Macedonian Music, No.

6, Special edition, 2008

781.6:78.071.1(497.7)
(049.3)

EVERYTHING IS IN THE HANDS OF THE CONDUCTOR

(Vancho Chavdarski 1930-2001)1

Marko Kolovski

When a man founds himself standing in front of such an

exceptionally prolific creative life, the first question that comes to
mind is where to start, is there any beginning, a genesis, perhaps
something to be unearthed from the secreted regions of the sub-
consciousness, piece of the quiescent childhood experience poin-
ting to what happened later on?
Yes. I began with music professionally late in my life. For
somebody to start learning an instrument on 16 years of age, to
decide to be a violinist, piano player, etc., is late. However, even as
a boy, in Vladimirovo where I was born, I played every instrument I
could get hold of, beginning with tambour, prim, harmonica, violin
and so on. All right, that was, we may say, a sign that I was musi-
cally talented and that I should study music. I was very fortunate
that the priest in Vladimirovo was very talented, as well, and he
discovered my talent very early. First he taught me to read notes
and formed a church chorus of thirty children of my age, and he let
me conduct with it. At that time I also sang in the church, I had a
beautiful voice. Later on, at the end of the war, he nominated me
and I won a fellowship to attend a Seminary, that is I was prede-
stined to be a priest. But, after the war ended, after the liberation, I
came to Skopje and won a fellowship for the Teachers’ School.
Before the war ended, I have already formed a youth chorus in Vla-
dimirovo, which I conducted. At that time, the violin teacher in
Skopje, Shpato, took me to the School of Music and said: “This kid
1
The interview was conducted in 1992 for the program of Radio Skopje, on occasion of
30th Anniversary of his work as conductor

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Macedonian Music, No. 6, Special edition, pp.65 - 78 2008
should study music”. I was accepted in the School of Music. I began
learning violin with the Professor Krstevski, piano with Prima
Dona Danka Firfova, but I remained in the Teachers’ School. I gra-
duated from both schools, that is I graduated from the Teachers’
School, but I was still on my second year of the School of Music. I’ll
go back to what I said about being too late to start learning about
an instrument at the age of 16, to decide to be an instrumentalist,
but those instruments helped me a lot later on, during my career as
a conductor.
The presence of Lovro Matachich in Skopje acted as a,
should I say, magnet to us. His concerts and opera productions
radiated with particular affection, and not only to me, but to many
young and talented Macedonian musicians. They made us dream to
be conductors. Hence it’s not by accident that later on most of the
conductors in Yugoslavia were from Macedonia, t is in Belgrade
Shurev and Lekoski, Yanoski in Novi Sad, then Minov, myself, etc.
The all held the leading positions in Belgrade.
After that I won a fellowship for the Zagreb Conservato-
rium I spent four years there, but my interest was always focused
on conducting. After the Zagreb Conservatorium, I went to the Bel-
grade Music Academy, in the class of Professor Zhivoin Zdravko-
vich and I completed the five-year study in four years. Along with
the studying, I played viola in the Belgrade Philharmony and in the
Croat ion Ensemble of Folk Daces and Songs Lado, as well. I tra-
veled Europe with them. Than I played in the Serbian Ensemble of
Folk Dances and Songs Kolo and travelled with them, too. At the
same time, I formed a students’ orchestra, The Haydn Ensemble
and began to conduct some Haydn Symphonies, Mozart diverti-
mentos, various compositions, etc.
After I graduated from the Belgrade Academy, I won a the
German Government one-year specialization fellowship. I chose
Hamburg, because of the Professor Hansschmidt Isserstete, one
of the leading world’s conductors. I have to admit that the Dean of
the Belgrade Academy of the time, Professor Milenko Zhivkovich
made this fellowship possible. He was very fond of me, and not
only of me, but of all Macedonian students. He loved us and Mace-
donia very much and many Macedonian composers graduated
from his classes, as Vlastimir Nikolovski, Tomislav Zografski and
several others. I graduated cum laude and as a brilliant student I

