Nikola
Starcevic was born in 1980 in Loznica (Serbia). A student of Professor Vera
Ogrizovic, he is a graduate of the Belgrade Music Academy and now lives in
Belgrade (Serbia) and works as a classical guitar teacher. He plays and
composes very different kinds of music for guitar, chamber and symphonic
orchestra. He uses a wide range of musical languages — neo-baroque,
neo-classical, neo-romantic, jazz, world music, and the most characteristically
in his pieces — Balkan style. Situated as he is in the center of the Balkans,
surrounded by countries with a rich culture, Starcevic’ music is influenced by
the unstable region, colored by nostalgia and strange sadness, but brimming
with energy. The music is like a handwoven carpet, colorful and full of
beautiful ornaments, but when you look more carefully and closely, you will see
all the beauty of colors and art of every single pattern, thread and string
woven in. Many of his pieces are written combining classical and Balkan musical
style, harmony, form and structure.
Nikola won a few important prizes for
composition, like the USA Songwriting Competition in 2005 in the World Music
category with a piece for 3 guitars entitled Water-mill, the JoAnn Falletta
International Composition Competition for Guitar 2007 Buffalo, New York, with
Asiana V.
The composer says: Asiana V is a part of a cycle called ASIANA which consists of five solo guitar pieces written in a similar style. As the title suggest, there are some elements of Asian music, recognizable in the use of the pentatonic scale. It is actually a fusion of a few styles: neo-classical, neo-romantic and jazz. Except for a lyrical part, the piece is dynamic, effective, with a lot of strong accents, especially on chords. The harmony is tonal. This piece requires a good technique, a powerful sound and a disciplined use of articulation.
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