Biljana Gorunović was born in 1968 in Belgrade. She studied piano from age 6 at the Mokranjac Music School where she completed her elementary and secondary studies in 1984 as the top student, receiving a prize from the Smiljka Uzelac Fund. While an elementary and secondary school student she won the Republic Competition first prize three times and the National Competition second prize three times. In 1985 she began her university studies in Moscow at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, completing her undergraduate degree with prof. Larisa Mohelj and her graduate degree with prof. Gleb Axelrod. She acquired Master of Arts degree under prof. Jokut Mihailovic at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in 1997. She successfully defended her PhD thesis at the same faculty in 2016.
Biljana Gorunović is a longtime member of the Orpheus Musical Youth Ensemble of Belgrade. She has participated as a soloist and as a member of various chamber ensembles in numerous concerts in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, Čačak, Valjevo, Sabac, Loznica, Pozarevac, Vrsac, Vrbas, Panćevo, Kovin, Nova Varos, Zrenjanin, Sombor, Budva, Herceg Novi, and Bar. She has performed with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Bojan Sudjić, with the JNA orchestra and conductor Angela Surev in the series "Youth for Youth", with strings of Saint George and conductor Peter Ivanović marking the 120th anniversary of the Kolarac Concert Hall, the 65th anniversary of the opening of the Great Hall, and the 60th anniversary of the Radio Orchestra.
She has performed with the Radio Television Serbia Symphony Orchestra under conductor Stanko Sepić, with clarinetist Aleksandar Tasić as well as with the Glinka State String quartet from Moscow.
In Russia and the former USSR Biljana Gorunović held a series of solo concerts (Moscow, Kostroma, Dnipropetrovsk, Perm, Omsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Samara, Saransk). It was there she also began her collaboration with the concert singers Lyudmila Ivanov in Moscow and Lyudmila Gros, Mirjana Savić, Jelena Vlahović, Katarina Jovanović in Serbia. She has also performed in Greece, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Norway, Russia, and Denmark.
She was awarded an honorary diploma at the Maria Canals International Competition in Barcelona in 1991 and was a laureate of the 2nd International Chopin Competition in Goettingen (Germany) in 1993. There her performance at the Gala winners concert was recorded on compact disc.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Miloje Milojević, she premiered the cycle "Cameo," op. 51, and then recorded it on a PGP compact disc along with "Miniatures" and "Melodies and Rhythms from the Balkans" by the same composer. The critics ranked her NIN concert dedicated to the works of Miloje Milojević as the best concert in 1999. Since 1994 she has been a member of the Association of Musical Artists of Serbia, who awarded her the prize for best concert of the year in 2006.
Biljana Gorunović is a dedicated pedagogue employed as a full professor at the Art Academy of the University of Novi Sad, where she teaches piano and piano pedagogy/methodics. She was Department Head in period 2012-2018.
Daniel Rivera was born in 1952 in Rosario (Argentina), in a family strictly connected to the music world: his mother was an opera singer, his father Hector was a pianist and a composer (well renowned in Argentina and in the United States in the late fifties) and his aunt Alicia, was also a pianist. Together they helped him in the discover of the piano at an early age. He came to Italy in 1973 with a scholarship obtained by winning the “V. Scaramuzza” prize, organized by the National Fund for Arts and the Mozarteum Argentino. In Buenos Aires he attended a master class held by Sergio Lorenzi. After achieving the Italian Diploma with the result of 10 cum laude and a mention of honor at the “Cherubini” conservatory in Florence, he completed his studies with Alessandro Specchi in Florence and with Ludwig Hoffman in Munich. Within the next few years he participated in several international competitions like the “F. Busoni” prize, the “Dino Ciani”, the “Ettore Pozzoli” the “Rina Sala Gallo”, the “Cata Monti” (prize devoted to contemporary music), the “Beethoven” in Wien, the “Liszt- Bartok” in Budapest and the “Paloma O’Shea” in Santander. He was awarded two second places and three first absolute prizes and a vast number of special mentions. In 2002, at the “Festival di Musica dall’Europa” in Volpedo (AL), he presented, in a world premiere performance, the transcription of the “Sagra della Primavera” by Stravinsky, a transcription made by Sam Raphling that he personally revised and completed. This interesting and unique performance obtained a great success during his tours