ROMAN & FRIENDS: MUSICAL COMPOUNDS

ROMAN SIMOVIĆ, violinist, and concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra, with his brilliant virtuosity and inborn musicality, has conquered the world’s most important concert stages, such as the Bolshoi Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Mariinsky Hall in St. Petersburg, the Grand Opera House in Tel-Aviv, and the Rudolfinum Hall in Prague, among others. He has won some of the most esteemed violin competitions: Premio Rodolfo Lipizer (Italy), Sion-Valais (Switzerland), Henryk Wieniawski (Poland), and others. As a soloist, Simović has performed with many of the most famous orchestras and most sought-after conductors, among them Gergiev, Pappano, Harding, Jarvi, Belohlavek, Heras Casado, and others. He regularly performs at the world's greatest music festivals such as the Verbier Festival, White Nights, the Easter Festival Valery Gergiev, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, KotorArt, BEMUS, NOMUS, and collaborates with a wide range of artists such as L. Kavakos, E. Kissin, Y. Wang, G. Capuson, M. Maisky, S. Mintz, I. Golan, J. Rachlin, and others. Simović has held master classes in the US, the UK, South Korea, Serbia, Montenegro, Israel, and Italy. Roman Simović plays a 1709 Antonio Stradivari violin. In the current season, he is realizing a compact disc featuring Concertos by Tchaikovsky and Glazunov with the conductor Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra, as well as 24 Caprices by N. Paganini.

CECILIA ZIANO, violinist, has been the first violin of the Lyskamm String Quartet since 2014, while also serving as a Principal Second Violin of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. She began studying violin at the age of four under Maestro Fabrizio Pavone, using the Suzuki method. She graduated from the Conservatory of Turin under Professor Christine Anderson, and has also studied under Professors Dora Schwarzberg, Adrian Pinzaru, and Salvatore Accardo. Cecilia Ziano graduated from the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule in Berlin, under Professor Kolja Blacher. Since 2013, she has been collaborating with the Berliner Philharmoniker, and in 2014, she won the audition for the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. She participated in the Spira mirabilis Project, which strongly influenced her musical development. Along with the other members of the Lyskamm Quartet, she finished her master’s studies under Professor Heime Müller in Lübeck and has won several awards at international competitions such as Possehl Wettbewerb (Lübeck), Schubert und die Moderne (Graz), G. Bergamo (Lugano), and Borletti Buitoni (Trieste).

MILENA SIMOVIĆ, violist, completed her undergraduate and master’s studies at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under Professor Maja Jokanović, with whom she later continued her specialist studies. She also completed master’s studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, under Professor Krzysztof Smietana. Milena Simović has appeared at every distinguished festival in the region, as well as at festivals in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Brazil, and the United States. She regularly performs as a soloist and in chamber ensembles with renowned artists such as Itamar Golan, Danilo Rossi, Gordan Nikolić, Roman Simović, Ksenija Janković, and Giovanni Gnocchi. She has collaborated with many eminent conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, and Gustavo Dudamel, among others. Milena Simović is a member of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of conductor Maxim Vengerov, and regularly performs with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in London. She plays a 1740 Paolo Antonio Testore viola.

ROBERT SMISSEN, violist, won a scholarship to Chethams School of Music and is a distinguished graduate of the Guildhall School of Music. After playing with the European Community Youth Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, he took the position of Principal Viola with the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra. In the renowned Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra (ASMF), Smissen has served as the leader of the viola section for more than thirty years. He often performs as a soloist with the orchestra, and as a member of the ASMF chamber ensemble and the Pro Arte Piano Quartet he has performed and recorded all over the world. His recent recordings include the complete Johannes Brahms’ piano quartets and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf’s Concerto. Robert Smissen is regularly invited to play with established ensembles of today, including the Brodsky and Allegri string quartets, the Fleesensee Festival with Julia Fischer, and the World Orchestra for Peace. He enjoys teaching in a range of forms - as a pedagogue, coach, i.e., an educator, in projects that cover a broad age range, including those focused on students with special needs.

GIOVANNI GNOCCHI, cellist, made his debut as a soloist at a concert in which the famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma also performed. He has studied with prominent pedagogues such as Rocco Filippini, Mario Brunello, Enrico Bronzi, Luca Simoncini, and Clemens Hagen, among others. He was a laureate of the Prague Spring Cello Competition and the Antonio Janigro Competition (Zagreb). Gnocchi won the Parkhouse Award issued by London Wigmore Hall, and after one competition in 2012, was appointed Cello Professor at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. For eight years he was a Solo-Cellist of Camerata Salzburg, during which time he also served for one season as the Guest Principal Cellist in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London. He has also invited to collaborate with the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Since 2008, Gnocchi has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Christopher Hogwood, Daniel Cohen, and others, and as a chamber musician he has collaborated with, among others, Leonidas Kavakos, Aleksandar Madžar, Gordan Nikolić, Roman Siimović, Pierre Amoyal, and Ilya Gringolts. In the current season, Gnocchi is performing the most important cello concertos by the authors from a variety of epochs, including Dvořák, Schumann, Boccherini, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, and Gulda.

DRAGAN ĐORĐEVIĆ, cellist, first studied violin, and then cello, under Professor Relja Ćetković at the School for Musically Gifted Children in Ćuprija. He studied at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under Professor Sandra Belić and received advanced training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and the Hochschule für Musik in Essen. He has also studied with renowned cellists such as Mischa Maisky, Boris Pergamenschikow, and Nada Kecma. He is a laureate of multiple international competitions and has received numerous special awards. As a soloist, Đorđević has performed with the Bergische Symfoniker, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Macedonian Symphony Orchestra, the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kammerphilharmonie Amadé, the Belgrade Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of RTV Slovenia, the Symphony Orchestra of South-Eastern Europe, the Bamberg Chamber Orchestra, the St George Strings Ensemble, and the Dušan Skovran Chamber Ensemble, among others. He is a member of the Rubicon String Quartet, performs with the Double Sens ensemble, and has collaborated with renown musicians such as Shlomo Mintz, Itamar Golan, Emil Tabakov, Tan Dun, Roman Simović, Nemanja Radulović, and Peter Sculthorpe, among others. Dragan Đorđević is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade and the Artistic Director of the School for Musically Gifted Children in Ćuprija. He plays a 1797 cello by James & Henry Banks.