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 V. Chavdarski: Everything is in the hands of the Conductor
went to the Academy in Germany and entered the Professor Isser-
stete. Later on I heard that he said that he never had such a con-
ducting talent in his class filled me with self-confidence.
On the Hamburg Academy, I was the first viola in the Aca-
demic Orchestra and I played viola in the students’ quartet. After a
year, on Professor Isserstete’s request, my fellowship was extended
for another year. Then I faced the dilemma weather to stay in
Hamburg or return here, to Skopje. However, I considered that it is
my duty to pay my debts to the fatherland, and that is to serve in
the army, which I did. Right after that I was engaged by the Mace-
donian Philharmony as a permanent conductor, and at the same
time as a permanent visiting conductor of the Opera and Ballet at
the Macedonian National Theatre which, for a young conductor
was a great luck and an opportunity.
What would be the most useful thing for a young conduc-
tor at the beginning of the career, not yet armed with a repertoire
to realize a continuous growth, even within environments not as
favorable?
That’s an excellent question. That is what I always say to
these young conductors attending my seminaries or my lectures at
the University in Queensland in Australia. When a director stands
in front of an orchestra, regardless of being a beginner or an expe-
rienced conductor, he must know the score. There is a Russian
book on conducting, which begins like this: the conductor must
have the score in his/her head, not the head in the score. Also, if
the conductor is experienced and a good psychologist, he will know
what kind of orchestra he faces. Not only his knowledge, but also
the way of working is very important. He, regardless of being a
beginner or an experienced one, must be a person, and that is one
of the hardest moments of the conducting profession.
While we are at it, we will return to the creative life, but
one of the questions appearing at the touch of the score is how a
conductor opposes all that individual creative ardor gathered in a
large ensemble and to direct it towards the common goal?
That is the hardest moment for a conductor. You have an
orchestra of 60, 80, 100 people. They all have academic education;
they are all masters of their instruments, variously talented,
variously sensible, different tempers, moods, etc. The conductor
has to unite all that, to rise above all the hereinabove components.

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Macedonian Music, No. 6, Special edition, pp.65 - 78 2008
To be so well prepared in musical sense and to have a broad gene-
ral culture, in order to respond to any provocation coming from the
orchestra at any moment. And there are such provocations, con-
cerning the performing, the sound, the listening, the rhythm, etc.
On the other hand, the conductor’s hands are also very important.
By his hands, that is by the manual conducting techniques, he
transmits his musical concept and musical ideas through the
orchestra to the audience. The sound of the orchestra depends on
these hands. Once they asked the famous English conductor Sir
Adrian Bold how is it possible a same orchestra to sound differently
with different conductors. He answered that he was asking the
same question his entire life. According to him, the hands of the
conductor condition the sound, if it will be sharper, softer, richer,
etc. It is all in the hands of the conductor. There are conductors
who work perfectly at the rehearsals, but deliver very bad concerts.
There are also such who have bad rehearsals, and excellent con-
certs. The third ones are those who work improperly and deliver
bad concerts, and the fourth ones are those who work properly and
deliver good concerts.
There is also a psychological moment at the orchestra,
when it faxes an affirmed conductor and anonymous conductor.
When you came to Skopje, how did your first contact with and
already formed orchestra went, considering that it was managed
by such an outstanding conductor as Lovro Matachich was?
As I said, I came t Skopje after Belgrade and Hamburg,
where I learned my professional values. I had an orchestra expe-
rience as a performer. My stay in Belgrade was a huge advantage,
since I performed under the hands of great world conductors, as
Stokowski, Markevich, Konvichni, etc. On each rehearsal I literally
swallowed all their secrets, both on the manual technique and the
way they worked, their knowledge. Then I had private conversa-
tions with those people and I wrote everything down. Even today, I
have Lovro Matachich, Kondrashin and others’ handwriting in my
scores. I studied with Ormandi, I was invited to lunch with
Menuhin, etc. Those contacts are a great treasure, not only socially,
but also from the aspect of the musical experience those great peo-
ple had. Here it is very hard to be a coductor, and not only in
Skopje, but all around the Balkan, because of our mentality – every
performer in our orchestras thinks that he/she is the greatest, that

