About Miodrag Azanjac
The art of flute
“According to the list of legacies, the performer and interpreter of the purest grammarians of European art – Baha and Mozart, is above all. However, both as a performer and as an educator, I was a supporter of what Isidora Sekulic called „metaphysical hearing“. Specifically, I think music, like all art, is an area of inspiration, which is to say, the breaths and exhalations of divine knowledge. “
“The most artistic and pedagogical maxim is most similar to me: what you inhale and exhale. If you breathe in God, breathe Him in, and if you breathe in the devil, you are in it. Isn’t that alpha and omega, the literary and philosophy of all music, especially flute art? Serbian flute art was guided by this maxim. “
Miodrag Azanjac was born in 1932 in Kragujevac. He graduated in 1951 at the First Men’s High School in Belgrade. He graduated from the High School of Music and the Academy of Music in Belgrade in 1958 in the class of Professor Jakov Srejović with great success in the main subject, as one of the most capable flute students.
School 1961/62. In 2006 he used a scholarship from the French government, resided in Paris and attended classes with the renowned professor of the Paris Conservatory of Gaston Krinel. During the summer of 1967 he stayed in Siena (Accademia Chigiana) with tАhe famous flutist Severin Gazzeloni.
While still a student he was admitted to the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, where he quickly became the first flutist. He remained in the Philharmonic Orchestra until 1970 when he transferred to the Mokranjac Music School in Belgrade as a full-time flute teacher. In addition to his work at the Mokranjac school, he teaches flute at the Dr Miloje Milojevic music school in Kragujevac, and in 1974 became its director. In 1976, Miodrag Azanjac was elected Assistant Professor of Flute at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.
The whole artistic activity of Miodrag Azanjac goes in several directions. He has acted as a concert soloist, as an accomplished chamber musician (member of several chamber ensembles), an orchestral musician, and in recent years as the artistic director of the ensemble „Flute Choir“ of which he is the founder.
His concert activity began from his student days. He has performed as a soloist with numerous symphony and chamber orchestras, solo with harpsichord or piano, in Belgrade and in other cities of Serbia and Yugoslavia. His performances in Radio Belgrade’s music shows were especially notable.
With great success he performed works of Baroque, classics, as well as compositions of contemporary authors – foreign and domestic. He is the first flutist to perform the cycle of Bach and Handle sonatas with us, which has had a great echo in our music public, and has been highly praised by music critics. He has recorded a large number of compositions from the flute repertoire for the needs of Radio Belgrade, among which the works for solo flute, flute and harpsichord, as well as several concerts for flute and orchestra.
The repertoire of Miodrag Azanjac is very rich and many authors of different epochs and styles are represented; Hendl, Bah, Vivaldi, Kupren, Mozart, Hindemit, Zolive, Debussy, Konjovic, Joseph, Vauda and others.
The PGP-RTB was printed in a set of ten plates by Miodrag Azanjac’s performing opus entitled „Flute Art“.
Among the many reviews you could read:
•… “Miodrag Azanjac is certainly the most active music artist in Belgrade” (B. Dragutinović)
•… “As an artist of wide views, his art repeatedly radiates and enriches our musical life” (A. Obradović)
•… “Miodrag Azanjac is a world-class artist” (S. Nikolajević).
A very fruitful and versatile activity of Miodrag Azanjac was in the field of chamber music. For many years he was a member of the Belgrade Wind Quintet and one of the founders of this renowned chamber ensemble with which he performed in many European and Yugoslav cities, performing works by local and foreign authors. The quintets of Ljubica Maric, Enrik Josif and Milan Ristic were recorded on PGP-RTB. Miodrag Azanjac was a member and one of the founders of the chamber music group Musica Humana, with whom he has performed at numerous concerts over the course of four years.
A significant and indispensable activity of Azanjac as an orchestra artist in almost all Belgrade orchestras; The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Theater Opera Orchestra, the RTV Belgrade Symphony Orchestra, in which he has been a solo flutist for years and has performed throughout Europe.
For his contribution to music in Belgrade and Serbia, in the field of concert and chamber music, Miodrag Azanjac has received the following awards:
• October Award of the City of Belgrade – As a member of the Belgrade Wind Quintet, for artistic activity in 1970.
• Award of the Association of Music Artists of Serbia – for concert activity in 1971 and chamber activity in 1973.
• Yugoslav Radio Broadcasting First Prize – for the best recording in 1972 and a chamber activity, or a recording in 1966.
• The 1970 Composers Association of Serbia Award.
In 1977, Miodrag Azanjac founded the Flute Choir, composed of high school music students and professors and FMU students. He is the artistic director and conductor of the ensemble, who has performed at numerous concerts in Belgrade, Serbia, the Opatija Grandstand, television and concerts organized by Radio Belgrade. A number of compositions written for this ensemble were recorded for the needs of Radio Television Belgrade. The music public and criticism have supported and followed the work of the Choir flute since its inception and at a time when the ensemble gained full recognition and became a significant musical body in our midst.
Within the scope of artistic and research activities, the essay work „Mitos and Logos“, lectures on „Flute Time“, lectures within the programs of Radio Belgrade’s Third Program and participation in the Ninth International Congress of Aesthetics in Dubrovnik in 1980 should be emphasized.
For decades, Professor Miodrag Azanjac has written essays on flute and music, but has also been known as a polemicist. In addition to essays and controversy, he has published numerous talks in many journals, proceedings and journals so far.