SANDRA STOJANOVIC
MILICA LAWRENCE
BOJANA SOVILJ
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Sandra Stojanovic was born in Belgrade in a family of professional musicians. At five, she discovered her passion for piano and cultivated it in primary and secondary music schools. She graduated from the University of Music in Novi Sad (exYugoslavia) in 1987 under the guidance of Professor Arbo Valdma. In the following year she studied in the class of Professor Grigorij L. Sokolov during her period in Russia at the Conservatory of Music Rimskij-Korsakov of St. Petersburg. In 1992 she moved to Italy where she currently lives. Here, she broadened her knowledge in chamber music, at first by taking part in a specialized course offered by the Accademia G. Marziali di Seveso (Milan) with Professor Conrad Klemm, and then by achieving a Master degree cum laude in 2011 at the Conservatory of Music F.A. Bonporti (Trento) with Professor Giancarlo Guarino.
Until then, her focused was almost entirely on classical music, but her love for music brought her to experiment with different genres. Guided by these feelings, she attended Pop classes at the Conservatory of Music F. A. Bonporti (Trento) from 2015 to 2017. These were really prolific years in which not only had she the opportunity to study under some well-known names of the Italian pop and jazz scene such as Alfredo Biondo, Stefano Pisetta, Danilo Minotti, Riccardo Ballerini, Francesco Martinelli but she cultivated her passion for orchestra conducting. In 2016 Sandra attended lessons with Maestro Jorge Lazzeri and in 2022 with Maestro Giancarlo Guarino.
Over the same years, while achieving different academic titles, she also worked in several places. Her first jobs were in exYugoslavia. She worked in different secondary music schools as a piano teacher (K.Stanković, Belgrade), chamber music teacher (K. Stanković, Belgrade) and piano accompanist (K. Manoijlović, Zemun; School for young talents, Ćuprija). In 1992 she moved to Catania (Italy) and took part in many pedagogical activities and concerts. She worked as a piano accompanist at the Teatro Massimo in Catania, collaborating with the baritone Giuseppe Taddei, her teaching years at Dante Alighieri middle school in Catania and at the Accademia Mediterranea in Augusta. She also became a Member of the Teatro Miela Reina in Trieste and of the Horus Association of Siracusa for which she regularly gave master classes in piano and chamber music and she collaborated as a piano accompanist for the courses of Professor Conrad Klemm and Mathias Ziegler. She served the role of vice president of Phoné Association of Catania which promoted contemporary music and collaborated with the Fenice Association of Catania and the Group of Research and Experimentation of Viterbo. In 2008 she started working as a professor for complementary piano at the Conservatory of Music F.A. Bonporti in Trento where she finally moved in 2011. From that moment till 2017, she performed under a contract with Liceo Musicale e Coreutico F.A. Bonporti covering different roles. In particular, she worked as a piano accompanist for dance, as a professor of musical theory and practice for dancers and as a professor for complementary piano. At present, her collaboration with the Conservatory of Music F.A. Bonporti is ongoing considering her job as a piano accompanist for all instruments and singers.
In relation to her artistic performances, she has played as a soloist, with orchestra (Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Orchestra of Belgrade, Academy Orchestra of St. Petersburg…) and in various chamber ensembles in different countries (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, France, Russia, USA, Vietnam). In 2006 she performed for the United Nations in New York together with the American cello player Scott Terzaghi. In May and June 2016. they invited Sandra to perform a series of concerts in Vietnam with the violinists Daniele and Marika Anderle for the 70th anniversary of the Italian Republic by President S. Mattarella. She also held a Master class in Vietnam at the College of Art in Hanoi. Over the years, Sandra has won several national and international awards, taking part in different competitions as a jury member and appeared on radio and television.
Milica Lawrence was born in 1981 in Pancevo, Serbia. She started learning piano at the age of five. Her first piano teacher who brought her love for music and this instrument closer was prof. Xenia Elizabeth Zilli. This was continued by prof. Davorka Sperac - Polojac. She completed her piano studies with prof. Marija Djukic and harpsichord studies with prof. Zorica Cetkovic at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade, Serbia. Here, Milica specialized in chamber music with prof. Uros Pesic and received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree (DMA) degree under the mentorship of prof. Dejan Subotic at the same Faculty. She attended piano and harpsichord masterclasses with many distinguished Serbian and international artists such as Sergei Dorensky, Giorgi Chugaev, Pavel Nersessian, Huguette Dreyfus, Egon Mihajlovic, Olivera Djurdjevic, Yuri Kot, Maria Luisa Baldassari etc.
Milica has won numerous prizes for solo and ensemble performances at domestic and international competitions. She has also held a great number of solo recitals and chamber music concerts both in the country and abroad (Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Macedonia, Libya etc.). Notably, her recital at the Italian Cultural Centre in Tripoli is noted as the first concert by a Serbian pianist in Africa. She has participated in reviews of modern classical music as well as in festivals BEMUS, OKTOH, Cello Fest, Basomanija and many more. Milica has taken part as an orchestra member in the Faculty of Music Arts Orchestra in Belgrade, and as a guest member in the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Dusan Skovran String Orchestra, Schlesinger Orchestra, Mokranjac Chamber Orchestra, Zemun Chamber Orchestra.