in South America and Italy. The argentinian pianist Martha Argerich invited personally for play this transcription at the prestigious Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano in 2009. Since that time, the link with the legendary Argentine pianist, turns into an intense artistic collaboration. With Martha Argerich, Rivera comes in piano duo (two pianos and piano 4 hands) in the Teatro Ponchielli of Cremona, Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Catanzaro’s Politeama Theatre, Teatro Nuovo Giovanni of Udine, Piano Festival of Pietrasanta and Ascoli Piceno up the memorable concert on 19 and 20 October 2012, at the Teatro El Circulo of Rosario (Argentina) which will be released four C. with live recordings, Teatro Petrarca of Arezzo etc. The critics define him “Lisztian interpreter for excellence”. He is a highly esteemed pianist and he has performed in the most important theatres in Italy and abroad, among which are the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Sala Philarmonia in Kiev, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Park Musik Hall in Dallas, the Musikvereinin Wien and many others. His natural talent and virtuosity allowed him to face any opera in the pianistic repertoire, from classics to contemporary music. His repertoire consists of more than 50 concerts for piano and orchestra, performed in tours with Italian and foreign orchestras. It is worth mentioning the 2nd concert by Bartok, the 2nd by Rachmaninoff, performed with the l’Orchestra Sinfonica Nacional of Buenos Aires, the 3rd by Rachmaninoff with the Kiev State Symphonic Orchestra, the 2nd by Prokofieff with the Filarmonica del Teatro Colon,, the 3rd by Prokofieff with the Dallas Simphony Orchestra and the 2nd by Chopin with the l’Orchestra della Radio Televisione Svizzera Italiana. He has been the first pianist in italy, after Carlo Vidusso, to have performed live the complete series of the Liszt’s Trascendental Studies (IRCO 282), that he later recorded with Irco Cosentino in Buenos Aires, in additional to other Cds with Lisztian transcriptions (IRCO 228). His memorable recordings include Beethoven’s “Hammerklaviersonate”, “Aroldo in Italia” together with Aldo Bennici (Ricordi,) as well as his live recording of Boulez’s “Premiere Sonate”. He also recorded for RAI (National Italian Television), RTSI, for Suisse Romande (absolute premiere of Sonata n.2 of Rodrigo Asturias) and for the Colonia Radio. Currently, he teaches at the “Istituto di Alta Cultura Musicale “P.Mascagni” in Livorno, where he holds a piano faculty chair and at the “Aimart Accademia Internazionale Musica e Arte” in Roma. Is now very active in teaching; frequently invited to give courses and piano master classes in Italy and abroad, as the UNR Rosario (AR), Conservatory of Udine, Parma, La Spezia, Lemmeinstitut of Leuven (BE), Holiday Musical Summer of Urbino, Festival Internazionale della Franchigena (Lucca), Festival Internazionale Duchi D’Acquaviva (Teramo) etc..
Croatian pianist and pedagogue Nenad Kačar was born in 1965 in Zagreb.
He has been involved with music since his early childhood, and as a five-year-old, he had his first public performance. During his schooling through he sensitized the public through numerous concerts, and gets noticed which, in return, made it possible to to obtain prestigious national scholarships.
He studied and graduated at the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of a prominent Croatian pianist and professor, academician Jurica Muraja. He continued his training with numerous pianists, E. Timakin, M. Lorković A. Preger, R. Kerer, M. Farre and I. Žukov.
He has performed in almost all major music centers of Croatia as well as in numerous European countries (Slovenia, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Russia, etc.). He recorded for various domestic and foreign radio and TV stations. In the field of chamber music, he has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, conductors, ensembles and orchestras.
Since 2017 he has collaborated in piano duo with pianist Nataša Mitrović.
In March 2019, at the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb, he performed with the Croatian Chamber Orchestra and conductor Diana Tchobanov, also performing, with great success, the solo part of the Mozart Concert K.V.466 which will be released on CD.
Since 1987, he has been engaged in pedagogical activities and, with results, he presents the range of Croatian piano pedagogy. Regularly, his students are winners of numerous competitions, winning first prizes at domestic and international competitions (more than 200), performing at a number of well-publicized performances and concerts (over 540) and participating in media events in a dozen European countries (Russia, USA, Italy , Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia).
