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Milos Karadaglic: From Montenegro to the world stage

Milos Karadaglic took his fate into his own hands when he decided to leave Montenegro at 16 to study classical guitar in London. He is now an international star and he is in Australia for his first national tour.

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2 min read

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Updated

By Michelle Hanna

Source: SBS


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From a country with no tradition of classical guitar, a young Montenegrin boy had a big dream to play on stages around the world.

Rising against the odds, Milos Karadaglic is now an international star of classical guitar and is in Australia for his first national tour.

"I really, really couldn't play any football and I wasn't happy about it, so I had to find something I was good at," Milos Karadaglic told SBS.

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He found what he was good at when he came across a broken guitar in his family home.

"For many years I played that guitar, even though it wasn't an appropriate guitar, but at that time our country had more important things to worry about".

When Montenegro was surrounded by conflict in the late '90s, he made a bold decision to leave to pursue a career.

"When I was 16, I decided to take my fate in my own hands, and I heard that the Royal Academy of Music in London was the best place to study classical music. There was a thing which said you could send in an audition tape and I recorded myself without telling anyone," he said.

He was accepted, and after studying he had a fast rise to the top.

He has won several prizes including being named this year's Breakthrough Artist at the Classical BRIT Award and his recordings have been number one in the US, UK and Australian classical charts.

After an international tour taking in North America, Europe and Asia, Milos has arrived in Australia for his first national concert series.

He will be performing Latino songs -- the music he first heard all those years ago in Montenegro.

"Now when I go back to Montenegro, I see that the classical guitar department is bursting with students. Everybody wants to do guitar and everybody thinks it's cool, and I'm very proud of that".

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