Musician, Educator, Entrepreneur & Activist
NEW YOUTUBE INITIATIVE
New Etudes Every Week!
This initiative started as my way of coping with, and in response to COVID-19. It commenced with sharing simple and beautiful romantic solo flute etudes with friends and family around the world. My hope is to bring a little light to their everyday lives knowing that so many art events and concerts have been cancelled or postponed.
This initial idea quickly developed into the #covidchallenge, an effort of keeping my playing in shape while going back to basics and enjoying this new, slow-pace environment.
So far, I have been working on the following 4 books:
Do you have questions or any suggestions on the next book etude? Feel free to contact me. Let's get a little bit better every day!
Check out the most recent etude:
LATEST RADIO INTERVIEW
WORT 89.9 FM
8 O'Clock Buzz w/ Damita Brown
It’s an arts takeover on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz!
Host Damita Brown talks with prestigious Serbian flutist and UW-Madison Alumna Iva Urgčić about her upcoming LunART Festival celebrating Black women in the arts October 10th and 17th, 2020.
The Badger Herald: 2020 LunART Festival focuses on COVID-19, civil rights while empowering feminine experience
October 2020
Women-focused arts festival takes 2020 season online!
Like countless other events canceled this year due to the coronavirus, Madison-based art festival LunART has moved its proceedings online... LunART was the brainchild of Ugrcic ever since her childhood in Serbia, where she was faced with a number of challenges involving gender inequity in her struggle to become a professional musician.
Rotaru had two basic ideas as a frame for this work: the piece needed to have a connection with nature, as well as avoid the high register of the instrument. These components give Dragon-Fly a unique sonority. To create a complex sonorous universe, Rotaru uses different extended flute techniques, separately and in combination. Unusual usage of the low and middle range of the instrument shows the composer’s impeccable sense for picturesque writing, perfectly sound-painting this delicate insect. By listening to this piece, one can create a short story about the day in the life of a dragonfly, from the fast trilling of the opening (suggesting the insect’s hectic flight and rapid approach), to the very last note played with bisbigliandi, creating a picture of the motionless insect with its wings barely moving on a summer breeze. The contrast between movement and rest is the main concept of this piece.
Here is a super fun project I've been working on with my hubby in quarantine :) I think Lou Harrison would be okay with the found instrument substitutions we discovered in our apartment and minor changes in a solo part. Hope you enjoy it!