Particular emphasis should be given to the performances of his students at the world famous halls at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Rachmaninov Concert Hall of the Moscow State Conservatoire, the Vienna Music Store, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Auditorium Parco della Musica, the Teatro Studio in Rome, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Casa di Riposo G. Verdi in Milan, the church of St. Sofia in Ohrid, a church. St. Donata in Zadar, KD Vatroslav Lisinski in Zagreb and others.
He is a longtime chief of the piano department of the Academy of Music Zlatko Baloković. He is a mentor to numerous young pianist pedagogues until they are prepared for the professional state exam.
He has held a series of professional seminars, masterclasses and lectures in Croatia, Europe and Russia. He was invited as a member of the jury for many international piano concerts.
He publishes professional works in the field of piano pedagogy and piano methodology. He is a member of EPTA Croatia and the HDGPP Association. He has been a guest lecturer to the students of the 4th and 5th year of the Music Academy in Zagreb, within the framework of Pedagogical Practice Crouse, since the school year of 2009/10.
Based on the results achieved, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and AZOO nominate him and promoted him into a mentor-professor in 2011 and in 2016 as professor advisor.
His artistic pedagogical work was rewarded with numerous awards.
Described by The New York Times as an “astonishingly good pianist,” Tatjana Rankovich has performed throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, Central and South America. Committed to continuously expanding the boundaries of the traditional repertoire, constantly searching for and discovering new contemporary music and devoting her interest to performing rarely heard works of the past, Tatjana Rankovich is the first pianist ever to play the First, Second and Third Piano Concertos of Nicolas Flagello, recording them with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and the Slovak Philharmonic, which were released to unanimous praise and chosen for one of the five “best of the year” recordings numerous times by Fanfare magazine. These premiere recordings were described as “splendid” and “superb.” In his review (Classical Net, 2008), of the Naxos/Flagello Piano Concerto CD, Steve Schwartz writes: “… pianist Tatjana Rankovich, one of my favorite performers, who routinely takes risks on unknown repertoire. She undoubtedly knows like the back of her well-muscled hand the Russian school of piano writing Flagello makes use of. She plays with fiery power. At the end of the recording I, without giving it a thought, stood up. Imagine what she would do to a live audience.” She has recorded many other acclaimed discs for Phoenix USA, Naxos, Albany, Artek, Dezil, Citadel, and most recently, a highly praised 3-disk set of live recordings for IBOX. The review by Jerry Dubins of Fanfare Magazine (October, 2010) reads: “My long time favorite recording (of the Shostakovich Piano Concerto #1) has been the one with Argerich….But I think this version with Rankovich now takes pride of place. It’s quite stunning...”
Born in Belgrade, Serbia, a Fulbright Scholar and a laureate of numerous awards, she graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad before coming to the USA, where she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School and her Doctorate from Rutgers University. Her teachers and mentors were of the legendary Leschetizky and Liszt traditions of piano performance: Arbo Valdma, Josef Raieff, Clifton Matthews, Claude Frank, Daniel Epstein and Benjamin Kaplan. In 2008, Tatjana Rankovich was honored with a prestigious State Award, “Golden Badge,” which is awarded annually by the Serbian Ministry of Diaspora in Belgrade. More recently, she was a recipient of the prestigious Irene Alm Memorial Prize for excellence in performance and scholarly research at Rutgers University for her thesis: “Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto: the unpublished revisions and its Doppelgänger chamber versions.”
Besides her busy performing and teaching career, Tatjana Rankovich is affiliated with a non-profit organization Performance Wellness, which is dedicated to treating many of the psychological and behavioral problems (such as stage fright) that afflict musicians and other performers. She often leads Performance Wellness seminars and workshops at colleges and universities worldwide and she holds an Associate Professor position at The New School University in New York City, where she teaches a Performance Wellness Seminar course every fall semester.
Tatjana Rankovich has adjudicated at many international and national piano competitions including at the prestigious IKIF – International Keyboard Institute and Festival in NYC. A devoted educator, a frequent guest artists and lecturer, she holds a Visiting Professor of Piano position at the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) established by the United Nations, with headquarters in Belgrade. Committed to teaching students of all levels, she is on the Piano Faculty in the Preparatory Division at the Mannes College of Music in NYC. A Founding Executive and Artistic director of the Music & More SummerFest in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina – a raising star among international music festivals, Rankovich has most recently stepped into a position as Chairman and CEO of The Music and More Foundation, a non-profit organization in NYC, which is devoted to music education and the provision of scholarships for music students through education, performance and research projects.
