South West Music has an accomplished new general manager in Michael Bakrnčev (pronounced Bah-kahn-chev).
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And he is well-prepared for the many parts of his role at the regional music organisation, and to help guide it through its next steps.
Michael arrived in Deniliquin on Friday, September 20, got the keys to his Deniliquin residence and was straight into a meeting that day.
While he’s been busy settling in with lots of meetings, music and travelling around the region, Michael has now spent three weekends in Deni getting to different events and has been warmly welcomed to the community.
Now settled and working in his office at the conservatorium at 241 Cressy St - the historic bank building - Michael’s career experience in luxury property development is to be an asset to South West Music.
In his role as the new general manager, he said he has been put in charge of overseeing and delivering the $4.3 million creative capital works infrastructure project to create a music and performance hub and cultural precinct for the region.
“I’m helping to deliver ‘the build’.
“It’s all about doing it for the community and what the community want to see, which is funded by Create New South Wales.”
Michael also has a comprehensive musical background.
He is an award-winning composer with a Bachelor of Music (Honours 1st Class) from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and a Master of Music (Honours 1st Class) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
His compositions have been performed across Australia and overseas, including his trio for clarinet, viola and piano, a self-portrait in music.
Michael said he was fortunate to be able to keep composing, and it ties well into helping him in his role as general manager.
“I’m very fortunate that when the board came to accepting applicants for the position that I would be able to continue my craft and develop my skills as a composer.
“As my wife said to me, if you aren’t able to work on your art as an artist, you wither away.”
If that wasn’t enough strings to his bow, Michael is a few units away from his second master’s degree in teaching, and he has been studying a range of successful teaching methods and the processes behind them.
With experience across a wide range of areas, Michael is keen to bring his expertise to South West Music.
“There is so much talent here, and high calibre multi instrumentalist teachers.
“My job will also be to get a gauge for and prepare for upcoming concerts, and other new or different initiatives.
“In my time here so far, I’ve spoken with South West Music members who have said to me at stages things have been mismanaged.
“Saying that there is already a very positive environment here. My focus is to build up the culture, foster that positive environment that educators, students and parents or carers are supported with lesson planning and assessments, recitals and all have that supported lesson journey.”
With a broad range of referees, Michael said they all remarked how well suited he is for this role in Deniliquin.
“They said this is the perfect role and a unicorn role for me, and the timing couldn’t have been better.
“Having young children really puts things into perspective, and I really value the quality of life and lifestyle here in Deniliquin.”
Michael and his family have made the move to Deni from Reservoir, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
“People have been very friendly and incredibly inviting. Even at Papa Rich Noodles - they already know my order and are giving suggestions about what I should order next, which never happened in Melbourne.
“Also, just the difference between Melbourne traffic lights, traffic and commute to here; we can see the stars, as well as so much high quality musical talent here.”
“Melbourne is fuelled by coffee and anxiety. We wanted to raise our kids away from some of that, and anyway, Melbourne is only three hours away to visit. I’m so excited about what’s ahead here.”
Michael said the South West Music zone is 85,000km², which is bigger than the size of Austria, but he is looking forward to “shooting for the stars” with his enthusiasm, knowledge and a talented team behind him.