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The Montenegrin pianist, Ratimir Martinović, completed the elementary music school in Kotor; then continued his education in Novi Sad at the "Isidor Bajic" Music school and at the Academy of Art in the class of the world-renowned pianist Kemal Gekic. He graduated in 1999 playing in one night J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), L.v. Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, Frédéric Chopin's Four Balllades, and Prokofiev's Toccata to great critical aclaim. He received his Masters degree in 2002, playing an all J.S. Bach program. At present, Martinović works at the Academy of Arts, as the youngest piano professor. He has had advanced studies with well-known pedagogues and pianists such as Karl-Heinz Kammerling, Hiroko Nakamura, Jacques Rouvier, Arie Vardi, Sergio Perticaroli, Arbo Valdma, Alexei Nasedkin, Jelena Richter, Victor Liadov ans Marian Ribicky.
He is the winner of domestic and international awards and tributes: 1st prize at Montenegro National competition, Kotor in 1990 & 1991; 1st Prize at the Yugoslav piano Competition, Nis in 1993; 1st Prize at the Dunav-Donau-Denjub International Piano Competition, Novi Sad in 1993; 1st First Prize at International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition, Taipei in 1996; Two Special Prizes (awarded by the president of the jury), for a compulsory author and a performance of F. Chopin’s works, Taipei in 1996; 1st Prize at the “FLAME” International Competition, Paris in 1997; 4th Prize, Bronze Medal at South Missouri International Piano Competition, Joplin, USA in 1994; Special prize from the University of Novi Sad, for outstanding talent, in 1997 & 1998; Prize for the »Most promissin young artist of the year«, (ZAMTES) Montenegro in 1999.
After initial successes in piano competitions at very early age, Ratimir Martinović withdrew from the competition scene, devoting his time to playing concerts. He has performed in over 350 recitals, chamber concerts, concertos with orchestra. He played in all major domestic concert halls such as the Sava centar, Kolarac Memorial Hall, the Montenegrin National Theater, the Novi Sad Sinagogue, the Serbian National Theatre, Subotica Town Hall, as well as on podiums in Rome (Sala Baldini), Salzburg (Leopold Mozart Hall), Bonn, London (St. James Picadilly, St. John's Smith Square), Taipei (Small Hall of the National Theater), Miami (FIU Great Hall), Helsinki (Sibelius Academy Hall), Warsaw, Hamamatsu, Paris (UNESCO hall), Helsingborg (Great hall of Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra), Cologne (Deutche Welle Hall), Zagreb (Lisinski Hall), Luxembourg (Auditoire Banque de Luxembourg), Turku and elsewhere.
Ratimir Martinović plays as soloist with orchestras such as the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, the Young European Soloists Chamber Orchestra (South-Eastern Europe), Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, Saint George String Orchestra, the Radio-Televison Serbia Symphony Orchestra, the Stanislav Binicki Symhony Orchestra, Academy of Arts Symphony Orchestra, Nis Symphony Orchestra, Tapiolla Simfonietta, Ciuddad de Juarez Chamber Orchestra, colaborating with conductors such as Emil Tabakov, Peter Sundkvist, Carlos Garcia Ruiz, David Porceline, Andrej Bursać, Aleksandar Ostrovski, Angel Surev, Pavle Medakovic and Petar Ivanović.
Ratimir Martinović regularly performs in festivals such as, NOMUS (Novi Sad Music Festival), NIMUS (Nis Music Festival), Mozart Point Festival (Ljubljana), BEMUS (Belgrade Music Festival), Festival of the Nations (Rome), Beethoven Fest (Bonn), Budva Summer Festival, OKTOH (Kragujevac), KotorArt (Kotor).
atimir Martinović is also an experienced chamber musician performing regularly with violinist Roman Simović (2005 winner of Lipizer competition), the Rubicon, Tippett (Great Britain) and TAJJ string quartets, cellists Bozidar Vukotić and Dragan Djordjević, percussionist Benn Toth and others.
Ratimir Martinović has recorded for Radio Television Montenegro, Radio Television Serbia, POLTEL(Poland), Deutche Welle (Germany), NHK (Japan), SWT(Sweden), Luxembourg Television, HRT (Croatia), Radio Slovenia and Radio Romania. He has recorded two CD's, one with the works by Bach-Tausig, W.A. Mozart, F. Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Prokofiev and J.S. Bach's Goldberg variations (BWV 988).
Ratimir Martinović initiated a successful collaboration with the TV director Misko Milojevic in the field of visualisation of classical music opening new dimensions of visual and multimedial interpretation of music. To date, he has made seven video-clips (Alberto Ginastera, Prokofiev, F. Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninov, J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ravel) produced by Radio Television Montenegro and Radio Television Serbia, brodcast with great success, so far, in Serbia, The Czech Republic, Canada, Bulgaria, Tunisia. In 2006 a DVD with all 7 classical music spots will be released by KotorArt Production. Five documentary movies have been recorded about his work, of which the last one, »The Heaven And Soul« has won first prize in the International TV Festival in Albena, Bulgaria in 2004, and was officially the »Best musical TV production in 2004.« in Radio-Televison Serbia.
Ratimir Martinović made his conducting debut in 2001. with the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, conducting Symphonies by Haydn and W.A. Mozart and playing and conducting the W.A. Mozart Piano Concerto F Major KV 459. He is the founder and Artistic director of KotorArt Music festival, held every year in Kotor, Montenegro, bringing to this medieval town ensembles such as the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Vojvodina Symphony, the Split Chamber Orchestra, “LADO” and soloist and teachers such as Mikhail Voskresensky, Aleksandar Madzar, Konstantin Bogino, Grigory Zhislin, Itamar Golan, Lovro Pogorelich, Francesco Libetta, and many others. Martinović is President of EPTA Montenegro (European Piano Teachers Association). |
