Competition as a springboard

Musical careers await after prima la musica

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

This week, 290 girls and boys will take to the stage at the CMA Ossiach. For many of them, the concert series at the regional competition is a stepping stone to a future as a musician! Two Carinthian musicians have also made their first attempts at prima la musica. Today they are on the big stage!

Listening to Silvia Igerc from Penk play the zither is an experience! "It was always clear that I only wanted to learn this instrument." She started at the age of seven. "Back then, the zither was mostly only used in folk music. That has long since changed; today the repertoire is more diverse."

Whether pop, rock, jazz, classical, folk or new music: "There is enough literature, and I arrange what is not available." The zither teacher also likes to sing when she plucks the 40 strings: "Music is the best therapy!" Igerc once stood on the prima la musica stage herself: "I've won a few prizes."

Silvia Igerc is a great zither player. Many people know her from the KIB band at the Bleiburg carnival cabaret.(Bild: EVELYN HRONEK)

The South Carinthian studied instrumental and vocal pedagogy in Klagenfurt, won numerous competitions and represented Carinthia as a music ambassador at the EXPO World Exhibition in Japan and at the Sissi Show in Brussels. At the KIB combo in Bleiburg, Igerc, who is also a staff representative for the music teachers, also gets the audience going: "Music is like the bud of a flower that blossoms again and again."

Despite all her stage experience, one thing remains: "A bit of stage fright is simply part of it." 

In love with the guitar and three festivals as "babies"
 Julia Malischnig (47) has been playing the guitar since she was four years old. For the Millstatt native, music is the most beautiful message in the world.

Julia Malischnig, who is married to the guitar, has founded three festivals.(Bild: EVELYN HRONEK)

"It's important to have the courage to step on stage. No matter how old the musicians are," emphasizes Julia Malischnig, who fell in love with the guitar at the age of four: "That's still the case. I am married to this ambassador of sound." The guitarist and composer from Millstatt studied classical guitar at the mdw in Vienna and in Basel. She has traveled halfway around the world on tour: "We need music. The world would be empty without it." Three years ago, Malischnig moved back home from Upper Austria, where she had taught for 17 years: "I live in Millstatt, where my roots are."

She is the founder of three internationally renowned festivals: La Guitarra esencial in Millstatt, La Guitarra at the Festspielhaus Erl in Tyrol and the Guitar Festival in Vienna's Seestadt, because "the guitar needs a bigger stage". Malischnig has known Prima la musica since she was a child: "I was often there; I won every prize." Today, she is represented at state, national and international competitions. "Every performance is a win for pupils, teachers and judges." From the fall, Malischnig will be managing artistic development in the music schools: "There's a lot to do."