Pangbourne College Organist in Residence Mr Andrej Ivanovic has
prestigiously been offered a scholarship to read music at the University of
Oxford.
The three-year Organ Scholarship at St. Peter’s College is
conditional on him achieving an A grade at German A Level next summer. However,
Mr Ivanovic has already attained As in Classics and Music at A Level at the
College in August 2017.
Mr Ivanovic, who joined the College in the Lower Sixth Form in 2015
from his home in Belgrade, Serbia, certainly now has enormous motivation to
realise his ambition.
He said: “It has been a childhood dream of mine to live in
England and study at Oxford. It would mean an awful lot to me, to say the
least. I never thought anyone from my family would have the opportunity to
pursue something like this. My parents are ecstatic that I have the offer from
Oxford.”
Mr Ivanovic first started playing the piano when he was ‘eight
or nine’. What is more clear is his defining memories of listening to music
growing up.
Mr Ivanovic, who had not played the organ prior to Pangbourne,
said: “I remember listening to my father’s old cassette tapes when I was a
child. That helped me develop a strong affection broadly for music. I learnt
that music has the power to make people’s lives better. Then, when I had the
opportunity to play the organ here, it completely solidified what I want to do
with my life: read music and study the organ.”
If everything goes to plan, what are his ambitions after Oxford?
He said: “I have a passion for teaching myself one day. Before
that, I would love to explore being an organist in a cathedral before moving
into teaching. It is great now to have this opportunity to spend a year here as
Organist in Residence. It is demanding but is definitely fun. When I am playing
the organ, I certainly need to watch the conductor very closely.”
How has he found the transition from leaving the Upper Sixth in
July 2017 to joining the College teaching staff two short months later in
September?
“It has been a strange thing to become used to,” he said. “Many
students here still see me as being one of them. But I am very aware of the
line I have crossed and that current pupils and students cannot cross.”
How has the College helped him on the road to achieving his
dream of one day attending Oxford?
He said: “Pangbourne has really helped me learn to organise my
life, because days are busy here and they can be intense. Further, the College
has taught me to respect my peers. Pangbourne is a small school, but that
allows you to get to know who everybody is at the College and how all those
relationships together make the organisation work as a whole.”
Mr Ivanovic added: “I feel incredibly fortunate, privileged and
happy to have had the opportunity to come here. I realise that not everyone has
these kind of opportunities.”
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