KREŠIMIR STARČEVIĆ
Biography
Croatian pianist KREŠIMIR STARČEVIĆ attracts attention by creating and performing concerts marking important anniversaries of great composers: Debussy 100 – integral performance of chamber music with piano (2018); Beethoven 250 – concert cycle of piano and chamber music (2020); Saint-Säens 100 – integral performance of chamber music for piano and winds (2021); Detonijada 85 – piano and chamber music by Dubravko Detoni; Bersa & Rachmaninov 150 – piano trios (2023).
In the same year 2023, he also performed songs by these two composers with bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac. Successful performances throughout Croatia, a tour in Brazil and a concert in Vienna resulted in the first studio recording of Blagoje Bersa’s songs, which will be released on a double album by the renowned German label Hänssler Classics at the end of this year.
As a soloist, Starčević has performed with the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Music Academy Symphony Orchestra, and the Zagreb Soloists, under the conductors Pavle Dešpalj, Mladen Tarbuk, Tonči Bilić and Saša Britvić. Among his chamber partners are violinist Marco Graziani, violist Jasna Simonović Mrčela, cellists Latica Anić and Smiljan Mrčela, flutist Antonija Jurin Starčević, clarinetist Bruno Philipp, saxophonist Lovro Merčep and trumpet player Vedran Kocelj. He played with percussionists Marianna Bednarska, Pei Ching Wu, Javier Nandayapa, Luis Camacho Montealegro and Filip Merčep and was an artistic associate of the Universal Marimba Competition in Belgium.
He performed at the festivals Tomarimbando (Portugal), Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Music Evenings, Musical Evening in St. Donatus in Zadar, Music Biennale Zagreb, Zagreb Piano Duo Festival, Samobor Festival, International Percussion Ensemble Week in Bjelovar, Rijeka Summer Nights, Rab Musical Evenings, and the Ranko Filjak Memorial in Petrinja. In 2016, he participated in the integral chronological performance of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas – the first cycle held in the Blagoje Bersa Concert Hall in Zagreb.
He received City of Samobor Award at the Ferdo Livadić competition, the Award for the best artistic collaboration at the Darko Lukić Cycle, the Dean’s Award of the Music Academy in Zagreb, first and second prizes at regional and national Croatian competitions, second prize at the Zlatko Grgošević competition and third prize at the Dino Škrapić’s Foundation Competition. In 2018, he received the City of Velika Gorica Award.
He worked as a guest editor of the Musical Box show of the Educational Program of the Croatian Radio. He was one of the organizers of the student concert cycle Virtuoso in Zagreb (2009-2014), artistic director of the Zagreb Summer Evenings (2014-2015) and executive director of the Croatian Society Aleksandar Scriabin (2019-2023).
Krešimir Starčević started playing the piano only at the age of 12 at the Franjo Lučić Art School in Velika Gorica, under Andreja Markulin. He entered the Zagreb Music Academy in 2007, studying under Đorđe Stanetti, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 2011 with Magna cum laude, and master’s degree in 2013. He spent academic year 2012/2013. at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, studying under Stefan Vladar. He received valuable advice from pianists and pedagogues such as Danijel Detoni, Ruben Dalibaltayan, Grigory Gruzman, Naum Grubert, Avedis Kouyoumdijan, Noel Flores and Karl-Heinz Kämmerling.