomington seems to give you a feel of a small town but at the same time is equipped with so many events and venues that make you feel like you're not missing anything. I also love the fact that everywhere you go, you are surrounded by young people.
LIU: You have traveled around the world and played in many different competitions and festivals. Where has been your favorite place/competition?
Ostojic: While I have enjoyed traveling, there a few places that stand out for me: Germany, for having maybe the most educated guitar audiences of all, which makes it difficult and challenging to perform there but also very rewarding; Italy, where audiences are very warm and easy to establish communication with; and Turkey, where people are not as familiar with the classical guitar but have a great respect and curiosity for it.
The most important concert I played was at the 2004 Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade, Serbia -- the concert that changed my life forever. I was asked to substitute for a Grammy-awarded guitarist, John Williams, who injured his hand at the last minute. I went on the stage of a 3,000-seat hall and performed as a soloist with the Athens Chambers Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Leo Brouwer -- the greatest living person in classical guitar world today. We performed the famous Concerto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo. Shortly after, I was invited to play in many festivals and venues around Europe.
LIU: Who is your favorite composer?
Ostojic: It is hard to choose a single composer because I have many. My personal favorites are the composers who wrote original pieces for the guitar. I love to play all music that was written for Andrés Segovia, everything from his repertoire and especially the composers who wrote for him: Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Moreno- Torroba, Ponce, Tansman, and of course Villa-Lobos and Rodrigo.
Then, there is an army of 20th century English composers, like William Walton, Benjamin Britten and Lennox Berkeley, who all wrote music inspired by the guitarist Julian Bream.
I love Astor Piazzola, who was a friend of my teacher, Professor Bitetti. In the end I would give credits to maestro Leo Brouwer, whose works are constantly on my repertoire, and I could not imagine my recital without his music. I was very lucky to meet him and perform with him in 2004. I also had a couple of lessons where I played his own music for him. That really changed the way I look at the music and interpretation.
LIU: What do you like most about playing the guitar?
Ostojic: Guitar is a way of life for me. It has been with me forever. We went through all the rough times and civil wars in Yugoslavia together. Playing the guitar had always been my little haven where everything was just the way I wanted it. It was also very relaxing. Today, the sound of guitar, which I identify as my own sound, is something that I need to hear and think about every minute. It's like a parallel universe that is always there for me, and I can just switch modes and get away when I get tired of "real life."
When I'm on the stage I try not to try too hard. I am sort of letting myself into this realm of sound and emotion. I do my best to capture the attention of the audience and have them join me on that little trip where nothing from the real world matters. I have a message when I play and I must be very present on the stage and convince them of what I am "saying." It's sort of like trying to convince a large crowd to buy your product even though they already have a stack of similar stuff at home; something like "Hey! You must hear this! Isn't this lovely? This chord right here?"
View YouTube videos of Ostojic performing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGpoOwEeVUU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JECdlxO5ZfI&feature=related
To read a news release about Ostojic, see http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/9902.html.
