STEFAN SRETIĆ BIOGRAPHY
Stefan Sretić, D.A., was born on May 13, 1993 in Niš, Serbia. He finished the Elementary and High School of Music in his home town, in the class of prof. Suzana Novaković. He finished his undergraduate and Master piano studies at the Faculty of Arts in Niš in the class of MA Aleksandar Serdar, as a valedictorian, with a GPA of 10/10. He finished his specialist academic
studies at the Faculty of Arts in Belgrade, also in the class of MA Aleksandar Serdar with a GPA
10/10. He obtained his doctoral degree in 2021 on the topic of “The Piano’s Voice – Pianistic
Poetics in Elevating Total Musical Experience/Expression” in the class of Prof. Dorian Leljak, thus becoming the first Doctor of Arts from the piano department in the history of the Academy
of Arts in Novi Sad.
He received many awards in national and international piano competitions during the course of his education: 1 st prize at Republic Competitions in Belgrade: 2001 (100 points), 2003, 2005 (100 points, Laureate), 2009; 1 st prizes at International Young Pianist Festivals in Šabac in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004; 1 st prizes at International Competition in Niš: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 (Laureate); 1 st prize, 100 points and the title of Laureate at the International Competition
“Gradus ad Parnassum” in Kragujevac in 2005. He achieved significant results in the field of chamber music, as well.
He participated in masterclasses by Boris Kraljević (Montenegro), Aleksandar Serdar (Serbia),
Hinko Haas (Slovenia), Sergey Senkov (Russia), and David Westfall (USA).
He was a long-year grantee of the city of Niš while attending the elementary and high school of music. He was awarded the “Sveta Petka” financial award for achieved results at national and international competitions in 2007. He received the ART Foundation and Niš Tobacco Factory award that same year. He received a financial award from the city of Niš as the valedictorian of the Faculty of Arts, University of Niš in 2013 for remarkable achievements during the course of his studies. He was the grantee of the “Dositeja” award for best students in 2014 and 2015 awarded by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Serbia. In 2016 he received the
University of Niš plaque as the most successful graduate of the Faculty of Arts in Niš.
STEFAN SRETIĆ BIOGRAPHY
He performed in many cities in Serbia and abroad. In 2005 he performed at a concert in Kolarac
as the Laureate of the national competition. In 2006 he performed at the First Royal concert at
the White Palace after being invited by His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Aleksandar where he
received a diploma for art achievements and music talent. In 2008 he performed at concerts in Macedonia (Bitola, Štip, Skopje). In 2014 he performed at the 40 th anniversary of the Niš music festivities. He cooperated with Niš conductors MA Ivana Mirović, MA Vladan Karadžov, MA Zoran Stanisavljević, Milena Injac, D.A. and MA Miroslav Ivanković. Together with the Niš Symphony Orchestra he performed at pedagogical concerts in 2008 by playing the Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major.
And then at the opening of the concert season of 2015/2016
by performing the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff, and then in 2018 by performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor. In 2016 he performed at the 5 th “Evmelia” International Festival in Volos, Greece as a soloist and a duo member with euphoniumist Tzu-Hsiang Lin where they performed works of a contemporary Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu. In 2018 he held a recital and masterclass on the topic of “Piano Technics and Interpretation” at the Music Academy in Štip, Macedonia. Together with the baritone Nikola Mikić, he performed a series of all-night concerts in Croatia in 2019. Together with the cellist Andrija Petrović he held two all-nigh concerts in Leskovac and Niš in 2022.
As a jury secretary, he participated at the first International Competition “Constantine The Great”, for the Piano in 2020. As a jury member, he participated at the 9 th International Piano
Competition in Smederevo (ULJUS) for the Piano in 2022).
He composed music for five short films: “Mosaic” (2014), “Spoon”, (2019) produced by the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, “Solčence zahaja“, (2020), “In Memory of…“, (2016) for which he received an award for the best original soundtrack at the “London Independent Film Awards” festival and “Beats of Silence”, (2015) for which he received an award for the best original film soundtrack at the “Moondance” International Film Festival in Boulder, Colorado. He composed a piece called “Sećanje” (“Memory”) for the album “Nebesko je uvek i doveka” (The heavenly is Nalways and until eternity”), published by PGP RTS.
STEFAN SRETIĆ BIOGRAPHY
Which was later performed in Sava Centar in Belgrade and the National Theatre in Niš. He composed the music for the official commercial of the Academy of Arts in Belgrade, with the slogan “Maštaj više! Maštaj bolje” (“Dream more! Dream better”). He obtained his first pedagogical experience working in the Music School in Niš in 2016 as a piano teacher. Since 2018 he has been working as the assistant professor at the department of Piano at the Faculty of Arts in Niš, and as of 2022 he has been working as a D.A. assistant professor. He is an active member of Mensa Serbia, Mensa International.