jury piano
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yuri
kot
Yuri Kot
Professor of Piano, National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv
Yuri Kot, an internationally acclaimed soloist and chamber musician, has been a Professor of Piano at the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv since 1994. In 1995, he was awarded the honorary title of Honoured Artist of Ukraine. As a distinguished laureate, he has won prizes at the National Lysenko Piano Competition, the First International Prokofiev Piano Competition, and—together with duo partner Irina Aleksiychuk—at the Golden Autumn Competition, the 45th ARD International Music Competition (Piano Duo), and the Sixth Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition.
Professor Kot regularly appears at major international music festivals, including Musiksommer in Dresden, Two Pianos Plus in Miami, the Contemporary Music Festival in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia), Kyiv Music Fest, Music Premieres of the Season in Kyiv, the Regina and Vladimir Horowitz in Memoriam Festival, Farbotony in Kaniv, the International Festival of Kraków Composers (Poland), Richter Fest in Odesa, and the Piano Music Festival Una Tastiera Per Due Mondi in Carrara (Italy).
In addition to performing worldwide, Professor Kot has given masterclasses and served on the juries of numerous international competitions. He has taught in Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Japan, North Macedonia, Slovenia, and Austria, among other countries. As a soloist and orchestral collaborator, he has performed in Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and the United States. He has also served on juries in Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, and North Macedonia.
Yuri Kot graduated from the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, where he studied under V. Kozlov.
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Kristina
socanski
Kristina Socanski is a versatile pianist who explores both classical and contemporary repertoire and regularly performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist across Europe. Her most formative musical influences came through her studies with professors Håkon Austbø, Einar Smebye, Niklas Sivelöv, and Friedrich Gürtler. These influences are reflected in her distinctive, expressive playing, praised for its poetic quality as well as for her thoughtful, collaborative approach to ensemble work.
Kristina earned her Bachelor’s degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo (2014) and her Master’s degree from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen (2016). In 2019, she completed the soloist program at the Royal Danish Academy—Scandinavia’s highest-level performance program. Her debut concert was broadcast on Denmark’s national radio station P2 Klassisk. In recent years, she has focused her artistic activity on contemporary music and collaborations with composers. She was a guest researcher at the Aaron Copland School of Music (Queens College, New York) as part of an artistic research project, which resulted in a critically acclaimed album released in 2019, featuring works by Misi Maçoli, Edward Smaldone, George Crumb, Leo Ornstein, and Philip Glass.
In 2022, she was invited back to New York by the American Composers Alliance to premiere works by Edward Smaldone and Mads Emil Dreyer with the ensemble Seit Quartet. As a prizewinner at international competitions, Kristina has performed in prestigious venues such as the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Chamber Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. Her diverse career includes performances with dancers from the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen and specialization in vocal accompaniment and opera coaching under D. Klaviter at the Bel Canto Institute in Florence, which led to performances in both Italy and the USA in 2017.
A passionate chamber musician, Kristina regularly performs as a member of several ensembles, with a repertoire that spans both contemporary and traditional chamber music. From 2016 to 2019, she served as the artistic director of the concert season at Disen in Oslo and is the founder of the International Chamber Music Festival in Vršac, established in 2017.
Her artistic projects have been consistently supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and other cultural foundations in Norway. Kristina has performed across Scandinavia, throughout many European countries, and in the United States. As part of her soloist studies, she served as a teaching assistant in the piano class of Prof. Niklas Sivelöv at the Royal Danish Academy. Since 2021, she has been working at the University of Oslo on a research project exploring contemporary music and spirituality. Her most recent album, dedicated to the solo piano works of Philip Glass (2022), received high critical acclaim.
dragomir
bratic
Dragomir Bratic
Piano Professor, Pedagogue, and Chamber Musician
Dragomir Bratić began studying piano at the age of fourteen. He graduated from the “Josip Slavenski” Music School in Belgrade in the class of Zlata Poparić. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in piano and his Master’s degree in chamber music (specializing in piano duo) from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where he studied under Ninoslav Živković and Zorica Ćetković. He continued his professional development through masterclasses with Arbo Valdma, Igor Lazko, Pavel Nersesyan, and Natalia Trull. He currently teaches piano at the “Davorin Jenko” Music School in Belgrade.