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 V. Chavdarski: Everything is in the hands of the Conductor
they know best. The discipline in the West is very different, the atti-
tude towards the work and the conductor is very different. Even if
the conductor is not right, the orchestra will play as he requires
them to, as his concept is. There is an anecdote: a last concert in
Vienna. A friend meets a violinist from the Vienna Philharmony
and asks him what the conductor conducted that evening, while the
conductor was pretty much a bad one. He answered: well, we
played Beethoven’s Fifth, and what he conducted – I don’t know.
You were in Skopje at the time when the need of including
works by Macedonian authors in the Macedonian Philharmony
and Opera repertoire imposed itself. To produce works of more
contemporary and more radical expression. The question would
be: how do you view that discrepancy between the contemporary
music and the perceptive capabilities of the audience and what
attempts do you make now, as a performer, but also as a creative
person, to establish some of that bridges?
Yes. That is interesting. Even today I think that we don’t
have an audience for contemporary music, and not only ours, but
the 20th century’s second half music in general. Stravinsky, Brit-
ton, and Shostakovich are classic composers. I refer to this avant-
garde that appears later and here we can’t talk about creating the
audience’s taste. The audience is a phenomenon that I studied
pretty often and asked myself why is that so. All around the world
– and I don’t say this out my own experience only – play
Tchaikovsky and Beethoven all evening, and you have full audito-
rium. Put a famous violinist or a pianist as soloists and the audito-
rium is also full. But, if you mix one Tchaikovsky’s symphony with
a contemporary work, then the interest immediately decreases.
Concretely about the Macedonian Philharmony, in my ten years as
a Manager and a conductor I followed a policy and I think it was a
very successful one. As a conductor I have performed perhaps 150
– 160 compositions. Part of them are repetitions, but there were
also premiere performances, and some of those compositions are
permanently on my repertoire. I consider it our duty to perform
Macedonian composers. That is also an obligation towards people
who create in the time we live in. Whether somebody else will [per-
form their compositions or not, we can’t say. I always include one
of that works in both, the Philharmony and the Chamber Orchestra
repertoire.

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Macedonian Music, No. 6, Special edition, pp.65 - 78 2008
When a performer, a conductor, faces with a work which
is famous within the musical literature, has been frequently per-
formed, he is in a way burdened by certain auditive experience, by
interpretations that even against his will serve as a kind of a
benchmark, and sometimes limit him or direct him during the
performance. But, when fang a score that is to be performed for
the first time, the situation is complete different. How do you
experience that difference?
I always compare, regardless if some work has been perfor-
med or I’ve listened to a recording. If there are several performan-
ces, I compare and take my own position, hw I feel that work. A
new work, which sore I see for the first time, I study it and by doing
that i create a sound image of how it should sounds. I often recei-
ved compliments from the composers. But, regardless if it is a clas-
sical work or a new, contemporary one, I usually penetrate so deep
in it, so I could transfer the composer’s ideas.
A work is, nevertheless, a schematic thing, a sketch. What
is the composer’s idea, and what his real concretization and what
is the performer’s role?
The performer may turn a very good work into a very bad
one, or turn an average work into a very good one by the very per-
formance.
I referred to the variations of different performances of a
same work.
That is correct. That depends on the performer. His quali-
ties, capabilities and the level he may achieve. Berlioz, for example,
advised the composers to perform or to conduct their own works
whenever they have there is an opportunity, not to allow the con-
ductors to ruin their works. That is Berlioz’s famous advice to the
composers.
But it is a fact that many composers were at the same time
conductors, and yet they didn’t manage to realize their composi-
tion the way they conceived it and it wasn’t as successful as it was
with other conductors.
It is absolutely correct. I attended in Hamburg the premier
performance of Igor Stravinsky’s composition Treni which he duc-
ted by himself. That was a very bad performance, even Stravinsky
lost himself. They sopped. The concert master showed him where
they are. Radio Hamburg broadcasted it life. It is correct. We know

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 V. Chavdarski: Everything is in the hands of the Conductor
that of all the composers today, perhaps Pierre Boulez is one of the
best, not only for his own compositions, but for those by
Schonberg, Honegger, and especially the 20th century composers.
Tchaikovsky was a very poor conductor and well known is the event
when he was supposed to conduct Evgeniy Onegin in Hamburg.
Mahler was also there, who was drill-master and assistant conduc-
tor at the time. He didn’t go to Tchaikovsky directly, but whispered
to others that he knows Ebgeniy Onegin by heart. Tchaikovsky
began with the rehearsals. It went very bad and, to avoid a fiasco,
the suggested to Tchaikovsky to let Mahler conduct the composi-
tion. When Tchaikovsky heard that and saw Mahler, he landed him
the conductor’s stick with pleasure. The history doesn’t reveal if
Mahler was greater composer or conductor, also Hindemith was
both, composer and conductor, then Benjamin Britton was an
exceptional pianist and conductor.
Probably at one moment, a young man, and artist, a per-
former, feels the need and the challenge to confront his capabili-
ties with other values, to get out of his own environment. That
happened with you in the 1970’s, when you left for Australia. How
did you come to that decision?
My leaving for Australia is very interesting. In 1970 I recei-
ved a cable from my manager in London, asking me if I’m intere-
sted in an engagement abroad, concretely in the Australian Opera
in Sidney. They offered me a two-year contract. Lord Harwood
thought it would be a good opportunity for my career. At that time,
Lord Harwood was an Art Director of the Australian Opera, mar-
ried to an Australian violinist, sister of Barry Tackwell, one of the
most famous horn players in the world today. He was, by the way,
Queen’s cousin and an exceptional musical and artistic person.
How did he got interested in me? In 1962, when I attended an
international competition of conductors in Liverpool, I strongly
impressed him. He wanted to engage me for the Australian Opera.
My manager told him that he could make the contact. I received
that cable at the time when I was at the peak of my artistic achieve-
ments in Skopje, Macedonia. I already had a ten-year activity
behind me, and not only here, but also throughout Europe. The
second place in Liverpool also helped. Later on I heard that the
chairman of the jury and several members ad the director, they all
voted for me to get the first place, but you know how it is when

