Soprano, Elbenita Kajtazi, during June became the first singer from Kosovo to participate in the opera and song contest “BBC Cardiff Singer of the World”.
Her performance in this competition in Britain, with a program of 15 parts in eight different languages, including the Albanian language, resonated greatly.
In an interview with VOA, soprano Kajtazi says that participating in this competition where she reached the finals, was among her goals for a long time.
“I have known Cardif singer of the World as a contest for ten years and I have always had it in mind, but I have always hesitated saying it is very difficult and I can not do it. But this time because I had more time I decided to participate and my application was selected, three phases have passed until 16 people have been selected to go there because there were around 600 applications“, She says.
The BBC Cardiff Singer of the World is held every other year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s edition was held without publicity.
“This has been the most painful part of this competition because it has only been through television and we have sung with an entire orchestra for BBC cameramen. It is not a good feeling, I have tried this in several other productions during the pandemic and all you could do is sing to the cameras and as an opera singer it is not a good feeling because you want to connect directly with the public and to give emotion“, Says Mrs. Kajtazi.
The soprano, Elbenita Kajtazi, grew up in the city of Mitrovica in Kosovo. He studied singing at the University of Prishtina, and has been living in Hamburg, Germany for eight years. Kosovo, as she says herself, was a small place for her big dreams.
“I worked in the Kosovo Philharmonic for four years but that was not enough for me because I definitely wanted to perform at the opera house and unfortunately, there is no interview that I do not say, that Kosovo still does not have an opera house. I understand that we are a post-war country and we need time for development, but I believe that the time has come to do something in this direction.“, She says.
Consequently, she says, young people who choose this direction in Kosovo must have a lot of patience.
“I know that in a country like Kosovo it is very easy to be disappointed, I also had difficult, difficult, depressive moments where I said I would change direction at all because it does not work. But again as if I had something here in my ear that said no, you should not give up. So I wish that even those young people who have talent here have something to tell them not to give up because there are solutions to everything. The operatic world, especially in Germany, has room for everyone. There every village has opera houses, let alone the big cities. Therefore, I wish that the issue of visas is resolved with us so that these young people have the opportunity to travel to audition.“, Says Mrs. Kajtazi.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire Elbenita Kajtazi 2020 program was canceled. But as the situation improves, she will soon have appearances on various world opera scenes. In her plans is the first appearance after many years in Kosovo, in September within the Remusica festival.