A member of the Association of Music Artists of Serbia since 2005, Mr. Bratić has served as the Serbian coordinator for Professor Arbo Valdma since 2006, organizing four accredited seminars approved by the Institute for Educational Advancement. From 2008 to 2015, he was the head of the Board of the International Competition for Young Pianists in Šabac. Since 2011, he has been Director of the National Competition for Music and Ballet School Students of Serbia. In October 2015, he was appointed President of the Piano Section of Belgrade.
He was the author and presenter of the roundtable "Evaluation Criteria in Music Competitions: Subjective or Objective Judgment?" at the 17th International Competition for Young Pianists in Šabac, also accredited by the national education institute. In 2014, he gave a lecture at the PIANO/FVG piano competition in Sacile, Italy, under the patronage of the Central European Initiative and the Alink–Argerich Foundation, on the Serbian piano school and the pros and cons of music competitions. He is also co-author and organizer (with Professor Dragoljub Katunac and Croatian pianist Aljoša Jurinić) of the professional symposium “Meeting the Artist: The International Chopin Competition – Then and Now” at the 2016 Belgrade Chopin Fest. He has moderated public discussions with rising stars such as Dmitry Shishkin (Russia) and Szymon Nehring (Poland). He frequently holds masterclasses across Serbia and throughout Europe.
Mr. Bratić is the author of the “Music Culture” textbook for first-grade primary school, published by BIGZ.
Recognized for his original and individualized teaching approach, he is considered one of the most talented pedagogues of the younger generation. He has received numerous awards for his pedagogical work both in Serbia and internationally. He is the author of many distinguished piano classes focused on solving performance challenges through a personalized approach.
His students have performed in Serbia’s most prestigious concert halls and internationally renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York and Musikverein in Vienna.
To date, his students have won more than 500 first and special (laureate) prizes at competitions in Serbia, as well as in Italy, Slovenia, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the USA, Germany, and Austria. He actively performs in a piano duo with Maja Rajković and is the official piano collaborator of the Children’s Choir of Radio Television of Serbia “Kolibri.”
Mr. Bratić serves as a jury member at nearly all major national competitions, as well as at international competitions in Slovenia, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Austria, Germany, and Poland.
He has been featured in the Lexicon of the 1000 Most Successful Serbian Educators in Pre-University Education, published by KLET.
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dusanka
gavrilovic
Ms. Dušanka Gavrilović graduated from the Piano Department of the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade in 2003, receiving the highest grade in her principal subject. At the same faculty, she earned the degree of Master of Arts in 2012, in the class of Prof. Branko Penčić. During her studies, she achieved notable success at competitions both in her home country and abroad, and performed as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles at numerous concerts and festivals.
She began her teaching career while still a second-year student at the Music School “Petar Krančević” in Sremska Mitrovica. Her students have won more than 200 awards at national and international competitions, including laureate titles at the International Competition for Pianists up to 16 years of age “Virtuosi per musica di pianoforte” in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic; the international competition “Danubia Talents Liszt” in Rome; the Malta International Music Competition; as well as laureate awards at the National Competition in Belgrade, the International Competition “Davorin Jenko,” the International Competition of Young Pianists in Šabac, the Zemun International Music Competition, the Piano Festival in Sremska Mitrovica, the “Isidor Bajić” Festival in Novi Sad, and others.
Over the years, a large number of her students have received the Svetosavska Charter, awarded by the City of Sremska Mitrovica to the most successful pupils, as well as provincial awards granted by the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina for outstanding achievements. She is a member of the jury at all major piano competitions in Serbia, including the National Competition of Music and Ballet School Students of Serbia, the International Competition “Davorin Jenko,” the “Slavenski” Competition of Young Pianists, the International Competition of Young Pianists – Šabac, and the Serbian Review of Musical Talents.
