Nada Kolundžija – Biography

Nada Kolundzija is an internationally renowned concert pianist and one of Serbia’s most prominent performers. A passionate promoter of contemporary music, Ms. Kolundžija has given over 1000 concerts in 18 European countries as well as in the USA, Canada, Mexico, China, India and Thailand. She has won a number of national and international awards for her artistic achievements in contemporary music.

Ms. Kolundžija premiered a vast number of compositions by Serbian and international contemporary composers. Over the years, she has introduced Belgrade audiences to works of the 20th & 21st centuries. She has expanded her repertoire with works by a number of Serbian composers, many of whom dedicated their works to her. Her solo recitals are distinguished by imaginative programs and highly praised interpretations.

Her concert appearances and recordings are sometimes marked by her performance on toy piano, prepared piano, music boxes, soundtracks, live electronics, or two pianos tuned quarter-tone apart. She has developed performances around unusual multimedia concepts and has collaborated with other leading artists.

In addition to her career as a solo performer, Ms. Kolundzija frequently performs with her brother, world-renowned violinist, Jovan Kolundzija. She has been a long-term standing collaborator of the Toronto-based ensemble Les AMIS. Ms. Kolundzija is a founding member of the Ensemble for Different New Music.

Simultaneously with her artistic career, Ms. Kolundzija has taught contemporary performance at the Faculty of Music of Belgrade University (1981–2015). She has inspired a number of young musicians to engage in performing contemporary music and has organized annual concerts with her students for many years. She has been the Artistic Director of Jovan Kolundžija’s  “Guarnerius Art Centre” since its inception in 2001.

Ms. Kolundzija’s enthusiasm for new music includes championing creative experiments in musical expression extending far beyond the piano repertoire. In 2008, she initiated and organized the first International Festival of Electronic Polymedia Art, Electroacoustic and Radiophonic Music in Belgrade, ART OF SOUNDS, which presented more than forty works of composers from Europe, Australia, Canada, the USA, and Asia.

Ms. Kolundzija (Belgrade, b. 1952) has been playing and exploring contemporary music for more than four decades. She studied piano with Ružica Radenković at Music School “Josip Slavenski” in Belgrade. She obtained a BA in piano performance under Professor Dusan Trbojevic at the Music Academy in Belgrade (1975).  She specialized with Professor Zoltan Kocics at the Music Academy “Ferenz Liszt” in Budapest (1977). She has attended a master class of Sandor Falvai in Pecsui, Hugnary (1977).

Meet the Artist – interview
New Magazine – interview

 AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS:

  • 2020. Gold medal winner - Global Music Awards for the album Breathing In Breathing Out: A Little Anthology of Piano Music 1914-2014
  • 2020. Female Performer of the Year 2019. from  the magazine Music Classics
  • 2019. Special awards of the Association of Composers of Serbia “Aleksandar Pavlović” for lifetime achievements in the promotion of Serbian music
  • 2018. –  “ Album of the Year 2017” from  the magazine Music Classics for Breathing In Breathing Out: A Little Anthology of Piano Music 1914-2014
  • 2016. – Lifetime Achievements Award by the Association of the Music Artists of Serbia
  • 1981. and in 1984. – Diplomas at International competitions of the Gaudeamus Foundation, Rotterdam
  • 1981. – Young Artists Award, The Social Youth of Serbia for Results Achieved in the Production of the Youth
  • 1980. – The Best Interpretation of the Year, The Community of Self-managing organizations for Culture of Belgrade
  • 1980. – Award “Seven Secretaries of SKOJ”, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 1979. – 3. price at the International Arnold Schonberg Piano Competition, Rotterdam

 
NOMINATIONS FOR THE CITY OF BELGRADE AWARD:

  • 2015.  – My Little Concert Anthology of Piano Music (3 concerts)
  • 2011.  – Multimedia project John Cage Music Circus “A House Full Of Music”
  • 2006. – Waltz Concert by 20th and 21st Centuries Composers

She was included in the Lexicon of Successful People in Serbia published by the international publishing house Oxford book.

FESTIVALS:
Dubrovnik Summer Festival ( Croatia)
Ohrid Summer Festival ( Macedonia)
Festival of Contemporary Music Biennale Zagreb ( Croatia)
CHINCH Presents Composers in the First Person (Belgrade, Serbia)
Interfest (Bitola, Macedonia)
The Hvar Summer Festival (Croatia)
A Tempo (Podgorica, Montenegro)
BEMUS (Belgrade, Serbia)
Festival of Chamber music (Nis, Serbia)
NOMUS (Novi Sad, Serbia)
Festival Ljubljana (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
BELEF (Belgrade, Serbia)
Contemporary Electronic And Art Music Festival FESTIVAL LASCIAR VIBRARE (Belgrade, Serbia)
Serbian Month in Great Britain International Review of Composers (Belgrade, Serbia)
soundaXis festival (Canada)
Festival of Performing Arts in the Celebration for H.M. the King`s 60th Birthday (Bangkok, Thailand)
Kiev Music Fest ( Ukraine)
Cervantino Festival (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Timisoara Musicala (Timisara, Romania)
PLANUM Festival, (Budapest, Hungary) 
Contrasts (Lviv, Ukraine)
International Contemporary Music Festival Avaton, Limassol, Cyprus
Minimal Musik Festival, Kassel, Germany
II Festival Música Contemporánea Internacional (Alicante, Mexico)
International Piano Fest, Subotica, Serbia

CONCERT HALLS:
Salle Gaveao, Paris/ Accademia Santa Cecilia, Rome / Kennedy Center, Washington, DC / Steinway Hall, New York / The United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, New York / New England Conservatory, Boston /Berklee College, Boston / La Chapelle, Montreal / McGill Hall (Salle Pollach Hall), Toronto /Great Hall Hart House University of Toronto / Nehru Memorial Auditorium, New Deli / St Paul’s Actors Church, Covent Garden. London / Kolarac Hall, Belgrade / Concert Hall Square of Freedom, Minsk, Belarus / Kosovel Hall, Ljubljana / Brown Hall, Boston/  Theater am Turm, Frankfurt/  Lisinski, Zagreb / Goethe Institut, Amsterdam /Ruthman`s Violin Shop, Boston / De Doelen, kleine zaal, Amsterdam / Kuiperspoorttheater Middelburg, The Nederlans/ Music Gallery 345 – Toronto / The Arts & Letters Club of Toronto / Jane Mallett Theatre (St. Lawrence Center For The Arts) – Toronto …

Her interpretations were captured on many recordings made for radio and TV stations in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia.

Discography as a soloist or chamber musician