Established as the formost pianist of his generation, Vladimir Milošević has been proclaimed the Winner of the 2013 Rising Artist Concerto Presentation by the New York Concert Artists & Associates and he featured with NYCA Symphony Orchestra in 2014 at Merkin Concert Hall - Kaufman Music Center in New York City.
So far his performances were lauded by the critics in many European centers, in venues such as Salle Cortot in Paris, Steinway Hall in London, Konzerthaus Berlin, Teatro Tivoli in Porto, Foerster Hall in Prague, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Konzerthaus Vienna, Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv and also in Milan, Rome, Bari, Venezia, Rennes, Nice, Lyon etc. As a winner of the competition Concerti in Villa in Vicenza, Italy, he got his debut concert at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York in 2005, and was subsequently featured within the concert cycle Velikani muzičke scene – Rising Stars of the Kolarac Hall in Belgrade.
In 2007 he toured South Africa where he performed in major concert venues such as City Hall and Baxter theatre in Cape Town, Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg among others. He toured Brazil (Porto Alegre, Pelotas, Sao Jose dos Campos) and Morocco (Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakesh) and Australia performing recitals and giving masterclasses in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. Recently, he was Schwartz Artist in Residence at the Emory University in Atlanta as well as a lecturer at the Global Summer Institute of Music in Richmond, where he performed as soloist and chamber musician both at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC and Richmond. He also performed and gave masterclasses at the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music in Hangzhou, China.
He performed at the biggest classical music festivals such BEMUS, NIMUS, LEDAMUS, Bolshoi Festival in Mećavnik; Ohridsko leto in N. Macedonia, Arsana festival in Slovenia; Zagreb Summer Festival Večeri na Griču, Festival Marco Polo in Croatia; Contemporary Piano Faces Festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia etc. He collaborated with many saught after musicians such as violinists Stefan Milenković and Roman Simović, cellists Dragan Đorđević, Tim Hugh, Dmitry Prokofiev, flutist Janos Balint, to name the few. At the Semaines musicales Festival in Crans-Montana (Switzerland) he performed in piano duo with Michel Dalberto, after which he was invited to the renowned festival Les pianos de nouveau siècle in Lille (France) where he performed as one of soloists in Mozart’s Concerto for three pianos together with Michel Dalberto and Jean-Bernard Pommier and the Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne.
He won several international competitions in France (Nikolai Rubinstein Paris, Rencontre internationale de piano au Mée-sur-Seine, TIM Marseille) and third prize at the Concours Animato in Paris. At the Southern Highlands International Piano Competition in Australia, he also won third prize as well as the special prize for the best performance of a major Romantic work and the audience prize. He won fourth prizes at the International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (Poland) and at the International Piano Competition Ciudad do Porto in Portugal. He was the semifinalist of large international competitions such as Clara Haskil in Switzerland, Cleveland International Piano Competition in Ohio (USA), and the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland.
As a soloist, he has performed with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, RTS Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Prague Opera, Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra, Cape Town and Johannesbourg Philharmonic Orchestras, Bleomfontein and Durban Symphony Orchestras, Porto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico, Wollongong Symphony Orchestra, Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra and has collaborated with the conductors such as Anton Nanut, Darinka Matić-Marović, Biljana Radovanović, János Fürst, Martinho Lutero, Nurhan Arman, Emmanuel Siffert, Ori Leshman, Omri Hadari, Romolo Gessi, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Carlos Alvarado etc. He made recordings for radio and TV channels in Japan, France, Brazil, Poland, South Africa, Canada.
Vladimir Milošević started to play piano in his native town Leskovac, studing under Prof. Mila Veljković. Graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade where he studied with Prof. Nevena Popović, and subsequently finished postgraduate studies in the same class. He continued specialist studies in Italy at the renowned academy Incontri col Maestro in Imola, with Lazar Berman and Michel Dalberto. He also took courses from Naum Starkman, François-René Duchâble, Zoltán Kocsis. Vladimir Milošević is Full Professor of the Piano department at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.
