Maja Bogdanovic: Wins at Aldo Parisot

Maja Bogdanovic has secured the first prize at the Aldo Parisot International Cello Competition.She is only the third winner of this still fresh competition first held in 2004, but it is by no means the first competition victory of her career. However, it may well be the most prestigious. After all, the Aldo Parisot, which is organised by its namesake and hosted by the Great Mountains International Music Festival and School, knows no third and second prizes, no runners-up and bronze medals. There is only one proud winner, who will be eligible for a string of possible career-changing benefits: The nice sum of $30.000 is the least important aspect of this package. Much more prominently, Maja Bogdanovic will be able to demonstrate her talent in front of an audience at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and receive a full scholarship of the Great Mountains International Music Festival and School in South Korea. As we speak, Maja Bogdanovic has already performed with three different Korean orchestras and delivered a solo recital in the wake of her triumph. While the jury’s judgements have not been made public, the criteria for the Aldo Parisot International Cello Competition have always been the same: Technique, Musicianship and artistic personality.

It seems like the perfect ground for Maja Bogdanovic, who claimed that music was not her first love on the one hand, but whose passionate vision on the other contrasts starkly with that of many of her colleagues, as she mentioned in our interview early this year: “I am often very dissapointed with what I hear in concerts. There are many performers, who only like to play fast, in tune... that is not my point of view and I feel nervous after having listened to something like that.” Instead, Bogdanovic prefers live recordings above work in the studio and believes in the power of taking riscs – even if that may mean the smoothness and faultless nature of a CD can not be achieved in a concert hall. This attitude is also reflected by her thoughts on the Aldo Parisot International Cello Competition: Of course she was nervous about the prospect of maybe leaving completely empty-handed, but she decided to apply anyway “because of the excellent programs” – which in this case centred around Haydn, Shostakovich and Prokofiev.

Aldo Parisot, who was born in Brazil but spent most of his life in the USA, wasn’t only one of the most widely applauded cellists of his generation – he was also a painter with exhibtions all over the world and a teacher. If Maja Bogdanovic will also be able to follow one Parisot’s renowned masterclasses as part of the unspecified “special prizes” is unfortunately not known.

Homepage: Maja Bogdanovic
Homepage: The Aldo Parisot International Cello Competition