SPCM’s 2018-19 Artists-in-Residence, Andrea Myers, flute instructor, and Milena Petkovic, guitar.
 
Both Andrea’s and Milena’s choices of instrument were inspired by their sisters, but in opposite ways: Andrea started out taking piano as a child, but, because her sister was also taking piano, she decided she didn’t want to anymore! Her parents insisted she choose a sport or another instrument and, while digging around her parent’s musical items, she found her mom’s old flute from high school and immediately felt a connection to the instrument. She started to feel dizzy at her first lesson, but she was so excited that she didn’t want to tell her teacher and nearly fell off her chair—but she also fell in love with the flute and her parents never had to bug her to get her to practice.
 
One of Milena’s biggest influences as a child was her older sister, who liked the guitar. Their father often sang at home, while Milena played along on a keyboard, and her elementary school music teacher recognized her musical talent and encouraged her to apply to music school. When she was accepted, her sister’s affection for the guitar inspired her to choose it as her instrument. She still has the first guitar her parents bought for her, and its nice silver case, at home. When she isn’t playing, Milena loves traveling—she returns to Serbia, where she is originally from, every summer, and enjoys other trips whenever she can.
 
Milena is off to Bulgaria this week, for the GuitarArt Festival, where she is a finalist in the festival’s international competition and will perform on the final day of the festival.
 
In addition to her classical performances, Andrea enjoys opportunities to perform live music for dance, having participated in two Minnesota Fringe Festival shows, one with tap dancers and the other with Flamenco dancers. She’ll also appear in the SPCM Coffee Concert “French Impressions” on January 9, 2019, where she hopes to see lots of friendly SPCM faces!