Mia Pecnik - Piano Recital

For the first time in Bad Schallerbach: The young Croatian pianist Mia Pecnik, who has been awarded over 80 first and special prizes at national and international competitions around the world! Mia Pecnik is a Croatian pianist and student at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne in the class of Prof. Andreas Frölich. Since 2017, she has been perfecting her playing at the Talent Music Master Courses – University of Music in Brescia, where she works with renowned pianists and educators. She began her musical education at the Vatroslav Lisinski Music School in Zagreb. During her school years, she was a scholarship holder of the City of Zagreb for outstanding achievements. She is a prizewinner of the most important Croatian awards for young musicians, including The Young Musician of the Year Award from the Zagreb Philharmonic (2019) and the Ivo Vuljevic Award for the best young Croatian musician (2020). As part of the 45th Samobor Music Autumn, she won the City of Samobor Award as well as the award from the Croatian Composers' Association. In 2022, she was named the winner of the cycle for young musicians "Maestro Vinko Lesic." At national competitions, she won first prizes both in solo and chamber music categories and is a multiple award winner of the Oscar of Knowledge, which is awarded by the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education to the best students in the country. Additionally, she received the City of Sveta Nedelja Award for special achievements in the field of music culture.

At international competitions around the world, she has won over 80 first and special prizes, including César Franck in Brussels, Ciudad de Leganés in Madrid, Danubia Talents in Budapest, EPTA competition in Belgium, Debut International Piano Competition in New York, Ars Nova in Trieste, and Piano Talents in Milan. She participated in the Cleveland Piano Competition in Paris, the Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn, the Paderewski Competition in Poland, and the Liszt Utrecht Competition in the Netherlands. She was a scholarship holder of the Werner Richard – Dr. Carl Dörken Foundation, which included her in the concert cycle "Best of NRW" after a successful audition, allowing her to perform 13 solo recitals in the 2022/2023 season.

She has performed with orchestras around 30 times, making her debut at the age of 11, and at 15, she played for the first time with the Zagreb Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Pavle Dešpalj. With this orchestra, she also performed in Kuwait, at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, as well as in Zagreb, including at the Croatian National Theatre and five times at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall. Additionally, she performed with the Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian National Theatre in Osijek, twice with the Bazzini Consort Orchestra in Brescia, with the Young Symphony Orchestra in Opole (Poland), several times with the Master Orchestra in Verona and Brescia, three times with the Zagreb Soloists, and with the Symphony Orchestra of Croatian Radio (HRT) in the final of the Eurovision Young Musicians competition. In 2020, she played with the Festival Orchestra of the St. Mark's Festival. In 2021, she performed with the Krakow Philharmonic, in 2022 with the Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau at the Città di Cantù Festival in Italy, and in 2023 with the Zagreb Philharmonic at the "Dora Pejacevic" festival, where she performed their Piano Concerto in G minor.

She has appeared solo at numerous festivals, including the Notting Hill Concert Series in London, the American Fine Arts Festival at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Danubia Talents in Budapest, Young Artists in Kraków, Gorczycki Festival, Filharmonia Slaska in Katowice, Chopinfest October Echoes in Belgrade, MuseArt in Bucharest, Marbella Music Festival in Spain, the Opening Concert of the IV. Piano Competition City of Vigo in Spain, Zagreb – City of Female Artists in Trieste, Palermoclassica Festival in Sicily, Klavier Festival Ruhr in Germany, Open Chamber Festival in Dortmund at the Orchestra Center NRW, Salle Cortot in Paris, the 69th Split Summer Festival, Szene Amadeo, the Epidarius Festival in Cavtat, the Pianoloop Festival in Split, Zvjezdano ljeto in Karlovac, the 46th Samobor Music Autumn, the concert season 2021/2022 in Zadar, as well as the concert seasons 2022, 2023, and 2024 in Osijek, the cycle for young musicians Jakov Gotovac in Split, Un fiume di note – Musicae in Opatija and Gorizia, Svetislav Stancic Pleyel in Zagreb, and the Lisianum Art Festival.

She regularly attended master classes with esteemed pianists and educators such as Andrzej Jasinski, Piotr Paleczny, Ewa Poblocka, Dang Thai Son, Jacques Rouvier, Eugen Indjic, Yurij Kot, Milana Chernyavska, Norma Fisher, Pavel Gililov, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Natalia Trull, Konstantin Bogino, Igor Lasko, Vladimir Viardo, Yuri Bogdanov, Lev Natochenny, Grigory Gruzman, Dmitri Alexeev, Ashley Wass, and Ruben Dalibaltayan.

With cellist Petra Kušan and violinist Eva Mach, she is a member of the Samobor Piano Trio, which, despite its short existence, has already had successful performances in Samobor, Zagreb on the Szene Amadeo, and in Vienna. She has recorded for Croatian Radio HRT, Hungarian television, and RTL. In 2022, she recorded the Piano Concerto in G minor by Dora Pejacevic with the Zagreb Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Jan Latham-Koenig for Croatia Records. In addition to numerous performances, she plans to record a solo album in Italy as the winner of the Recording Prize Competition Brescia, as well as the CD "In modo Croatico" with the Samobor Piano Trio.

Program:
Bach/Marcello - Concerto in D minor BWV 974
N. Medtner - Sonata Reminiscenza op. 38
F. Chopin - Ballade in F major, op. 38
Nocturne op. 27 no. 1
Ballade in F minor, op. 52
A. Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas op. 2
M. Ravel - La valse