SANJA BIZJAK BIOGRAPHY
Surrounded by music from the earliest childhood, Sanja started learning piano at the age of six at the Music school “Kosta Manojlović” in Zemun. Alongside her professor Zlata Maleš, with whom she studied until the age of twelve, she thrived very quickly, and at the age of eight she played Haydn Piano Concerto D major in the Grand Hall of the Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment. This was succeeded by a series of concerts, among which the debut in the Hall of the Auditorium of Louvre, as well as, the collaboration with the Belgrade Philharmonic, Essen Philharmonic, Ukrainian Symphony Orchestra, Yugoslav Army Orchestra, St. George
string ensemble, performances in Serbia, Russia, Japan, Brazil, Australia, France, Romania,
Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Germany and Hungary, as well as numerous
recordings for the radio and TV in these countries.
She gained experience at the competitions for young pianists in Bucharest, Košice, Paris and Novgorod, where she earned the highest acknowledgements, which were followed with the
first prize at the “Czerny” Competition in Prague, second prize at the “Horowitz” Competition in Kiev and the first prize at the International Piano Competition in Valencia in
2010, as well as a third prize at the International “Jeunesses Musicales” Competition Belgrade in 2019.
At the age of twelve she started her studies at the Paris Conservatory with professor Jacques Rouvier as the youngest student in her generation and with full scholarship of the French government. In 2004 she finished her studies in Paris at the top of her class with a unanimous decision by the jury. She continued her studies with Alexander Satz at the Academy in Gratz and Eliso Virsaladze in Munich.
Sanja Bizjak received the scholarship at the Royal College in London, where she studied with professor Dmitri Alexeev. Also, she attended masterclasses held by renewed pianists such as Moris Burg, Menahem Presler,
Ferenc Radoš, Igor Lasko, Feliks Gotlib, Stanislav Počekin i Itamar Golan.
With her sister Lidija, in 2002 she formed piano duo which performs with success at the prestigious music festivals such as BBC Proms in London, La Folle Journée in Nantes and in Tokyo, Rok d’Anteron, as well as at BEMUS, NOMUS and SOMUS festivals in Serbia. In 2005 they won two special awards at the “ARD” competition in Munich which opened the doors to performing with some of the most prestigious orchestras – Orchestre National de France, Sinfonia Varsovia, French Radio Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
SANJA BIZJAK BIOGRAPHY
Sanja’s discography was greeted wholeheartedly by the critics – her first solo CD came out in 2013 for the French label DiscAuverS with complete Études-Tableaux by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Duo Bizjak recorded the complete works of Stravinsky and for the French label Mirare, together with concertos by Poulenc and Martinu with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker for the English label Onyx.