Strašo Temkov is one of the most successful Macedonian musicians of his generation, whose numerous activities strengthen the tradition of art music in Macedonia and promote interpretation on wind instruments that are characteristic of the Macedonian climate. Music became his life commitment in his early youth, and he was later formed as a great music performer. He graduated from the Faculty of Music in Skopje, and completed his postgraduate studies at the Pancho Vladigerov Academy of Music in Sofia. He collaborated with famous European and world artists during his studies. He has won numerous awards at national and federal competitions for young musicians. Since 1991, he has been playing in the Macedonian Philharmonic and has become a recognizable symbol of this institution: he regularly performs impressive works of world orchestral literature as the first flutist of the Philharmonic. He has performed with numerous orchestras, among which are the above-mentioned Macedonian Philharmonic, the French-American Chamber Orchestra, the Macedonian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, the Amoroso Chamber Orchestra and others. He is a member of the renowned Macedonian Wind Quintet and other chamber ensembles. Strašo Temkov performs at famous festivals in the country and abroad: Ohrid Summer Festival, Autumn Music Festival, Skopje Summer Festival, Days of Macedonian Music Festival, Heracles Evenings, and is one of the few Macedonian artists who performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. The repertoire that he performs includes a wide selection of compositions written from the Baroque to the present day, and his aspiration to promote new works - both of the world and domestic flute literature - has been noted. He released two CDs in collaboration with pianist Marija Vršková. In addition to artistic activity, he is also active as a pedagogue. He teaches at the Faculty of Music Arts in Skopje, and he is a mentor to students in undergraduate and master studies. The results of his pedagogical activity are obvious, his students win prestigious awards at competitions for young musicians, they have their own recitals and they play as soloists with orchestras. Strašo Temkov is also the founder of the Aulos Flute Quartet. He is a member of the jury of domestic and international competitions.
Đuro Pete (Serbia, Croatia) completed elementary and high school of music in Osijek (Croatia) in the studio of Vjekoslav Burić. He embarked on his undergraduate studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (Serbia) in 1980 in the studio of Mihajlo Kelbli, graduating in 1984, and his master’s studies at the same institution under Nikola Srdić. He has taken part in master classes led by M. Arignon, J. Kotar and M. Bekavac, Z. Szatmari, B. Kovacs and W. Fuchs. As a student he won a number of prizes at clarinet competitions including the Second Prize at the Young Performing Artists of Yugoslavia Competition (Zagreb, Croatia, 1983), First Prize at the Vojvodina Province Students Competition (Novi Sad, Serbia 1981), First Prize at the State Competition of the (former) Yugoslavia (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1981), and First Prize at the Youth Festival (Knjaževac, Serbia). He has given numerous solo recitals and has performed as a soloist with the Pecs Youth Philharmonic Orchestra (Hungary), the Vojvodina Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Academy of Arts Chamber Orchestra. He served for a time as a clarinetist in the Orchestra of the Croatian National Theater in Osijek. He has made numerous recordings for radio and television stations in former Yugoslavia, and recorded a CD called "Classical music for children".
He began his career as a pedagogue at Music School Josip Slavenski in Novi Sad, and since 1987 has been employed full time at Isidor Bajić Music School. His students have won several dozen first prizes at national and international competitions and festivals, including first prizes and laureate titles at almost all of the clarinet competitions in Serbia. He regularly takes part in master classes, in the mountain Gucevo as a professor. The seminar brings together clarinetists of all ages, mainly from the region. He has served as an adjudicator and the president of the jury at the State Competition of Serbia, the Competition for Woodwind Instruments accros the country. He has organized a number of young clarinet players’ concerts throughout Voyvodina, with the aim of promoting and popularizing clarinet and classical music. He was awarded an Annual Prize by the Union of the Music and Ballet Schools of Serbia in 2010 for his pedagogical achievements. He maintains professional relationships with colleagues throughout Europe and the USA.
Miomir Simonovic has acquired his Bachelor’s and MA degrees at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade in the class of Prof. Tahir Kulenovic. During his studies, he won numerous awards at national and international competitions and was awarded the third prize at the 23rd Yugoslav competition for young artists in Zagreb in year 1989. He has attended masterclasses of eminent flutists such as Prof. Allain Marion and Prof. Raymond Guiot, and in year period 1987-1989 ,as a scholarship holder for the scientific and artistic youth Serbia, he attendens conservatory "Hector Berlioz" in Paris under the mentorship of Prof. Raymond Guiot.
He has held over fifty recitals in Belgrade and many other cities in Serbia, but also in Macedonia, France and Spain. He has performed as a soloist with Nis Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra RTS, the Serbian Army Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra "Amorosso".
