Sabrina Vlaškalić ( sr, Сабрина Влашкалић; 18 January 1989 – 17 January 2019) was a Serbian classical guitarist. Unusually gifted, she saw music and numbers as colours and she was compared to the French child prodigy

Ida Presti Ida Presti (31 May 1924 – 24 April 1967) was a French classical guitarist and composer. She first came to prominence as a child prodigy, before maturing into what Alice Artzt has called "the greatest guitarist of the 20th century, and possibly ...

. By 23 she was teaching music at a conservatory and a university.

Life

Vlaškalić was born in Belgrade in 1989. She started playing guitar when she was seven but she also showed a talent for maths and physics which she credited to her

synesthesia Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who rep ...

. She associated colours with numbers. She competed in maths and physics competitions. Vlaskalic perceived music-color associations. To her, C major was red; F major was brown. She went on to study with at the music high school Vatroslav Lisinski. She studied further with Professor Srdjan Tosic at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade. She left Serbia to study with

Zoran Dukic Zoran ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран) is a common South Slavic name, the masculine form of Zora, which means ''dawn, daybreak''. The name is especially common in Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia and a little in Slovenia. Notable people with this given na ...

in the Netherlands at the

Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

. Dukic did not teach her guitar skills but to listen. He would have her listen and then imitate the performances of

Julian Bream Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...

. She gained her master's degree in 2012. She won many awards and was compared to Presti. Vlaškalić went on to teach in Groningen at the

Prince Claus Conservatoire The Prince Claus Conservatoire ( nl, Prins Claus Conservatorium) is one of the nine conservatoires in the Netherlands. It is a constituent of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. Students normally specialize in one instrument with ...

at the

Hanze University of Applied Sciences Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen (Hanze UAS, nl, Hanzehogeschool Groningen) is the largest technical & vocational university in the northern Netherlands and is located in Groningen. Hanze UAS offers various Bachelor and Master pr ...

. At 23 she was unusually young to hold such a position. She would colour in her music scores for her students in different colours using her own synesthesia as a guide. She said that she believed that many could spot the associations of colour if they could see the "language within a language". Vlaškalić died in a traffic accident in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

in January 2019. She was hit by a lorry whilst cycling on the day before her 30th birthday.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vlaškalić, Sabrina 1989 births 2019 deaths Musicians from Belgrade Serbian women guitarists Classical guitarists Serbian expatriates in the Netherlands Road incident deaths in the Netherlands 21st-century classical musicians Cycling road incident deaths