She has also served on juries at piano festivals and competitions in the region and abroad, such as the International Competition “Trebinje,” the “Franz Liszt Center International Piano Competition” in Spain, the International Music Festival “Sinfonia di sale” in Tuzla, the Musicarte Festival in Tiggiano (Italy), and the Malta International Piano Festival, among others.
In addition to her pedagogical work, she is actively engaged in cultural, artistic, and concert activities. She performs in the quartet “Maestre” with her colleagues, teachers at the Music School “Petar Krančević,” with whom she has given numerous concerts since 2017, many of which have had a charitable and educational character. Through various projects, the quartet “Maestre” contributes to the popularization of art music in Serbia. Dušanka Gavrilović is the organizer of numerous concerts and seminars, and since 2018 she has served as the Artistic Director of the Piano Festival held every May in Sremska Mitrovica.
In addition to her work at the Music School “Petar Krančević,” she is also engaged in teaching within the Association for the Creative Development of Children “Piccolo,” which she founded in 2006. Over the past 19 years, several hundred children have grown with “Piccolo” and taken their first steps into the world of music by singing in the choir or playing the piano or guitar. She writes and composes songs for the Children’s Choir “Piccolo,” which were recorded in 2018 on the choir’s first CD, “Srećosnili suncokrili.” In recent years, the choir has performed concerts in the Grand Hall of the Kolarac Endowment in March and May 2019, as well as numerous performances at the Sava Center in Belgrade, the Novi Sad Synagogue, and the Zmaj Children’s Games in Novi Sad, and in other cities across Serbia. The choir has also recorded for RTV and RTS.
As President of the Rotary Club Sremska Mitrovica in the 2020/21 term, she initiated the campaign “88 Notes of Love,” through which a new semi-concert grand piano was donated to the music school. She is a recipient of the “Paul Harris Fellow” recognition, awarded to individuals for outstanding contribution and dedication to the community.
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gabor
nagy
Gábor Nagy is a Norway-based pianist and conductor, a member of the Norwegian National Opera, and a lecturer at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He began his piano studies at the age of six in his hometown of Debrecen, Hungary. After completing his studies at the Zoltán Kodály Music Conservatory, he continued his education at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music and later at the Norwegian Academy of Music.
In 2002, he participated in the IKI Festival at Mannes College of Music in New York City at the invitation of Maestro Jerome Rose. He is a prize winner of the National Beethoven Piano Competition in Hungary, and in the same year he was invited by Maestro Leslie Howard to take part in the annual summer concert of the Liszt Society of London, where he shared the stage with him. In 2006, he received the Genie Oblige Scholarship in Budapest, and in 2014 he was awarded the prestigious Tandem Scholarship of the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Norwegian National Opera.
He has performed extensively throughout Europe as a soloist, chamber musician, and piano accompanist, collaborating with conductors such as John Fiore, Daniele Callegari, Edward Gardner, etc.
lidija
stankovic
Lidija Stanković completed her lower music education at the Music School “Dr. Vojislav Vučković” and her secondary music education at the Music School “Josip Slavenski” in Belgrade, studying in the class of Prof. Gordana Jovanović. She graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of Prof. Dubravka Tomšič-Srebotnjak, and completed her master’s studies at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade in the class of Prof. Arbo Valdma.