As a pedagogue he deals since year 1987, first in the Music School "Jovan Bandur" in Pancevo, then in schools "Josip Slavenski" in Belgrade and "Zivorad Grbic" in Valjevo. During postgraduate studies was a demonstrator in Prof. Tahir Kulenovic's class. At the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade he has been employed since year 1997 as an assistant and now as a full professor in the artistic field Flute.
In its class so far has graduated 43 students, some of whom continue their education abroad, while others are teachers throughout Serbia and are the members of the orchestra (Belgrade Opera Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra RTS Orchestra chamber opera "Madlenianum").So far students from the class of Miomir Simonovic won over 80 awards at national and international competitions.
Miomir Simonovic is a permanent member of the flute choir "Belgrade siringa", with whom he had several concert appearances. A CD with music by Bach, Haydn and Mozart has been issued.
Associate professor in the artistic field of Clarinet, Faculty of Music in Belgrade
Ognjen Popović (1977) is a prominent clarinet player from Pančevo (Serbia). In 2001 he finished his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich as a student of professor Ulf Rodenhäuser. As a soloist he performed with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Radio Orchestra Valencia, the European Chamber Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic, St. George Strings, and others. He recorded CDs with the famous German ensemble Villa Musica and the Belgrade Philharmonic String Quartet. During the years he has cooperated with many orchestras, among others the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, the Symphonieorchester Passau, the Philharmonie der Nationen, the Maribor Festival Orchestra, and many more. He has been awarded with several prizes at competitions, including Jeunesse Musicales in Belgrade in 1997 and the Felix Mendelssohn competition in Berlin in 1998. In 2002 Ognjen Popovic was appointed solo clarinetist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the leader of the Balkan Chamber Academy ensemble and artistic director of the chamber music festival “Classic fest” in Pančevo. Since 2012 he teaches at the Belgrade Music Academy as a clarinet docent. In the same year he received his PhD in music art. He also gives master classes in Serbia, Germany, Spain, and Montenegro.
Renata Penezić is one of the most prominent Croatian music artists. She graduated in 1993 at the Music Academy in Ljubljana (Slovenia) in the class of Prof. Fedja Rupel. She has won several prizes at state competitions in Croatia and Slovenia. Already as the third student she became the solo flutist of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, which gave her an opportunity to work with numerous famous Croatian and international artists. As a recipient of German scholarship Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) she completed the post-graduate studies at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik in Cologne in the class of the renowned soloist and pedagogue Prof. Andras Adorjan. At this institution she also studied the transverse flute and the recorder. In 1997 she received her Master of Arts diploma with the highest grade. She attended master-courses in Great Britain and France (with Trevor Wye, Y. P. Artaud and A. Marion) and also those for early music and baroque ornamentation (with G. Höller). The repertoire of Renata Penezić is very wide and it embraces music from renaissance to the most contemporary compositions of solo, chamber, and orchestral repertoire. Beside being the solo flutist of the Zagreb Philharmonic, she has developed a rich chamber music activity playing with the well known Croatian and international artists and ensembles such as sopranos Nancy Argenta and Lidija Horvat – Dunjko, bariton Leo Nucci, violinists Chaterine Mackintosh, Anđelko Krpan and Marija Čepulić, guitarist Darko Petrinjak, oboist Branko Mihanović, bassoon player Knut Sonstevold, tuba player Krunoslav Babić, harpist Nicoletta Sanzin, harpsichordist Višnja Mažuran, pianist Katarina Krpan, Zagreb String Quartet, Zagreb Soloists, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, and ensemble Musica Viva. Renata Penezić performed at the reputable international festivals in Croatia (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Split Summer Festival, Varaždin Baroque Festival, etc.). She has made several CD-s and one of them (The Christmas Concert) won the Croatian annual award Porin in 2006. She regularly records for the Croatian Radio. Some of the leading Croatian composers wrote and dedicated to her their flute compositions. Along with her extensive performing career, Renata Penezić also successfully teaches at the Music Academy in Zagreb. So far her students have won first prizes at several competitions. She is regularly giving flute and chamber music master-classes in Croatia and Slovenia and has been a member of the jury at various competitions in Croatia and abroad.
