Dejan Bogdanovic
Encyclopedia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n violinist.
Bogdanovic comes from a family in which art has always been a way of life. His grandfather, a famous sculptor from Belgrade, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and there met Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
with whom a long and profound friendship was formed. Even today it is possible to admire his monuments in the squares of many cities of the Ex-Yugoslavia.
His father is a well known painter and writer; exhibitions of his works have had great following at home and abroad (his works have been shown many times at the Biennale di Venezia) and his books of poems and prose have been translated in to numerous European languages.
From an early age Dejan showed a remarkable inclination for music and began his studies at the "Isidor Bajić
Isidor Bajic
Isidor Bajic was a Serbian composer, pedagogue, and publisher.He was born in Kula...
" school of music in his home town, Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
, one of the most prestigious cultural centres of the Ex-Yugoslavia (Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
). At the "Baic" institute he was a pupil of two well known teachers, Maestro R. Kovac and Maestro J. Furman and soon after he was accepted for the S.Z.M.T. (School for Gifted Children), the only one of its kind and under the patronage of the President of the Republic.
As a soloist of this school and at only eleven years old, Dejan Bogdanovic performed in important concert halls in Yugoslavia and in Spain, France, Germany and England and during the forthcoming years won many times the "First Prize for Young Violinists". At seventeen years old he performed Paganini's first violin concerto and Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's E minor concerto with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra.
Since then he has been soloist with many symphony and chamber orchestras, in his home country and abroad (symphony orchestras of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, Kuhmo
Kuhmo
Kuhmo is a town and a municipality in Finland and is part of the Kainuu region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . It has a borderline of with Russia....
, Moscow and many others).
After brilliantly passing special exams he was admitted, as the youngest pupil, to the University of Novi Sad
University of Novi Sad
The University of Novi Sad is a university located in Novi Sad, the capital of Serbian province of Vojvodina and the second largest city in Serbia....
(violin faculty). There was intense artistic activity during these university years, studying at this time with well known teachers of the Russian school such as Eugenia Cugaeva, Marina Jasvili, Ilya Grubert and above all with Zinaida Gilels with whom the maestro had a strong connection and apart from a close professional collaboration also had a profound friendship unfortunately ending with the death of the great Russian pedagogue.
Winner of various scholarships he has worked together with exceptional artists such as N. Braining, J.J. Kantaroff, A. Balakerskaya, O. Kagan
Kagan
- People :* Daryn Kagan , former American newscaster* Donald Kagan , Yale historian specializing in ancient Greece* Elena Kagan, dean of Harvard Law School, U.S. Solicitor General , and Associate Justice of the U.S...
.
Study and specialization, even though very engaging, did not impede his intensive concert activity; in fact, in just two years, apart from numerous recitals with pianoforte, Dejan Bogdanovic performed violin concertos by Henryk Wieniawski
Henryk Wieniawski
Henryk Wieniawski was a Polish violinist and composer.-Biography:Henryk Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Congress Poland, Russian Empire. His father, Tobiasz Pietruszka, had converted to Catholicism. His talent for playing the violin was recognized early, and in 1843 he entered the Paris...
, Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
, Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
(Triple concerto), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....
, Max Bruch
Max Bruch
Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
under the baton of Lev Markiz, Igor Djadrov, Mladen Jagust, T. Ninic, M. Horvat and, when the programme permitted, played as soloist and directed at the same time.
In 1985, the European music year and year of Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
, Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
and Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
, in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
a special violin competition was organized in which Dejan Bogdanovic was invited to take part along with 40 other violinists from all over the world. Excelling in the various tests and playing Mozart's concerto no. 5 for violin and orchestra he won, with a special mention, the first prize.
Two years later he won the first prize at the Yugoslav National Competition for Artists: this prestigious prize has only been given to 3 violinists in the last 50 years and after the transformation of the ex Yugoslavia has never again been assigned.
In 1988 he was invited along with another musician, the pianist Ivo Pogorelić
Ivo Pogorelic
Ivo Pogorelić is a Croatian pianist.-Early life:He was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, now Serbia, to a Croatian father and a Serbian mother...
, to the Festival Culturale di San Cirillo and San Matteo (fathers of the cirillic alphabet) under the patronage of the Santo Padre, and played the first of only two concerts that were programmed for the manifestation.
After a touneé as soloist in the ex U.S.S.R., requested and organized by the ex Soviet Union, he had the good fortune to meet up with the world famous violinist Viktor Tretiakov
Viktor Tretiakov
Viktor Tretiakov is a Russian violinist and conductor. Other spellings of his name are Victor, Tretyakov and Tretjakov.-Biography:...
and under his guidance with only three other pupils specialized at the P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. Tretiakov said about him: "Dejan is a musisian of great refinement and artistry. Much of this is due to the originality and fullness of his musical ideas and to his complete control of every period in music... His deep creative feelings always communicate to me something new... Dejan is without doubt the herald of the new age of violinists."
