First time guest 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 a 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 prize from the city of Samobor as well as the prize from the Croatian Composers Association. In 2022, she was crowned the winner of the cycle for young musicians "Maestro Vinko Lesic". At national competitions, she won first prizes both as a soloist and in chamber music, and she is a multiple winner of the Oscar of Knowledge, awarded by the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education to the best students in the country. Furthermore, she received the award from the city of Sveta Nedelja 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 admitted her to the concert cycle "Best of NRW" after a successful audition, allowing her 13 solo recitals in the 2022/2023 season.
With orchestra, she has performed about 30 times, making her debut at the age of 11; at the age of 15, she performed for the first time with the Zagreb Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Pavle Dešpalj. She also performed with this orchestra in Kuwait, at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and 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 performed with the festival orchestra of the St. Mark's Festival. In 2021, she collaborated 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 performed solo at numerous festivals, including the Notting Hill Concert Series in London, the American Fine Arts Festival at Carnegie Hall in New York, 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 masterclasses 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 at the Szene Amadeo, and in Vienna.
She has made recordings 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, this year, as the winner of the Recording Prize Competition Brescia, she plans to record a solo album in Italy 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
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