During her schooling and studies, she won a large number of awards: twelve first prizes at national and federal competitions; prizes at international competitions in Senigallia and Stresa (Italy) and Zemon (Slovenia); two October Awards of the City of Belgrade (as both a pupil and a student); the Prešeren Award of the University of Ljubljana; the “Emil Hajek” Award; and an award from the Olga Mihajlović Fund for the most talented student of the Faculty of Music Arts. From an early age, her concert activity has been extensive. She has performed with the Belgrade, Zagreb, and Slovenian Philharmonics; the RTV Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra; the Dubrovnik Festival Orchestra; the RTV Brussels Orchestra; the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra; the string orchestra “Dušan Skovran”; the St. George Strings; and the chamber orchestra “Žebeljan.” She has given solo recitals in all major cities of the former Yugoslavia (Ljubljana, Maribor, Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Belgrade, Skopje), and has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in Italy, Belgium, Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
In addition to works from the standard classical piano repertoire, she devotes significant attention to compositions from the Serbian musical heritage. As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with leading Serbian artists, including Vesna Stanković, Aleksandar Madžar, and Aneta Ilić. She has been a member of the Ensemble for Other New Music since its founding, with which she won a Silver Medal at the “Global Music Award” in 2024 for the CD release “This Is Not Opus 1.”
She has been engaged in pedagogical work at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade since 1989 and currently holds the position of Full Professor. She has served as a jury member at numerous competitions, notably the international competitions “Isidor Bajić,” “Dr. Vojislav Vučković,” and “Davorin Jenko,” as well as the “Belgrade Chopin Fest,” “EPTA,” “Janez Matičič,” the Zemun International Piano Competition, the International Competition of Young Pianists in Šabac, the Banja Luka Biennale, and the National Competition of Young Pianists of Slovenia in 2012 and 2014. For eight years, she led a masterclass within the event “PANOPTICUM MUSICUM” in Novi Sad.
In her class, twenty-nine students have graduated, eleven have completed master’s degrees, six have completed specialist studies, and one has earned a doctorate. Many of them are successfully engaged in music as performers and teachers at secondary and higher education institutions. In December 2017, she was awarded the Grand Plaque with Charter of the University of Arts in recognition of her outstanding merits and contributions to the development of the Faculty of Music Arts and the University of Arts.
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iryna
aleksiychuk
Iryna Aleksiychuk is a Ukrainian composer, pianist, and organist; an Associate Professor of Composition at the National Academy of Music of Ukraine; a winner of international competitions and national awards (including the prestigious Merited Artist of Ukraine title); and a member of the National Union of Composers of Ukraine.
A child prodigy, she began playing the piano at the age of three. Remarkably, she instinctively reproduced a composition on the piano after hearing it only once during a television broadcast. Her music and music-making reflect this spontaneity and a lasting sense of wonder.
Iryna has given countless concerts in renowned concert halls in Germany, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and the United States, performing as a solo pianist, as part of a piano duo, in chamber ensembles, and as a participant in numerous international music festivals.
Together with her husband, the distinguished Ukrainian pianist Yurii Kot, she has given many concerts in Ukraine, throughout Europe, and in the United States, winning top prizes at competitions in Germany and the USA. Their piano duo has won three international competitions, including the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami. The duo’s repertoire includes works from the standard Classical–Romantic canon as well as premieres of new compositions, some of which were written especially for them.
As a member of a piano duo, she has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the batons of Wolfgang Balzer and Lothar Zagrosek; the Municipal Wind Orchestra of Bilbao under José Rafael Pascual Vilaplana, Tim Reynish, and Ivan Meylemans; the New World Symphony Orchestra under Neil Stalberg; the MERCK Chamber Orchestra of Darmstadt under Christian Rudolf Riedel; the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine under Volodymyr Sirenko and Viktor Ploskina; the Kyiv Soloists Chamber Ensemble led by Bohodar Kotorovych; as well as with many other orchestras throughout Ukraine.
Among the concert halls where Iryna has performed are Hercules Hall and the Concert Hall of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich; the Concert Hall of the Darmstadt Opera House; the Concert Hall of the Kempinski Hotel in Dresden; the New World Center and the Maurice Gusman Concert Hall in Miami; the Euskalduna Palace and the Andrés Isasi Musika Eskola Concert Hall in Bilbao; as well as the concert halls of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine in Kyiv, the Philharmonic Hall of Moldova in Chișinău, the Philharmonic Hall of Belarus in Minsk, and many others.