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Macedonian Music, No. 6, Special edition, pp.65 - 78 2008
voting is involved. I traveled a lot around Europe, with various
orchestras and with the Macedonian Philharmony and the
Chamber Orchestra. At that time I didn’t know anything about
Australia, about musical Australia. I knew it only geographically,
but I accepted the challenge because it was for two years only. If I
didn’t like it, or if it wasn’t successful, I could always come back.
But when I arrived there, my debut with the Australian Opera was
with the opera Power of Destiny by Verdi. The very next day a cri-
tique appeared in the newspapers. The critic wrote about the great
difference in the conducting of the new Italian conductor. They
didn’t even read where do I come from, but since at that time I had
a black, curly hair, they thought I am from Italy. Lot of people
around the world have asked me if I am an Italia. That is how it
began, and after that the Australian Radio and Television offered
me three-month long engagement with the Sydney Symphonic
Orchestra. After the first recording proved to be a great success,
they continued to invite me to work with them and with the other
Australian TV Network’s orchestras. There are six of them, in each
capitol of the Australian states. At that time the Australian Televi-
sion broadcasted a series of concerts, dubbed “Gala Performances”.
They were one-hour shows and they invited me to conduct some of
them almost every month. Thus, on one of that concert a soloist
was then unknown, but with a beautiful voice Cirri Tekenava from
New Zealand., who is one of the most famous Prima Donnas in the
world today. After those concerts, other invitations arrived, among
them an offer from New Zealand. So, already in the autumn of 1971
I went to New Zealand to conduct ten performances of the opera
Aida, with the New Zealand National Opera, fibe in Wellington,
and five in Auckland.
You mentioned recording or the Australian Television.
There are different opinions on the tonal recordings. On ne hand,
there is its perfection compared to what is offered as a sound
image on the life performances, and on the other, it is still an arti-
ficial atmosphere. We know Sergiu Chelibidake’s position and that
is why there few recordings of his works. Well, what is your
opinion on this issue?
I’ve heard that from Chelibidake in person, because I have
met him several times. I even attended his seminar in Sienna for
3-4 days. We asked the students then, and I was a very god friend

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 V. Chavdarski: Everything is in the hands of the Conductor
with his assistant Enrique Garcia from Madrid, why he doesn’t
want to record. He says it is an artificial act. There is no art, no
interpretation. But, as true as it may be, I disagree, because, as you
know, his character is such that he doesn’t want t be corrected and
you know that there are no soloists on his concerts. He conducts
symphonies and overtures and he can’t stand anybody beside him.
He is an egocentric person, although, at least for me, after Karajan,
he is the best conductor in the world today. An ingenious conduc-
tor, who comes to the rehearsals without a score. True ingenuity.
Contrary to Karajan, Bernstein and the other great conductors,
who used the recordings to perfect the music reproduction.
You mentioned Karajan and Bernstein and Chelibidake.
You mentioned many names. Probably during your stay in Aust-
ralia and New Zealand, also before and after that, you met many
famous significant people. You probably missed some of them and
perhaps there are some interesting events related to them?
In New Zealand I met with Bernstein and we had a nice
conversation. He was visiting with the New York Philharmony and
I have never in my life listened to better performance of Mahler’s
Fifth Symphony. That inspired me and I immediately began to
study Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and to perform it.
I met not only with great conductors, but soloists, as well.
Well, the soloists because I performed with them. Even here, in
Skopje, I met such great people as Aldo Ccicolini, Valeri Klimov,
Kogan, who held a seminary in Ohrid. And played with me and
with his daughter Nina. He performed with a symphonic orchestra
for the first time with me in Ohrid. Then I met Herman Schering,
who also performed with me here and in Australia, with Isaac
Schtern, Andre Navara, Heinrich Schiff and with many other
renowned soloists. Many famous global names in the singing art, as
Jessie Norman, Cirri Takinawa, Merlin Horn, Rita Schtreich,
Emmy Shua, etc. I had lot of concert in Australia. And the entire
European elite visited Australia. I was there eleven years. After the
two-year contract with the Australian Opera, I spent four years as
head-conductor of the Tasmanian Symphonic Orchestra in Hobber
and at the same time two years as an Art Director of the New
Zealand Symphonic Orchestra. I was permanently in an airplane
between those two countries. Before my return to Belgrade, I spent
four years as head-conductor of the Queensland Symphonic

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Macedonian Music, No. 6, Special edition, pp.65 - 78 2008
Orchestra in Brisbane. However, during all that time I conducted
with all Australian orchestras and visited Europe, South America
and so on. The contacts with all these people were not only profes-
sional, but also friendly. I still cherish my friendship with them,
and they all came to my home, whether for lunch or for dinner.
Just as a curiosity, I would like to mention that the great Schering
said: all right, we will come, but under one condition - you have to
prepare Macedonian cousin, pancakes, meatballs, etc. And, of cour-
se, with the Macedonian wine Kratoshia. As I said, those relations
are still alive even today. Yuri Temerikanov, current head-conduc-
tor of the Leningrad Philharmony is a good friend of mine. Where-
ver he goes, Temerikanov says that his first visit abroad was in
Skopje, at the Macedonian Philharmony.
In all that contacts you had the impression of the presence
of Macedonia, of the Macedonian musical culture on the global
scene. Is it mentioned at all and what have you done in that sense,
apart from presenting yourself by your conducting?
On the concerts and at several recording sessions in Aust-
ralia and New Zealand I performed works by the Macedonian
authors Toma Proshev, Zografski and Blagoya Ivanovski. It isn’t
easy to put works by Macedonian authors in the programs. That is
because the people who make the programs are focused on names
already present around the world, as Boulez, Britton, Shostakovich,
Schnittke, Elliot, or Cage, Menoti and the global younger avant-
garde. I would like to see that the Macedonian musical works are
more present, but it is very difficult. It can be only done by indivi-
dual efforts or we our ensembles are on a visiting tour. That’s what
we did when we were visiting with the Macedonian Philharmony
and with the Chamber Orchestra. On all concerts, especially with
the chamber orchestra, we performed one domestic work, usually
with our soloist. Those concerts were exceptionally well attended
everywhere we went: in Italy, Spain, France, Romania, etc. There is
one very interesting event. Lat light, one Czech who is with our
orchestra more than 20 years, tell us that he was traveling to Slo-
vakia by train and he shared the department with some person
from Italy. They started a conversation. When the Czech told him
that he is performing or the Macedonian Philharmony, the Italian
told him: ah, yes, the Chamber Orchestra and Maestro Chavdarski.
He attended some of our concerts in Italy and it remained n his

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 V. Chavdarski: Everything is in the hands of the Conductor
memory. People now about a culture by the various visits or by
attending those concerts.
Thirty years of professional life, and yet they are so sym-
metrically disperse: 10 years in Skopje, 10 years in Australia, and
10 years in Belgrade. You will tell us about the Belgrade period,
the numerous concerts, numerous awards, acknowledgements,
reviews. May part of that “numerous” be put in couple of senten-
ces?
All my awards are dear to me. But, let me start with the
Liverpool one, in 1962, which was decisive for my career as a con-
ductor. It was followed by a very dear award, the October Award in
Macedonia, which I received at the very beginning of my career. In
Australia I was granted one of the very prestigious awards, the Cri-
tics of Australia Award in 1975, as one of the most successful con-
ductors, but also for my accomplishments with the Tasmanian
Symphonic Orchestra. In 1983 in Belgrade I won one of the great
awards of the Belgrade Association of Culture for the best concert
on the Belgrade Music Festivities, for the performance of Shostako-
vich’s Fifth Symphony. Before that I won the Belgrade Radio and
Television Award and many more acknowledgements, placards,
medals, as the Jean Fillip Ramault for the mayor of Dijon, Golden
Placard and medal from the Ohrid Summer., because I am one of
the founders of the Ohrid Summer. Not only that I conducted my
first concerts with the Macedonian Philharmony and the Chamber
Orchestra on the Ohrid Summer, but I was also a permanent
member of the Ohrid Summer Governing Board for 10 years. There
are many more other awards.
Do you know the number f ensembles that you have con-
ducted? Maybe you can tell us the number of opera works in your
repertoire, an approximate number of the symphonic woks, etc?
Yes. I have visited many countries around the world. I was
the first conductor from the eastern, Socialist countries to visit
Seoul three years ago and conducted the Korean Symphonic
orchestra. Two years ago I visited Seoul again, this time with the
Melbourne Symphonic Orchestra from Australia, which was tou-
ring in Japan and South Korea. In Japan their head-conductor
Ivaki conducted with the orchestra, and they invited me to conduct
the concert in South Korea. I have been everywhere, even in Iran,
in Teheran, where I conducted two concerts. Until now, I have con-

