Piano recital by Tomaž Petrač

Pianist Tomaž Petrač graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in 1990 under the mentorship of Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. During his studies he honed his skills in numerous classes in Slovenia and abroad under the mentorship of renowned soloists: J. Lateiner, L. Brumberg, P. Badura-Skoda and Antonio Janigro (chamber music).  In 1988 the university awarded Petrač with the Prešeren Prize for his rendition of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor and Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini. After graduation, Petrač was enrolled in the master class of pianist Rudolf Buchbinder in Basel, earning his concert diploma after only four years of studying (1991 – 1995). Following his return to Slovenia, Petrač entered the ranks of freelance artists and later served as piano professor at the Ljubljana Music Academy. Today he is an associate professor and head of the Department of instruments with keys.
Petrač holds annual summer seminars in Fara, Italy and Brač, Croatia. He mostly performs as a soloist or with different orchestras (Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, etc.) and conductors, such as A.Nanut, M.Munih, M.Letonja, S. Robinson, H. Rodmann, N. Aleksejev, I. Gjadrov, N. Bareza, S. Šepić, E. Ambarcumjan, L. Voltolini, D. deVilliers and J. Bruns. Petrač held recitals at world-famous concert halls, such as the grand hall of the Grand Casino Basel, the Gallus Hall at the Cankar Hall in Ljubljana, the Vatroslav Lisinski Grand Hall in Zagreb and at the Beograd National University and performed in Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Hungary and at music centres across former Yugoslavia. Tomaž Petrač held guest appearances at numerous festivals, including "Gričke večeri" and "Sv.Marko" in Zagreb, "Ohridsko ljeto", Festival of 20th century music in Radenci,  Bled Festival and the Ljubljana Festival. Besides appearing in concerts, Petrač also focuses on chamber music and is always interested in showcasing modern Slovene musical creativity by interpreting the works of numerous Slovene composers. Petrač records for the RTV Slovenia archive and has released several albums, including the album Opus di jazz (in collaboration with flutist Matej Grahek). He received the Zlati petelin (Golden Rooster) award for best CD of 2009 in his category.