Iryna is also frequently invited to give piano masterclasses and to serve as a jury member at international piano and piano duo competitions. These include masterclasses and lectures in Kragujevac (Serbia); the First International Competition of Young Pianists Gradus ad Parnassum (Kragujevac, Serbia); the All-Ukrainian Competition of Pianist Students of Music Schools named after I. Karabyts (Bakhmut, Ukraine); the International Competition of Young Composers Gradus ad Parnassum (Kyiv, Ukraine); the children’s choir competition Golden Orpheus (Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine); the competition of young pianists in memory of P. I. Tchaikovsky (Kamyanka, Cherkasy region, Ukraine); the All-Ukrainian Competition of Composers named after Myroslav Skoryk (Kyiv, Ukraine); and many others.
As an internationally recognized composer, Iryna Aleksiychuk works in many genres. Her oeuvre includes symphonic, choral, chamber, and solo vocal and instrumental works, which are performed with great success and warmly received by musicians and audiences around the world.
Jury for wind instruments
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nikola
srdic
Nikola Srdić (Serbia) graduated from the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade (1975) in the class of Professor Bruno Brun. Two years later, he earned a Master’s degree in clarinet under the same professor. He further refined his expertise in Paris under the guidance of the renowned Professor Ulysse Delécluse as a French government scholarship recipient.
His artistic career has been marked by numerous first prizes in competitions across former Yugoslavia, a special award from Bavarian Radio and Television, and participation in the finals of the International Competition in Munich (1973).
As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in all major music centers of Yugoslavia, as well as in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Germany. He has appeared with the Belgrade, Zagreb, Macedonian, Sarajevo, Vojvodina, Timișoara, and North Bohemian Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as with the Novi Sad and Mostar Chamber Orchestras, the Dušan Skovran Chamber Orchestra (over fifty concerts), St. George Strings, and string quartets such as Klima, Kodály, Moyzes, Tartini, the Belgrade String Quartet, the Serbian String Quartet, and others.
Notable festival performances include Ohrid Summer, Bratislava Summer, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Evenings on Grič, Tallinn Music Festival (Estonia), Janáček May Festival (Ostrava), Košice Festival, and more.
He was a full professor at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka. He is now retired.
Aleksandar Jovanovic
Aleksandar Jovanović was born in Zaječar in 1985. He received his primary music education in his hometown under the guidance of Professor Goran Turkalj and continued his secondary music education at the Kornelije Stanković Music School in Belgrade in the class of Professor Miloš Gerić. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Academy of Arts at the University of Banja Luka in the class of Professor Nikola Srdić, where he also obtained a master’s degree in clarinet. Additionally, he earned a master's degree in chamber music in the class of Professor Timea Hotić.
After completing his undergraduate studies, he worked as a clarinet teacher at the Savo Balaban Music School in Prijedor and the Konstantin Babić Music School in Prnjavor. He is currently employed as a clarinet instructor at the Branko Smiljanić Music School in Gradiška. From late 2017 to 2024, he served as the concertmaster of the Police Orchestra of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska.
He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra member across the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Austria, and Sweden. From its founding in 2010 until 2019, he was a member of the Banja Luka Philharmonic Orchestra. Since the establishment of the Symphony Orchestra of the National Theatre of the Republic of Srpska, he has frequently been engaged as a freelance clarinetist.
His greatest pride lies in the remarkable achievements of his many students from Prijedor, Prnjavor, and Gradiška, who have excelled both during their studies and in their professional music careers.
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marija
pilipovic
Marija Pilipovic is employed at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka as an Assistant Professor, teaching Chamber Music. She earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka in the class of Ms. Laure Levai-Aksin, full professor, and completed her doctoral studies (flute module) at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.
