22 September 2021
Exlusive interview with Laura Llozi, Camerata Balcanica star
Laura Llozi was born and bred in a family of artists. She started learning violin from her dad when only five years old. A lifelong learning path started with Vero Tego in Tirana, bringing her to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Stefan Kamalirov and Massimo Quarta. After performing in numerous concerts in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Portugal, Netherlands, and Bulgaria, she returns when everything started, in Albania, to perform tomorrow as part of an orchestra composed by the best talents of the region. For the Western Balkans Fund, this event will be yet another milestone. We have believed since the beggining in the unique value of Camerata Balcanica, and we are proud to have them throw an incredible spectacle on the occasion of our 4th anniversary. Just a day shy of that big rendezvous, we had the honor to meet with Laura and ask her a few questions.
WBF. You return to Tirana as part of a unique orchestra that promotes Western Balkans values. What does this mean for you?
Laura Llozi. To be part of such an orchestra, with many very talented people from all over the Balkans, who promote the vibrant musical values of this area, makes me immensely proud. I feel proud also because I can promote the music of my country on an international scale. In the same time, I also feel pleased that I am one of the few Albanians that have been able to perform solo in Belgrade, supported by musicians from all over the region. Those experiences have made me realize even more that music doesn’t have borders either nationality. Regarding the forthcoming event, performing in Tirana is always an emotion for me because the public supported me in the beginning when I was still a young violinist.
WBF. What is your relation with Artlink and Camerata Balcanica? Do you have any message that you would like to give to all the region’s young people?
Laura Llozi. I have been part of the Camerata Balcanica since the beginning. Our orchestra is a product of open-minded and talented people like Jovanka Visekruna Jankovic, Benjamin Haemhouts, Mario Guralumi, etc. I genuinely believe this will be a long-term collaboration because it is based on professional and excellent human relationships. My relation with Artlink is even longer. I see in Artlink a big home that gathers the cream of the crop from the region and expands each day. I am proud to be part of this big family, together with the colleagues I have performed over the years, such as Marija, Dunja, Nadja, Nemanja, Sari, and many others. We live in a tiny world where there is no place for prejudices of any kind. We are artists. Artists are, by definition, World citizens. Borders might have been a problem in the past, but borders and ethnicity are considered an added value in this significant project. I would say to all the young Albanians and other people in the region; we have much more things that unite us than those that divide us.
WBF. Many of the average followers of classical music are familiar or have been before in concerts of the big guns, such as Mozart, Beethoven, etc. Still, this time, Camerata Balcanica propones a show based on composers from this region, less known internationally. How much are you familiar with their plays, and do you have any comments on them?
Laura Llozi. The concert program includes traditional and well-known composers like Dvorak, Bartok, but as you already noticed, a big part of the program are the composers included in our show with some of their very best plays. I had the immense privilege of meeting the Albanian composer Lejla Agolli, and I will interpret her to play. She is one of the very few women composers. She is the one who composed “The Concert for violin nr. Two” and the public has received very well the reenactment of this peace after four decades. Through their outstanding plays, I know the other composers that the public will have the occasion to follow in a series of a concert held in our region.
WBF. Do you know our work, and how do you rate us?
Laura Llozi. I didn’t know much before this event, but now I have plenty of information. I want to thank you for your initiative and your work in this region to eliminate barriers and build bridges of cooperation.
WBF. Do you think that music can be a start for a regional Reconciliation and the progress of our countries towards the European Union?
Laura Llozi. As I already stressed, music does not recognize borders. The language of music is universal and doesn’t need a translation. This has been proven for centuries. Beethoven was successfully played in France, even when France was at war with Germany. The same with Mozart in Italy and many more cases. Classical music, which we deliver in this project, is an exclusively European product, which spread rapidly at the beginning of the last century in all the continents. Classical music in all its forms, opera, symphony, chamber music, etc., has an exclusive European identity and is one of the points that unite us all. The music of this region is already integrated into Europe. Is the politics that lack behind, and we are trying, symbolically, to help politics drive forward with this project.
WBF. Laura Laozi, thank you. We appreciate very much that you could find time to speak with us on the eve of this big concert.
DON’T MISS THIS SPECIAL SHOW.
TOMORROW, 23 SEPTEMBER, 19.00, IN THE EVENT HALL OF THE ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL IN TIRANA.
You are all invited!
