Marko Zupan with Liz and Hannah at our concert in Kastel Vitturi, Croatia, August 2018

Marko Zupan with Liz and Hannah at our concert in Kastel Vitturi, Croatia, August 2018

While we were in Croatia during August 2018 we had the privilege of working with Marko Zupan. He has kindly agreed to be a Flutewise Ambassador.

If you want to know more about Marko do visit his website.

I know we will have the opportunity of working with Marko again one day soon.

He has answered our questions:

How old were you when you started playing? 

I started playing the recorder when I was seven, with eight I changed to flute.

What inspired you to start?

I always felt close to music. But the flute? I guess I liked the sound.

What make was your first flute?

Yamaha 211.

What do you play on now?

After playing Sankyo and Muramatsu during my studies, I'm now actually back with Yamaha. Not the same model though :)

Who influenced you as a young flute player?

There were many musical influences, but let me name here just the flutists. Firstly I would say my fellow countrywoman Irena Grafenauer, with whom I was later on also fortunate enough to study in Salzburg. Jean Pierre Rampal was also an influence and of course James Galways was everywhere at the time. Later I came to know Pierre-Yves Artaud, Emmanuel Pahud and the great Aurele Nicolet.

Do you have any other musicians in your family?

Yes, my mother was a piano teacher, my brother and sister are amateur musicians, my nephews and nieces play different instruments... So lots of music all around.

Which three artists and/or pieces would you advise a young person to listen to?

That is a very difficult question, there are so many! Everything by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel..ooops too many already! From the performing artists let me choose the ones presently on the classical scene: conductor Kirill Petrenko, pianist Grigory Sokolov, singer Cecilia Bartoli. Of course there are several others from different musical genres.

What piece of advice would you give to a young flute player?

Play football! Travel, meet people! Do everything you want! Then work hard to master your instrument and study music in all of its aspects. So one day you will be able to find and express all of you experiences, thoughts and feelings within music.

Flutewise in Croatia 2018 - Marko Zupan joined us for our final concert and improvsied on te theme 'animals'. Can you name them?