As a soloist and member of several chamber ensembles (Flutete Ensemble, 2K+, Banja Luka Baroque Ensemble, Banja Luka Trio), she has performed numerous concerts both domestically and internationally, including notable performances in Slovenia, Italy, France, Russia, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2016 she participated in the Residency Program of the Forum of Slavic Cultures, which selected six artists from thirteen countries to promote the culture and traditions of Slavic peoples through music, film, and visual arts. She performed compositions written specifically for her participation in this project. In 2019, she released a CD of solo flute compositions entitled Foneme. She also recorded a composition by Vlado S. Milošević for the CD Notes in the Web, published by the Musicological Society of the Republic of Srpska and RTRS. As a soloist and member of several international ensembles, she has carried out numerous concert activities aimed at popularizing contemporary music.
She is a member of the organizing committee of the event Flute Days, which for seven years has brought together a large number of distinguished artists, students, and pupils from across Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. As a lecturer, she has given numerous presentations and workshops on extended flute techniques and repertoire, contributing to the promotion of contemporary music.
JURY STRING INSTRUMENTS
ISAK
HARAcIc
Isak Haracic is a Bosnian cellist, born in Belgarde.
He attended School for Musically Gifted Children in Cuprija (Serbia) after which he graduated
from the Academy of Music Sarajevo (Bosnia) under the mentorship of Yevgeny Xaviereff, a
former pupil of Mstislav Rostropovich.
During his studies he became a member of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, country's
top professional orchestra, and became orchestra's principal cellist at the age of 19, in 2010.
Being equally interested in solo, chamber and orchestral playing, in the past several years he
had opportunity to perform at many international festivals, such as Music Academy of the
West (USA), ISA Music Festival (Austria), New York Youth Philharmonic Festival (USA), Liandu
Music Fest (P. R. China), Puccini Festival (Italy), Miami Summer Music Festival (USA), among
others.
As a soloist and a member of different chamber ensembles, he has performed in venues such
as the Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Guildhall School of Music, New World Symphony
Hall in Miami, Orchard Hall in Tokyo. Most recently, as a member of different ensembles he
was fortunate to perform alongside many prominent artists such as Leonard Slatkin, Riccardo
Muti, Jose Luis Gomez, Isaac Karabtchevsky, Emmanuel Pahud and Sergey Krylov, among
others.
Since 2012 he holds the position of associate principal cellist in the No Borders Orchestra.
The orchestra, which has an CD album released by Deutsche Grammophon and Universal, is
comprised of the finest young musicians from seven European countries and is based on
deconstruction of stereotypes and overcoming nationalism.
In 2018 and 2019 Isak has spent most of his time in China and Hong Kong where he was
asked to help set-up a cello section in a newly formed Kunming International Philharmonic,
performing recitals and concerts with different orchestras.
His most recent appearances as a soloist with orchestra include performances of Tchaikovsy's
Rococo Variations and Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia-Concertante.
Currently, Isak performs regularly as a soloist and a principal cellist of Sarajevo Philharmonic
and No Borders Orchestra.
MARKO
POP RISTOV
Marko graduated from the Royal College of Music (London) with a BMus in
2009. He attained his Masters in Chamber Music from the Guildhall School of
Music and Drama in London, during which time he also performed his Barbican
debut in 2012.
At 16 he was invited and awarded a scholarship to study with Prof. Pavel
Vernikov at the “Scuola di Musica di Fiesole”. Marko has been awarded first
prize in several international competitions including “Performing Australian
Music” (London, 2008), “Giovanni Batista Pergolesi” (Italy, 2003) and “Peter
Konjovich” (Yugoslavia, 2001).
He has appeared as a soloist with “Kensington Sinfonia” (UK), “Orchestra dei
Ragazzi” (Italy), “Bitola Chamber Orchestra” and “National Symphony
Orchestra” (Macedonia). Whilst in London, Marko received coaching from
eminent musicians and artists such as the: “Bedke Quartet”, “Chilingarina
Quartet”, “Domus Quartet”, “Belcea Quartet”, “Florestan Trio” and many more.
