Otto Vowinkel

Guitar maker Amsterdam

Sanel Redzic

Kristina Miljenovic had a busy Summer

photo: Davor Matosevic

This is Kristina Miljenovic (2006), a young guitarist from the beautiful Kotor in Montenegro. Kristina started playing the guitar at the age of seven and turned out to be very talented. She gave her first solo concert at the age of thirteen and despite her young age, the list of masterclasses she followed and festivals she attended to, seems countless. She has appeared several times on television and her biography contains more than twenty prizes, medals and certificates including prizes at international guitar festivals in Austria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Romania, Italy, Macedonia and Montenegro.

In the video above Kristina plays Misionera by Jorge Morel.

This Summer she went to the Summer School with the unpronouncable name PrSt in Eco zone Zlaća, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There she followed classes with of Predrag Stanković, Boris Tešić and Sanel Redzic (photo). After that she went to the Guitar Art Summer Fest in Herceg Novi, in Montenegro where she had a masterclass with Hubert Kappel among others.

She recorded some video’s and also gave a number of concerts, including one in the former studio of the famous Bosnian artist ismet Mujezinovic, which now serves as a cultural center. In the video above, Kristina plays the soundtrack of Wild Mountain Thyme, a 2020 film directed by John Patrick Shanley.

Kristina Miljenovic and Sanel Redzic both play a Concert Model.

KRISTINA INSTAGRAM | SUMMER SCHOOL PRST | GUITAR ART SUMMER FEST

Sanel Redzic Trio plays Lau Euskal Abesti

Sanel Redzic, the young, successfull guitarist I have written about earlier, invested a lot of time and effort in making high quality recordings. It pays off as one can see on his YouTube channel where he releases new videos on a regular basis.

Recently he released an original quarantine video: Lau Euskal Abesti, four Basque songs by composer Jesus Guridi. It was written for guitar trio and Sanel Redzic takes care of all three parts.

Last year Sanel also released a new cd called Journey with music by Aguado, Tarrega, de Falla and Bach.

Sanel Redzic_CD_Journey
Sanel Redzic Journey-booklet

In the video and on the cd Sanel playes two different concert guitars. The one on the cd was built in 2004. The one in the video in 2019. For more info about Sanel and his cds, please check out his website.

Summer School PrSt

These are Valentina Krempatic, Emil Hadziefendic and Hanna Jakac at the Summer School with the unpronouncable name PrSt.

This summer, invited by Sanel Redžić and Predrag Stanković, I visited the beautiful Eco Zone Zlača, one hour drive from Tuzla in Bosnia Herzegovina, where since 2016, the Tuzla Youth Arts Center organizes an annual summer camp for young guitarists.

In a beautiful setting, the students follow classes by four, top of the bill guitar teachers and at the same time, celebrate their holidays, because next to attending individual, group and ensemble lessons, there is plenty of time for hiking, swimming or just being lazy.

This Summer camp is a unique opportunity for young guitarists to be taught by Predrag Stanković, Denis Azabagić, Sanel Redžić and Boris Tešić as well as meeting other guitar enthusiasts. I totally recommend all youngsters to take a closer look at the site of Ljetna Skola guitare PrSt.

In the video below I uploaded a rehearsal of a guitar ensemble and pictures I made or found on Facebook. Just to give you an impression.

Emil Hadžiefendić

This is Emil Hadžiefendić, a young, gifted guitarist from Tuzla. Like most succesfull guitarists from Bosnia Herzegovina, he is a student of the well known teacher Predrag Stanković about whom I wrote earlier.

Predrag Stanković started a Guitar Summer School with the unpronounceable name PRST.  His former students Denis Azabagic and Sanel Redžić are also teaching at the PRST.

In the video below Emil is playing La Serenor, the first part of Collectici Intim by the Spanish composer Vicente Asencio. The video is an excerpt of a reportage about the festival by Ljetni Magazin. The reportage (in Serbo Croation) can be found here.

This Summer Emil took part in the Solo Guitar competition of the Transilvania Guitar Association and won the first prize! More information , again for the ones who read Serbo Croation can be found on Tuzlarije.

Emil Hadžiefendić plays a spruce concert model.

Changsha Guitar Festival

Zoran Dukic

Sanel Redzic in Changsha

Zoran Dukic and Sanel Redzic at the Changsha Guitar Festival in China.

The Changsha Guitar Festival is an annual, international guitar festival which aims to promote world class guitar music in China. This Summer I visited the festival for the second time, taking advantage of the opportunity to personally deliver a guitar ordered by the chairman of the festival, Qingxiang Li.

At the festival of which Xuefei Yang is the artistic director, I bumped into Kuang Junhong. He is a student of Manuel Barrueco now and happened to have grown a lot since the last time he visited us.

Kuang Junhong

Sanel Redzic

Sanel Redzic

This is Sanel Redzic performing in the documentary ‘An extraordinary life’ made by the Paris Guitar Foundation. Sanel Redzic tells about the coincidence that played an important role in his life, what taking part in competitions meant for him and about his study in Weimar.

Augustin Pesnon, founder of the Paris Guitar Foundation shot the documentary himself as you can see in his vlog.

last weekend

Along with the series we organized a competition for guitarists under eighteen years old. First price was being the support act before the concert of Sanel Redzic. Fourteen year old Ruben Silva Kas won the competition. In this picture both players, back stage, after the concert.

ruben silva kas and sanel redzic after the concert
ruben silva kas and sanel redzic after the concert

winners #2

The two young guitarists Sanel Redzic and Tariq Harb are both doing very well in the world of competitions. I wrote about them earlier and I am doing it again because they won the first and second prize at the Tokyo International Guitar Competition. Congratulations to both of them. Last September Tariq played in our series in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Coming March Sanel Redzic will give his recital. Looking forward.

results of the Tokyo International Guitar Competition 2012
results of the Tokyo International Guitar Competition 2012

Nos vemos

The objective of the Barrios WorldWideWeb Competition is to promote and spread awareness about the works of Paraguayan composer and guitarist Agustín Barrios.

Taking part means uploading video’s on youtube.

There were many contestants among which Sanel Redzic and Tariq Harb. Tariq made it to the final and will be going to Paraguay in December to play in the final.

Here his beautiful interpretation of Barrios’ Mazurka Appasionata which brought him there.