During these two years he played Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in Moscow, Mozart's concerto no. 5 in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(Smetana Hall) and Paganini's first violin concerto in Portogruaro
Portogruaro
Portogruaro is a town and comune in the province of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy.-History:Portogruaro was founded in 1140, when the bishop of Concordia, Gervinus, gave right to several fishermen to settle here and build a river port. A castle existed here, however, as early as the 10th century...
. On his return to his homeland he was offered the professorship of violin and at just 21 years old became the youngest teacher at the University of Novi Sad.
He has been guest artist to many international festivals including the Kuhmo International Chamber Festival (Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
), Dubrovačke ljetne igre (Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
), Portogruaro Music Festival (Italy), Festival del Veneto (Italy), "G. Mahler" Festival, "Casals" Music Festival (France), Pays de Gex (France), Festival di Roma "Ciril and Metodie" playing with artists such as J.J. Kantaroff, A. Libermann, E.v. Kulen, K. Bogino, T. Zetmayer, O. Kagan
Kagan
- People :* Daryn Kagan , former American newscaster* Donald Kagan , Yale historian specializing in ancient Greece* Elena Kagan, dean of Harvard Law School, U.S. Solicitor General , and Associate Justice of the U.S...
, V. Mendelsohnn, A. Munier.
He has recorded for national television in Austria, France, Italy, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Canada, Finland, Spain and Russia.
With the famous Russian pianist, Anna Balakerskaya, he has done recital work in Canada (Montreal), in the ex Soviet Union, in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
and in England.
In 1993 because of the war that devastated the ex Yugoslavia he left his home country and decided to settle in Italy where he had already held master classes. Since living in Italy he has divided his time between his concert activities, playing in the great halls of Italy and Europe, and teaching; In fact he has held numerous courses in Bolzano, Siracusa, Padova, Portogruaro
Portogruaro
Portogruaro is a town and comune in the province of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy.-History:Portogruaro was founded in 1140, when the bishop of Concordia, Gervinus, gave right to several fishermen to settle here and build a river port. A castle existed here, however, as early as the 10th century...
, Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, Pesaro
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
, Chioggia
Chioggia
Chioggia is a coastal town and comune of the province of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy.-Geography:...
, Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
and his pupils are the prize winners of many important violin and orchestral manifestations and competitions.
During the years 2000 and 2001 he has been artistic director for the concert season of "Camera della Musica" in Forlì
Forlì
Forlì is a comune and city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the right of the Montone river, and is an important agricultural centre...
and in this role as director, for the excellent results achieved in preparing the orchestra "Bruno Maderna" and for the brilliant performances of the various concerts he roused a considerable success from the public and favourable media reports. In December 2002, also as soloist, he directed the Pesaro
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
Symphony Orchestra in the Teatro Rossini
Teatro Rossini
Teatro Rossini may refer to:*Teatro Rossini, a theatre in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina*Teatro Rossini , an 18th-century opera house in Lugo, Italy*Teatro Rossini , a 19th-century opera house in Pesaro, Italy...
playing the concerto for violin and orchestra by Richard Strauss.
For many years Dejan has combined his role as soloist together with a close collaboration with the well known pianist Maria Gabriele Vianello, giving many concerts in Italy and in Europe. Among their appearances we remember the concert at the Festival of Feldkirh in Austria, the Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
Festival (Italy) the concert at the festival of Cervo
Cervo
Cervo is a small, ancient town and comune, built on top of a hill along the Italian Riviera in the province of Imperia, 1,200 inhabitants.-Overview:Originally, it was, in Roman times, a mansion along the Via Julia Augusta...
, the important international festival founded by Sandor Vegh
Sándor Végh
Sándor Végh was a Hungarian, later French, violinist and conductor. He was best known as one of the great chamber music violinists of the twentieth century.- Education :...
at which have appeared some of the most famous names in classical music over the last 40 years.
His musical repertoire is vast and goes from all forms of chamber music to contemporary music. He has played and up till today still plays in the most diverse chamber music groups, in particular with pianoforte in which he has dedicated a particular study and personal research. As a soloist he has played the most famous concertos for violin and orchestra by Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Respighi
Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
, Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
, Paganini, Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Vieuxtemps and many others.
Since year 1992 he lives in Venice, Italy. At the moment he teaches at the Academy of High Specialization in Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
, Italy.