Performing "Tvoje ruke" at the Melanija Bugarinović Scholarship Concert

Two evenings ago, on 11 June, I performed at the concert of scholarship recipients of the Melanija Bugarinović and Mirjana Kalinović-Kalin Fund for the Advancement of Young Vocal Artists, held at Svilara Cultural Station in Novi Sad.

As a scholarship recipient of the Fund for the 2024/2025 academic year, I had the opportunity to present myself to the audience in a way that feels particularly close to me: both as a soprano and as a composer.

Accompanied at the piano by Anja Riđešić, I performed my own art song Tvoje ruke (Your Hands).

Tvoje ruke, for which I wrote both the music and the text, is a deeply personal work. Last year, it was performed at the 32nd invitational composition competition Obzorja na Tisi in Novi Bečej, where it received Second Prize from the jury and the Audience Award.

Performing your own music brings a very different kind of responsibility and connection to the work. As a composer, I know every idea that existed before the notes were written down. As a singer, I have to approach those same notes again as a performer and find a way to communicate them through my voice.

That is what made this concert particularly meaningful to me. On the same stage, two parts of my artistic work that had long developed alongside one another came together: composition and singing.

It was especially meaningful that this happened as part of a concert organised by the Melanija Bugarinović Fund, whose scholarship supports my continued vocal development. Being able to present my own composition in that context made the evening feel even more personal and significant.

Watch my performance of Tvoje ruke: