GUITARRISSIMO

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Interview by Michael Neumann

Denis has recorded six CDs for international labels such as Opera Tres, Printemps de la guitarre and Naxos, as well as a
video for Mel Bay Company. Future projects with this company include instructional videos and a book about his
experience in competitions, to be published both in English and in Spanish.
Considered among the elite generation of young players today, Denis Azabagic holds more then 20 awards from
international competitions. In 1993, at the age of 20, he became the youngest winner of one of the most prestigious
International Guitar Competition "Jacinto e Inocencio Guerrero," in Madrid, Spain. After his success in Madrid, Denis has
maintained a prize-winning position in virtually every competition he has participated in.
As a soloist, Denis has appeared in the US with the Allentown Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Savannah Symphony, and
in Europe with Orchestre Royal de chambre de Mons and Symphony Orchestra of Madrid, among others. He played as a
guest performer at several venues such as Masters of the Guitar at the Royal Concertgebouw in Netherlands, Radio France
in Paris, France, Aix en Provence Festival, France, El Palau de la Musica, Valencia-Spain, Savannah on Stage, USA, Omni
Foundation, USA, etc.
With the flutist Eugenia Moliner, Denis Azabagic has established Cavatina Duo as one of the most impressive duo
combination of its kind. Already internationally acclaimed, they have toured extensively throughout Europe and the U.S.
Their interpretation of Piazzolla has been appraised as one of the most stunning, fascinating and spectacular. "This is not the
sort of playing that comes from discussion and careful score markings. "These two feel the music deeply and are of one
mind as they play. " American Record Guide.
Denis Azabagic is the member of the guitar faculty at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Guitarrisimo: How did you start to play the guitar?
Denis Azabagic: I remember that my parents enrolled me in the music school when I was very young, when I was 5 I started
with some general music education for children and then a year later I had to choose an instrument. I was thinking of guitar
because my idea of guitar playing was to play in some rock band or some pop group like the Beatles. It turned out I had a
great teacher who taught classical guitar and I have stayed with it until now...
Guitarrisimo: Tell me more about your teacher's, please.
Denis Azabagic: Well, as I said my first teacher was really good, his name is Predrag Stankovic, I studied with him for 8
years, after which I went to Sarajevo to Secondary music school. There my official teacher was Mila Rakanovic, who had
ability to arrange for her students to play in public constantly, so I performed a lot during those years. The performances
were generally for parties and so forth, but it was great to play for an audience. I also took private lessons with Vojo
Ivanovic, guitarist and composer from Sarajevo.
Guitarrisimo: Could you tell me about the first pieces you played and the methods you used?

Denis Azabagic. All rights reserved. www.azabagic.com

Denis Azabagic: Oh, I don't remember the first pieces, but I remember something in general, like Carcassi, Sor, Aguado,
standard stuff. I remember working really systematically with Darko Petrinjak in Zagreb. I had a 2 hour lesson with him
every week, so part of the lesson was dedicated to exercises from Carlevaro's method, then a few simple Sor studies, with
accent both on technique and musical phrasing. Petrinjak was using these simple Sor studies to teach me about musical
phrasing, harmonies, structure of the piece, etc. Issues of musical analysis. We also worked on Studies by Villa-Lobos.
Then the repertoire. On my own, I have practised scales every day since I was 16. I wish I started before...
Upon graduation from the school in Sarajevo, I went to the music academy in Zagreb, and studied with Darko Petrinjak,
who also had a great influence on me as a guitarist and musician. Unfortunately the war broke out in former Yugoslavia and
I was forced to leave the country and I ended up in Netherlands where I had some family. I enrolled in the Rotterdam
conservatory, my teacher there was Dick Hoogeven. My wife was studying flute at the same conservatory, so I would
frequently go to see her lessons. After a short time I asked her teacher, Jo Hagen, to give me some lessons and he agreed.
So, I ended up studying with a flute teacher and it was really an eye opener, because I learned to approach the music as an
orchestral musician.
Guitarrisimo: How old were you when you left Zagreb?
Denis Azabagic: I was 18.
Guitarrisimo: How did you prepare for the competitions, was there something special?
Denis Azabagic: Well, that is a question I have been asked many times. Practise was always the same for any kind of
performance, but I did a lot of kind of internal dialogue as a mental preparation. Actually, I have written a manual published
by Mel Bay where I talked about all this. It is called "On competitions-dealing with performance stress". There is more
information about it on my web site: www.azabagic.com
Guitarrisimo: Your favourite pieces to play?
Denis Azabagic: Well, I will mention some from solo guitar repertoire: Brouwer - El Decameron Negro, Rodrigo Invocation and Dance, 3 Spanish pieces; Barrios - La Catedral, Ultimo tremolo; Ponce - Sonatina Meridional; Rivera Whirler of the Dance; Jose - Sonata; Torroba - Aires de la Mancha, Sonatina; Ivanovic - Cafe pieces...
I also have to talk about repertoire with flute, as you know. My wife and I have a flute/guitar duo, Cavatina Duo, that you
heard in Saltillo. Well, the pieces from that repertoire that we like to play are: Piazzola - Histoire du Tango, Tango Studies
arranged for flute and guitar by S. Assad; Leisner - Acrobats; Assad - Circulo Magico; Yague -Confidencial No.2; Pujol Suite Buenos Aires; Takemitsu - Towards the See, etc...
Also with orchestra I play the Concierto de Aranjuez. That concerto is still much more requested then other concertos I have
in the repertoire like Lobos, Tedesco, Vivaldi, Giuliani...
Guitarrisimo: What do you like more at this moment, to play solo or with your duo?
Denis Azabagic: This is like asking which one of your two children you like more... There is not one I like more, they are a
little different and yet the same. It is the same in the way that I get to play music, no matter in which combination. Playing
solo I can perhaps dwell more easily in spheres outside the conscious mind, but with the duo it is really great to play with
another person and adapt music and sound as a connection and a bond. There is something really special about that. Also, it
is easier to share the pressure of the performance sometimes. It is great, on a personal note, that I get to do this with the
person I love.

Denis Azabagic. All rights reserved. www.azabagic.com

When playing with orchestra the down side is that you get only one or two rehearsals, and you can not really develop your
ideas as much as I can when playing in duo because we can rehearse as much as we want. With orchestra it is always great
to hear all these different instruments and to make music with so many people. I adore Aranjuez and I get very excited every
time I play it.
Again, it is not about liking to perform more as a solo artist or a duo. All of it is part of my activity as a musician. I would
encourage guitarists to seek out chances to play chamber music with guitar, and not to think of solo playing as the only
option. Music is music in any form.
Guitarrisimo: I really enjoyed listening to the piece of Leisner, could you tell me more about it?
Denis Azabagic: Well, we met David Leisner at the Stetson international guitar workshop in Disneyland, Florida a couple
years ago. He played a tape for us there with this piece he had recently composed. We liked it, asked him for the score and
he was glad to send it to us. We love the piece and here is the story that he provides about it.
Acrobats program note: In Nathan Englanders debut short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, there is a
story called "The Tumblers". In it a group of Polish Jews, during World War II, is herded onto trains bound for the
concentration camps, but instead, quite by chance, they board a train full of circus performers who are on a tour to entertain
the Germans. The story is set in an atmosphere where fateful decisions about life or death are made in an instant, by a nod
of the head or a toss of a coin. Acrobats for flute and guitar, begins in this atmosphere, bringing to musical life the final
moments of the story, when the reluctant, dishevelled performers are about to go on stage, barely having a clue of what it is
they are supposed to do, but knowing but knowing that their lives depend on it. The piece is not intended to be a narrative
description of these moments, but rather an imagined evocation of the inner mental and emotional activity during them. In
the first movement, "In the Wings", the acrobats wait offstage with nervous anticipation, distracted by thoughts darting here
and there - premonitions of themes of the second and third movements. This is interrupted by a "Flashback", the middle
movement, a sudden memory of pain, struggle and near-death that have brought them to this moment. The performers
finally go "Up in the Air" in the final movement, twisting, flipping and soaring in all manner of risky acrobatics. Just before
the end, the guitar remembers an old Yiddish folk song, "Oyfn Pripetshik" (On the Hearth), a recollection of deep Jewish
roots in a contemporary world of assimilation. And the piece ends with a return to the precarious. Acrobats was completed
in 2002 and is dedicated to my exceptional guitar student, Luiz Mantovani.
Guitarrisimo: Some technical questions, your guitar, the strings you use how much time do you practise?
Denis Azabagic: I now play a guitar by Manuel Contreras II and use Hannabach strings. Practise time goes anywhere from
nothing (when I am relaxing) to six or seven hours when I am preparing for a recital. I usually practise around four to five
hours a day.

Denis Azabagic. All rights reserved. www.azabagic.com