Throughout her career has collaborated with many renowned artists - Sreten Krstic, Uros Lajovic, Dmitry and Alexander Sitkovetsky, Charles Zachary Bornstein, Milos Petrović. With the Chamber Orchestra Mokranjac, the FILUM Orchestra and the Schlesinger Orchestra Milica performed as a soloist. She has also recorded for radio and TV. At the First International Competition Beogradski pobednik in 2005, she was the only pianist who received recognition by the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Serbia and Montenegro for special artistic participation - 'Ruski dom u Beogradu'.
Milica has worked for fifteen years as an independent artistic collaborator at the String Department at the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac, Serbia. In 2019 she become resident of Malta and opens Malta Piano Academy in Mosta and Gozo while maintaining an active soloist career at the same time.
Bojana Sovilj was born in 1981 in Belgrade. At the age of nine, she entered the music school "Dr Vojislav Vučković" in Belgrade in the class of Professor Slobodanka Oparušić. At the age of 12, she was admitted to the preparatory class for young talents at the Novi Sad Music Academy, where she began her collaboration with Professor Yegor Chugaev. In 1994. Bojana entered the high school "Isidor Bajić" in Novi Sad, first in the class of professor Lidija Čugajeva, and then in the class of professor Biljana Dabic. At the age of 16, he entered the art academy in Novi Sad in the class of professor Svetlana Bogino. After completing her basic studies, she enrolled in master's studies in piano in 2004 in the class of professor Svetlana Bogino. She completed her master's studies in 2016 in the class of Milan Miladinović. In the same year, he enrolled in master's studies in piano at the Norwegian Royal Academy in Oslo in the class of professor Jens Harald Bratlie and doctoral studies in piano at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of Maja Rajković. She won numerous awards at national and international competitions, the most significant of which are: Special award at the National Competition for students of music and ballet schools in Belgrade in 1997 (100 points), First prize at the Federal Competition in Kotor in 1997, First prize at the international competition in Paris "Nikolaj Rubinstein" in 1998, and she also participated in competitions in Usti nad Labem in the Czech Republic in 1996 and in the International Training for Young Pianists "Frederick Chopin" in Moscow in 1996 and in many other competitions. She performed at numerous concerts as a soloist, in chamber ensembles and with an orchestra both in Serbia and abroad. She improved at numerous master courses and collaborated with prominent pedagogues such as: Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna, Liv Glaser, Bart van Oort, Kathryn Stott, Jos van Immerseel, Claire Chevallier, Wolfgang Plagge, Konstantin Bogino, Vladimir Ogarkov, Đorđe Milojković , Jokut Mihajlović, Kemal Gekić, Naum Štarkman, Jefgenij Malinjin and others. She has been teaching since 2004, and from 2007 to 2016 she was a piano teacher at the "Mihailo Vukdragović" music school in Šabac. Since 2016, he has been working as a piano teacher in Oslo. Her students showed remarkable results in competitions.
"DANCE IN MUSIC"
Programme:
1. Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac – Three Dances for solo piano
Pianist: Milica Lawrence
2. Rikard Nordraak – Valse Caprice for solo piano
Pianist: Bojana Sovilj
3. Miguel Manzano – from ”Spanish Preludes” - Decadent Sentimental Song for solo piano
Pianist: Sandra Stojanovic
4. Edvard Grieg – Norwegian Dances op. 35 n° 1 and n° 2 for four hands
Pianist: Milica Lawrence, Bojana Sovilj
5. Edvard Grieg – March of the Dwarfs for solo piano
Pianist: Bojana Sovilj
6. Samuel Barber - from Suite ”Souvenirs n° 3” - Pas De Deux Song for four hands
Pianist: Sandra Stojanovic, Bojana Sovilj
7. Armando Ghidoni – Ballade D’une Femme for solo piano
Pianist: Sandra Stojanovic
8. Béla Bartók – Romanian Folk Dances for solo piano
Pianist: Milica Lawrence
9. Johannes Brahms – Hungarian Dances WoO 1 n° 11 and n° 5
Pianist: Sandra Stojanovic, Milica Lawrence
10. Charles Gounod – Marche Funèbre d’une Marionnette for six hands
Pianist: Sandra Stojanovic, Milica Lawrence, Bojana Sovilj
11. Johan Svendsen – Fest Polonaise op. 12 for six hands
Pianist: Sandra Stojanovic, Milica Lawrence, Bojana Sovilj
12. Albert Lavignac – Galop Marche for six hands
Pianist: Sandra Stojanovic, Milica Lawrence, Bojana Sovilj
Venue: Palazzo de La Salle, Malta Society of Arts, Valletta
Date & Time: 22nd August @ 8pm