Marko has performed in festivals across the UK, France, Switzerland,
Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia. In 2010 he was invited to perform the
“Rombach” piano trio by P. Dusapin for the BBC Proms. Since his arrival in
New Zealand in 2013 Marko is a regular player with the APO and ACO as well
as section leader of “Bach Musica”. In 2022&2023 Marko was invited on a tour
as a concert master with NBO (No Borders Orchestra) as well as a tour of New
Zealand with the CSO and his piano trio.
Marko in 2021 was offered a place and awarded a full scholarship to do a DMA
research at the Wikato University in Hamilton, NZ.
In 2023 Marko with the newly formed ensemble Velkro Project, together with
cellist Marco Ariani and pianist Maja Bozhinovska, released two albums.
maja
jokanović
Maja Jokanović was born in Belgrade into a family of musicians, where she received her initial musical education. She continued her studies in Moscow at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Professor Semyon Snitkovsky, in the department of David Oistrakh, where she completed her undergraduate and master’s studies. At the age of eleven, as the youngest soloist at the time, she performed with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.
In addition to concert performances, she also participates in national competitions, where she has won first prizes and special awards. At the Jan Sibelius International Competition (1980) in Helsinki, she received a Special Diploma for participation in the semifinals. As a soloist, she has performed with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTS Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Festival Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Padua and Veneto, of which she was a member and soloist from 1983 to 1986.
During that period, she founded a duo with harpsichordist Lina Romano. She has performed at festivals such as Bemus, Nomus, Dubrovnik Summer Games, Sarajevo Winter, Ohrid Summer, Mariánské Lázně, and Aquila Baroque.
Since 1989, she has been a visiting professor of violin at the International Academy in Novara, and since 1990, she has been teaching violin at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. From 2006 to 2019, she was a visiting professor at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka.
As a jury member, she participates in international competitions, including the Konjović Competition in Belgrade, the Niš String Competition, as selector and jury member at the International Competition of Young Musicians in 2011 and 2016 in Belgrade, as a jury member at the Il Piccolo Violino Magico Competition in Italy in 2016, and at music school competitions in the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka, among others.
In 2012, the University of Arts in Belgrade awarded Maja Jokanović the Great Plaque of the University of Arts for her outstanding achievements and contributions to the development of the Faculty of Music and the University of Arts.
JURY chamber music
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tea
dimitrijevic
Tea Dimitrijevic was born in Belgrade. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade, in the class of full professor Mirjana Šuica-Babić. She specialized in chamber music and completed her harpsichord studies in the class of full professor Miloš Petrović. She earned her doctorate in the field of chamber music under the guidance of full professors Miloš Petrović and Zorica Ćetković.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed in concert halls across Serbia, as well as in Montenegro, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, North Macedonia, the United Arab Emirates, and Austria. She has performed with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saint George Strings, the Ensemble for New Music, the Camerata Serbica Orchestra, the “Metamorfozis” Ensemble, and the Nordic-Balkan String Orchestra “NORBAL.”
She has participated in festivals such as BEMUS and BELEF, NOMUS in Novi Sad, Budva Grad Theatre, Mokranjčevi dani, AFES in North Macedonia, and the Ohrid Summer Festival. She is a regular participant in the International Composer’s Forum. In a piano duo with Dejan Subotić, she has premiered numerous contemporary Serbian compositions.
As a permanent collaborator of the RTS Symphony Orchestra, she has performed significant works from both world and domestic repertoires, working with prominent conductors, as well as renowned soloists and opera stars, including Montserrat Caballé, Kiri Te Kanawa, Anna Netrebko, José Carreras, Željko Lučić, and Plácido Domingo.
Tea Dimitrijević has also achieved outstanding results in pedagogy — her chamber music students, in addition to an extensive concert activity, have won numerous awards at national and international competitions. For over thirty years, she was the author and host of the program Susretanja and a music editor for the First Program of Radio Belgrade.
