Successful career start
Two students of Prof. Matthias Bäcker's oboe class in Weimar have won solo positions in orchestras
In the face of great competition, it is a great challenge and an achievement to prevail in orchestral auditions. Two students from Prof. Matthias Bäcker's top class at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar succeeded in doing just that.
On the one hand, the Croatian Master's student Marta Meštrović won a permanent position as principal oboist of the Croatian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Zagreb. On the other hand, Spanish-born Master's student Alberto Rodríguez Vázquez won his audition as coordinated principal oboist of the Hof Symphony Orchestra, also in a permanent position.
"I am very happy to be able to play in my home town again," says Marta Meštrović. "I had a very nice time in Weimar and I especially thank my professor Matthias Bäcker for his patience and belief in me. I will complete my Master's degree in February and then start directly in Zagreb. I still have a rehearsal period ahead of me, but I'm really looking forward to making music with my new colleagues and seeing familiar faces in the audience," says the 25-year-old oboist.
Her fellow student Alberto Rodríguez Vázquez adds: "I am very happy to be able to play in a professional orchestra here in Germany. I also have to thank my professor Matthias Bäcker for all the help and trust he has put in me. My contract starts on 30 December. The rehearsal period will last one and a half years, during which I hope to have a lot of fun making music with my new colleagues and a new audience," says the 27-year-old.
Marta Meštrović, born in 1997 in Zagreb (Croatia), began her music education in 2003. At the age of 17, she began studying at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb in the class of Prof. Branko Mihanović. In 2019, she moved to the Weimar University of Music to study for a Master's degree with Prof. Matthias Bäcker. Performances as a soloist took her to the Weimarhalle with the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra in July 2022 as part of the 62nd Weimar Master Classes, as well as to the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra at the Vatroslav Lisinski Hall in Zagreb in 2019.
Furthermore, she performed as a soloist within several concert series in Croatia. She has won numerous prizes at national and international music competitions. Marta Meštrović was an intern with the Vogtland Philharmonie Greiz/Reichenbach from March 2021 to June 2022. She gained further experience in chamber music and symphonic ensembles in Croatia, Slovenia and Germany.
Alberto Rodríguez Vázquez was born in Plasencia (Spain) in 1995. He began his musical education in 2010. In 2018, he completed his Bachelor's degree in oboe at the "Musikene" Conservatory in Donostia/San Sebastián in the class of Professors Christian Wetzel and Laura Marcos. He is currently studying for a Master's degree at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar with Prof. Matthias Bäcker.
He has gained orchestral experience with the Orquesta Joven de Extremadura, the Orquesta de Extremadura, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao and the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. In Germany he has played with the Vogtland Philharmonie Greiz/Reichenbach, the Erzgebirgische Philharmonie Aue and the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach. Since September 2022 he has been a member of the Dual Orchestra Academy Thuringia in the Jena Philharmonic.
[25 November 2022]