Tomislav Špoljar has started to play trumpet at age 6. He finished Music Academy of the University of Zagreb. During his studies he attended numerous masterclasses of eminent trumpet players (Steuart, Tarr, Dokshitzer, Groth, Nilsson, Touvron, Vizzutti, Thibaud, André, Tarkövi, Agnas, Hardenberger...), and after his studies he took private lessons with T. Plog, P. Thibaud, G. Geiger, D. Baldwin and T. Reiner. He is constantly seeking for broadening trumpet repertoire so he is cooperating with numerous composers and has initiated a lot of new compositions wich are dedicated to him (E. Ewazen: Trio for trumpet, cello and piano, J. Stephenson: Trio „Croatian“ for trumpet, flute and piano, L. Saglie: Sonatine, A. Klobučar: March, S. Stojanović: Trio No. 9 for trumpet, violin and harpsichord, A. Belovari: Jazzapelo for trumpet, horn and piano, H. Wessman: Sonata for cornet…).
In 2008. he gave a New York premiere of E. Ewazen's Trio for trumpet, cello and piano at Juilliard School of Music and in 2014. he premiered the same piece with the trombone instead of cello (with James Lebens on trombone and Eric Ewazen on piano on tour in Romania). He also found a forgoten work Elevation Op. 71 for trumpet and organ by croatian composer who lived in USA B. Kunc. He promotes trumpet and brass instruments in Croatia since brass instruments in his homeland are not so popular. He initiated five trumpet studios aprooved by the ministry of culture. He is most active as a pedagougue but also is giving concerts and workshops (Minnesota-USA, Albania, Israel, Romania). He is seeked member of juries for various competitions (Croatia, Slovenia, Israel, USA, Serbia). He started and was an artistic director of concert cycle Heavy Metal dedicated to brass instruments in 2017. He started and is runing a brass festival in the city of Velika Gorica as an artistic director since 2007. www.vgbrass.com
Aleksandar Sedlar (1982) is one of the most promising and successful Serbian composers, whose works have been performed with great success in Europe, America, Australia and Japan, always with extremely positive reactions from both audiences and critics. He graduated in composition (2006) at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of prof. Vlastimir Trajković, as a student of the generation. In the same year, he received an award from the Stevan Hristić Foundation. He graduated from the Department of Conducting (2016) in the class of prof. Bojan Sudjic. He worked as an assistant and secretary within the Department of Composition and Orchestration at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade (2007/08). He completed his master's studies in composition at the University of Southern California (USC Thornton School of Music) in Los Angeles, in the class of prof. by Donald Crockett (2013). In January 2015, he received the title of assistant professor at the Faculty of Arts in Niš. The most important works of his oeuvre are: Macbeth (concerto for violin and orchestra, 2005), Elegy for orchestra (graduate thesis, 2006), Go see grandfather! (commissioned by the academic choir Collegium Musicum, 2010), Spring in Japan 2011 (commissioned by violinist Nemanja Radulović, released for the record company DECCA Universal), Mesečeva kći (fairy tale-variations for cello, orchestra and narrator, commissioned by the conductor Lior Shambadal and the Berliner Symphoniker orchestra, premiered in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, 2014). Sedlar's arrangements of certain compositions can be found on the new CDs by Nemanja Radulović, Patricije Petibon and Kamil Tomas published by Deutsche Grammophon.
Ivan Brkljačić was born in 1977 in Belgrade. He graduated in 2001 at the Faculty of Music, Department of Composition and Orchestration, in the class of prof. Srdjan Hoffman. At the same faculty in 2005, in the class of prof. Zorana Erić completed his master's studies in composition, and then in 2012 defended his doctoral artistic project on the topic: Istar - a cycle of nascent musical caricatures for stage performance in theater decor, made under the mentorship of prof. Srdjan Hoffman.
There are numerous performances of Ivan Brkljačić's compositions in Belgrade and other Serbian cities. Among them, the following could be singled out: 1) the premiere of the piano concert IT! in Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, with Aleksandar Šandorov, Bojan Sudjić and the RTS Symphony Orchestra; 2) premiere performance of the instrumental theater Istar, in the open environment of the Nebojša Tower in Kalemegdan; 3) premiere performance of the Concerto for saxophone and symphony orchestra, entitled LOVE!, performed by saxophonist Milan Savić and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, with conductor Danijel Rajskin. Also, his works have been performed throughout Europe (Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Germany, Croatia, North Macedonia, France, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania and England) and the world ( Canada, Brazil, Japan, United States of America and Australia). On commission, he wrote compositions for the Belgrade Philharmonic, Choir Kolegium Musikum, the European project MUSMA, the Bemus and Belef festivals, the Slovenian ensembles Slavko Osterc and 4Saxess, as well as for domestic chamber ensembles: Trio Pokret, Trio Tembr, Quartet Mokranjac, Trio Singidunum, Ensemble Gradilište, trio Donna di Belgrado, etc. He collaborated with foreign ensembles such as: Ostrava Banda from the Czech Republic, Blindman from Belgium, L'Ensemble Portmanteau from Canada, Modern Music Ensemble from Australia, etc.