She currently works at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade as a full professor at the Department of Chamber Music.
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tunde
gaspar
Tunde Gaspar is a Norway-based mezzosoprano with an international career spanning Europe. She studied voice and opera at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where she completed her master’s degree, and continued her artistic development in Austria, Italy, and Sweden.
She has further refined her artistry through masterclasses with Eva Marton, Montserrat Caballé, Walter Moore. As a versatile freelance artist, Tunde Gaspar has performed in numerous European countries, collaborating with several renowned conductors and musical teams in a wide range of operatic and symphonic productions.
She has been a member of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet since 2015.
marija
pilipovic
FOR ENSEMBLES WITH
WIND INSTRUMENTS
Marija Pilipovic is employed at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka as an Assistant Professor, teaching Chamber Music. She earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka in the class of Ms. Laure Levai-Aksin, full professor, and completed her doctoral studies (flute module) at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad.
As a soloist and member of several chamber ensembles (Flutete Ensemble, 2K+, Banja Luka Baroque Ensemble, Banja Luka Trio), she has performed numerous concerts both domestically and internationally, including notable performances in Slovenia, Italy, France, Russia, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2016 she participated in the Residency Program of the Forum of Slavic Cultures, which selected six artists from thirteen countries to promote the culture and traditions of Slavic peoples through music, film, and visual arts. She performed compositions written specifically for her participation in this project. In 2019, she released a CD of solo flute compositions entitled Foneme. She also recorded a composition by Vlado S. Milošević for the CD Notes in the Web, published by the Musicological Society of the Republic of Srpska and RTRS. As a soloist and member of several international ensembles, she has carried out numerous concert activities aimed at popularizing contemporary music.
She is a member of the organizing committee of the event Flute Days, which for seven years has brought together a large number of distinguished artists, students, and pupils from across Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. As a lecturer, she has given numerous presentations and workshops on extended flute techniques and repertoire, contributing to the promotion of contemporary music.
ISAK
HARAcIc
Isak Haracic is a Bosnian cellist, born in Belgarde.
He attended School for Musically Gifted Children in Cuprija (Serbia) after which he graduated
from the Academy of Music Sarajevo (Bosnia) under the mentorship of Yevgeny Xaviereff, a
former pupil of Mstislav Rostropovich.
During his studies he became a member of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, country's
top professional orchestra, and became orchestra's principal cellist at the age of 19, in 2010.
Being equally interested in solo, chamber and orchestral playing, in the past several years he
had opportunity to perform at many international festivals, such as Music Academy of the
West (USA), ISA Music Festival (Austria), New York Youth Philharmonic Festival (USA), Liandu
Music Fest (P. R. China), Puccini Festival (Italy), Miami Summer Music Festival (USA), among
others.
As a soloist and a member of different chamber ensembles, he has performed in venues such
as the Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Guildhall School of Music, New World Symphony
Hall in Miami, Orchard Hall in Tokyo. Most recently, as a member of different ensembles he
was fortunate to perform alongside many prominent artists such as Leonard Slatkin, Riccardo
Muti, Jose Luis Gomez, Isaac Karabtchevsky, Emmanuel Pahud and Sergey Krylov, among
others.
Since 2012 he holds the position of associate principal cellist in the No Borders Orchestra.
The orchestra, which has an CD album released by Deutsche Grammophon and Universal, is
comprised of the finest young musicians from seven European countries and is based on
deconstruction of stereotypes and overcoming nationalism.
In 2018 and 2019 Isak has spent most of his time in China and Hong Kong where he was
asked to help set-up a cello section in a newly formed Kunming International Philharmonic,
performing recitals and concerts with different orchestras.
His most recent appearances as a soloist with orchestra include performances of Tchaikovsy's
Rococo Variations and Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia-Concertante.
Currently, Isak performs regularly as a soloist and a principal cellist of Sarajevo Philharmonic
and No Borders Orchestra.