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Macedonian Music, No. 6, Special edition, pp.65 - 78 2008
ducted with 61 orchestras, and with all orchestras in Yugoslavia. I
don’t how many concerts I have conducted, several thousands. I
have over 100 symphonies and overtures on my symphonic reper-
toire. My opera repertoire includes 32 operas. The entire Verdi,
apart from Falstaff, there is no Wagner, some Puccini and Mozart,
of the contemporaries Stravinsky and the Australian composer
Malcolm Williams, which took me into the Australian history, since
the recording of that opera was the fist one in color. I have 10
records published, for EMI, ABS, PGP-RTB and Jugoton. Of the
modern composers, I have performed Volton with one of his ope-
ras. It is interesting that this is only a second record with that com-
position. He directed the first one himself. The same producer
worked on both records and he said that the record we made in
Melbourne with the Melbourne Symphonic Orchestra is much bet-
ter than the one with Volton. There are Yugoslav works on those
records, as well. One of the records I made with the Melbourne
Symphonic Orchestra features the Rachmninov’s Symphonic
Daces.
You mentioned that in (ex) Yugoslavia there were many
Macedonian conductors, but, regretfully there are very few of
them in Macedonia. On the other hand, there are very few young
Macedonian conductors who would continue with your activities.
What is to be done?
You know, that is a vey hard question, and the answer is
even harder. The shortage of young conductors is apparent all
around ex-Yugoslavia. They asked me the same question in Bel-
grade two weeks ago. As you said, all conductors in Belgrade are
Macedonians. Nin Weekly editor-in-chief, on a gathering this sum-
mer in Belgrade, within the manifestation Days of Gotse told the
Macedonian and the Serbian delegation that if all leading conduc-
tors in Belgrade are Macedonians, it is not so because they are
Macedonians, but because they are exceptional conductors. In Bel-
grade also there are no young talents who would replace the old
conductors. Regretfully, the situation in Skopje isn’t any better and
I wouldn’t get into deeper analysis as to why is it so. The music aca-
demies exist for many decades, even in Skopje there is a music aca-
demy for more than 20 years. What is the reason for that, I don’t
know. Stokowski, the great conductor, when asked why doesn’t he
teach conducting, since there are no new students, he answered

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 V. Chavdarski: Everything is in the hands of the Conductor
–which is very incorrect by my opinion - that the conductors are
not made, they are born. However, one can make a conductor,
because if there are master schools for violinists, pianists, singers,
there must be one for conductors, too.
Since you don’t agree with Stokowski, and since you’ve
accumulated many experiences and knowledge on all that mee-
tings and visits, would you like and is there a chance to see
Vancho Chavdarski in Skopje? To see him as a pedagogue, as well,
who will create young conductors and continue to be a permanent
protagonist within the Macedonian musical culture?
I always wished to that. When I left Skopje in 1970, I left
Macedonia only physically. I am always present in Macedonia and I
began my career in Skopje and I think that it is very possible that I
will end it in Skopje. I was resent all the time, with concerts and
visits, as it is today’s occasion. My wish is to continue to be present
here in Macedonia. In what form, that depends on the competent
institutions, if they show interest. However, it is a complex issue.
You are probably much more familiar with the musical life and who
are the moving force behind that life. The people are already aware
that we can’t go on being closed as we are. Because there are excep-
tional intellectuals in Macedonia, musical talents who can’t remain
limited as they are at the moment, and we talk and listen about
joining Europe. If that happens, then borders will be open for
Macedonia and for Skopje, to act in general manner, not only in the
musical one.

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Macedonian Music, No. 6, Special edition, pp.65 - 78 2008

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