Ivan Brkljačić, primarily through collaboration with director Alisa Stojanović, composed music for numerous theater plays (Amadeus, God of Massacre, Love, Love, Love, Trieste, Fisherman's Quarrels, Don Juan in Soho, Wounded Eagle, etc.) and is the author of the music for the movie Ustanička Street, directed by Miroslav Terzić.
Since 1999, he has been employed as a professor of Musical Forms at the Mokranjac High School of Music in Belgrade. Since the school year 2005/06. in 2010, he works at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, first at the Department of Music Theory (where six students completed their master's academic studies under Brkljačić's mentorship), and then at the Department of Composition (he is currently engaged in the courses: Musical Forms, Arranging, Teaching Methodology Harmonies, Musical Forms and Counterpunk, and on Introduction to Digital Notography). Also, since 2015, he has been acting as the vice dean for teaching at the Faculty of Music.
In the period from 2007-2015. In 2010, he acted as the artistic selector of the program of the International Tribune of Composers festival.
He is active in the official bodies of the Association of Composers of Serbia (member of the Board of Directors since 2014) and SOKOJ (member of the Board of Directors from 2014-2018 and member of the Council of Authors since 2018), which he previously represented in the country and abroad.
Igor Andrić (1996) was born in Kragujevac, where he completed primary and secondary music school. He enrolled in composition studies in 2014 in the class of prof. Isidore Žebeljan at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. He is currently a student of doctoral academic studies at the same faculty, where he is also employed as an assistant in the department of composition. His music has been performed at festivals and concert halls throughout the country, but also in France, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Hong Kong, and Cyprus. He participated in the World Festival of Students and Youth in Sochi in 2017 (Russia) as a Serbian delegate for art and culture. In the same year, he received an order from accordionist Goran Stevanović, who premiered the accordion suite "Tarafde Haidouks" in Bremen (Germany). He achieved several other very successful collaborations with performers, the most important of which was with Dušan Joksić. As a result of this collaboration, the piece "Prometheus Dismembered - Fantasy for Solo Violin and Sixteen Strings" was created, which was performed at the "KoMA" festival in 2019., then in Kragujevac with the city chamber orchestra "Schlesinger", but also in Tonali Saal, Hamburg (Germany), while the composer participated in performances as a conductor. The piece was also included in the concert season of the RTS orchestra. He was declared the student of the generation at the Faculty of Music in 2018. Piano trio no. 1 is the composition with which Igor entered the finals of the competition "Intimacy of Creativity 2019" in Hong Kong. In the same year, he received commissions from the ensemble "Belgrade Trio" and the Academic Choir "Collegium musicum". As a result of these orders, the compositions "Piano Trio No. 2", premiered in 2021 and "Symphony of Whispers and Screams" performed as part of the "Inter Nos" project. He wrote the composition "Parahelij" in 2020 for cellist Nemanja Stanković and his CD release "Traces". Since March 2021, he is a protégé of the Viennese publishing house "Universal Edition", which publishes all his works. At the beginning of the same year, his composition "Three young moons" was premiered by the ensemble "Metamorphosis". He is the winner of the "Composer Slam" competition, which was organized by the "Orchesterim Treppenhaus" ensemble, and on this occasion he received an order for a new composition in the composition of the chamber orchestra from the same ensemble. He is one of the editors of the score of the opera "Koštana" by Petar Konjović, for the needs of the National Theater in Belgrade and the Committee for the Protection of Serbian Musical Heritage of the Serbian Academy of Music. Also, for the needs of the Operos festival, he re-orchestrated the operas "Carmen" (Z. Bizet), "Iolanta" (P.I. Tchaikovsky) and "Cinderella" (D. Rossini).
