Maja Bogdanovic

"Serbian-born cellist Maja Bogdanovic, gave an outstanding recital that offered an uncommon tonal beauty of distinctive character, interpretative maturity and technical security." Dennis Rooney, The Strad "Cellist Maja Bogdanovic is a real thing : a true, soulful artist with a brazenly expressive sound who has a lot to show off, but who is never pretentious." - New York Concert Review Following her stunning recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall The Strad hailed Maja Bogdanovic for “an outstanding performance of exceptional tonal beauty and great maturity of interpretation.” Since then, she has taken her place among today’s foremost cellists. Concerto engagements have included the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Tokyo Philharmonic, Minas Gerais Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, and the Slovenian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the U.S., Ms. Bogdanovic made her debut at the 2017 Grand Teton Music Festival under the baton of Cristian Macelaru. She has also performed with the Forth Worth Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Lubbock Symphony, Portland Symphony, Columbus Symphony and Princeton Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Maja Bogdanovic is a frequent guest at leading chamber music festivals and worlds leading venues such as Kuhmo Festival in Finland,, Amsterdamse Cello Biënnale, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Folle Journée/Nantes, Storioni Festival, and the Stift International Chamber Music Festival in The Netherlands, performing with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Julian Rachlin, Nino Gvetadze, Daniel Rowland, Nemanja Radulovic and Marianna Schiriniyan. Maja has produced several internationally-released CDs for labels Lyrinx and Nimbus and her recital disc ‘Eastern wind’ (Orchid Classics), with pianist Maria Belooussova, dedicated to Glière and Rachmaninoff received rave reviews. Maja’s latest CD release (Challenge Records) with violinist Daniel Rowland, ‘Pas de deux’, includes world premiere recordings of works by Penderecki, Vasks, Sollima and Nisinman, and was described as ‘a magical meeting of cello and violin’ by leading Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad. Within her wide repertoire, Maja Bogdanovic devotes a special place to contemporary music. She has premiered works of Nicolas Bacri, Sofia Gubaidulina, Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Sawyers, Eric Tanguy, Benjamin Yusupov, Natasha Bogojević, Isidora Žebeljan, among others. Her collaboration with Krzysztof Penderecki began with the Belgrade Philharmonic in 2008, and with the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana, where she performed his Cello Concerto No. 2 under the baton of the composer. This led to several further collaborations, such as with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, the Orchestra National de Pays de la Loire and the Krakow Philharmonic. Amongst a select group of the world’s leading artists, including Lorin Maazel, Anne-Sophie Mutter and others, she was invited to play for special performances in Warsaw and Krakow celebrating Maestro Penderecki’s 80th and 85th birthdays. In 2019, Maja recorded Krzysztof Penderecki’s Second Cello Concerto under the guidance of Maestro Penderecki, for the DUX Label. Laureate of numerous international competitions, Ms. Bogdanovic won First Prize at the third Aldo Parisot Cello Competition in South Korea and received the Second Prize and Special Audience Award at the Gaspar Cassado International Competition in Tokyo. She was awarded the Special Prize at the Concours Rostropovich in Paris and, in the same year. Born in Belgrade, Serbia, Maja began playing the cello at a very early age, studying with Professor Nada Jovanovic in Zemun. She went on to graduate with a First Prize from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she completed her postgraduate course with Michel Strauss; while there, she also studied chamber music with Itamar Golan and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Following her studies in Paris, she pursued further training at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Professor Jens Peter Maintz, as well as Bernard Greenhouse, Alban Gerhardt, and Heinrich Schiff. Maja’s instrument was custom made for her by French luthier Frank Ravatin. She lives in Amsterdam with her partner Daniel Rowland violinist and their daughter Lily.