The book “The Colors of My Music,” written by Snezhana Anastasova Chadikovska and Marko Kolovski, was presented last night as part of the “Ohrid Summer” festival. It is a captivating story of the life and creative journey of Snezhana Anastasova Chadikovska, an esteemed pianist, piano pedagogue, music journalist, animator, and organizer. Through her memories and context in which her extensive opus blossomed and flourished, Anastasova Chadikovska, along with the musicologist Marko Kolovski, who observes the vastness from the sidelines, attempting the seemingly impossible, have created a unique work that appeals to every reader.
Addressing the book promotion, Nataša Popović, the director of the National Institution “Ohrid Summer” and also a piano professor, emphasized that Professor Anastasova Chadikovska has left a profound mark in the history of the “Ohrid Summer” festival. According to Director Popović, Chadikovska’s pedagogical work is impressive, and her ideas about music, art, and the joy of living are a constant source of inspiration in everyday activities.
“In my life, I had many examples from which I learned about the profession, but also about life itself. I had the great honor of being a student of our Zhani, and that, for me, is an invaluable and immense experience. She was a strict professor, but from her, I learned a lot about the art of playing the piano and the history of music. Zhani is a treasury,” said Popović.
According to one of the promoters, Alexander Trajkovski, a music theorist, researcher, pedagogue, and journalist, the book “The Colors of My Music” represents a significant step forward in enriching Macedonian musicology and literature in the field of culture.
This work is primarily a rare occurrence in our music publishing, both in its structure and conceptual framework, and then in its content aspects. It is not common for a Macedonian musician to approach autobiographical representation, where they will present their life and artistic path in the most original, authentic, and genuine manner while mastering the issues it covers. Thus, the focus is placed on the most significant and essential life points. Within the entire structured framework, the contribution of musicologist Marko Kolovski holds special importance as his insight into the character and work of Chadikovska provides a literary glaze to the whole reading.
As the title itself suggests, “The Colors of My Music,” the life and career of Snezhana Anastasova Chadikovska represent a spectrum of various colors. The hues of her music, with all their nuances, transitions, and contrasts, are accumulated in every segment of her musical activity throughout these years. Once the book is read, the title not only justifies its presence on the cover but, without a doubt, creates the impression that it is the only and most appropriate decision to vividly summarize everything that happens within these 230 pages, emphasized Trajkovski.
Promoter Ilinde Petrushevska, a filmologist, film critic, film historian, and essayist, addressed the audience both from a professional and personal perspective.
“My involvement in promoting this exceptional book as a filmologist was primarily to draw attention to a television series that had all the attributes of a film, a long-lasting marital connection between film and music, which is the stories from the piano. That is the direct reason for my participation in the promotion. However, there is another reason, and that is the closeness of the two families, the long-lasting friendship. So, I am torn between my profession and my privacy,” said Petrushevska.
Musicologist, journalist, and publicist Marko Kolovski, speaking at the promotion, said that the book “The Colors of My Music” is special, just as the personality and work of Snezhana Anastasova-Chadikovska are special.
The writing of my part of this, in many ways, special monograph was an exceptional challenge for me. I have known and been familiar with Chadikovska for a long time. We have collaborated on many projects, and I have followed her artistic and creative growth, writing about it. I have also had insights into her pedagogical activities, and some of her remarkable achievements in that area have been observed or supported by me, like the significant three-volume edition “COMPENDIUM MUSICUM.” Not to mention her journalistic work, the multitude of books, articles, reviews, scripts, and more. Now, if someone wonders: how can it be a “special challenge” when you have insights into all or almost all areas of her activities in advance, then the answer would be that precisely that, such a multidimensional creative life and, at the same time, the heights reached in each of her endeavors, which are significant achievements in themselves, meant that the integral and elevations within it were a kind of task to be presented appropriately, said Kolovski.
The book is a compilation of three parts of the author’s life and creative path, all three equally important and dear to her.
“I wanted to create not so much my autobiography but rather a biography of the time and institutions with which I collaborated and lived. I wouldn’t be able to single out which part I liked the most. Marko Kolovski is an incredibly thorough and inspiring collaborator, and I think his essay-like presentation of forty pages, which he dedicated to me, is a great treasure. I hope that readers will also enjoy it,” said author Anastasova-Chadikovska, who was proclaimed the honorary president of the Music Youth of Macedonia during the promotion of her work last night.
The cover of the book “The Colors of My Music,” published by the Music Publishing Center (MIC), is visually enriched with the painting “Hypostasis of Life” by the visual artist Venijamin Hadzi-Naumov. The event was moderated by Milcho Jovanoski, the director of the National Institution “Grigor Prlicev” Library in Ohrid, journalist, and publicist. The host of the event was Natasha Poposka-Karche, a painter, artist, and dentist.
