Croatian percussionist and marimbist Ivana Bilić is an established world-class artist, and one of the most versatile musicians around. Ivana's successful performances earned her a place as Assistant Professor at the Zagreb Music Academy, and shortly after graduation she became the principal timpanist of the Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian Radio-Television.
Ivana Bilić was born in 1970 in a family of musicians. She studied at the Zagreb Music Academy with Professor Igor Lešnik and attended masterclasses with renowned percussionists such as K. Abe, S. Fink, K. Tresselt and J. Geoffrey.
Ivana Bilić performs regularly with the main symphony and chamber orchestras at home and appears in concerts across Europe : with the Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian Radio-Television, the Danish Radio Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Danubia Symphony Orchestra, the Split Chamber Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic, Zagreb Soloists, the Rijeka Opera Orchestra and the Slovenian Philharmonic.
As a soloist or member of a chamber group, she performs at international festivals such as Music Biennale Zagreb, Musicora Paris, Melos Ethos Bratislava, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Trieste Contemporanea, Tempus Fugit Tel Aviv, Julian Rachlin and Friends. Participations in marimba festivals include the Festival de Marimbistas in Chiapas, Mexico (2004), the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in Boston (2004), the Belgium Marimba Competition and Festival (2004), PASIC (2002, 2006), PAS Italy Percussion Days (2006) and the Alcoy course in Spain (2007).
For her outstanding career, Ivana Bilić received several awards such as the Milka Trnina Award (2003) and the Best Young Croatian Artist Award (1998). Two of her CDs won Porin Discography Awards of the best classical recording.
Ivana arranges and co-edits new works for percussion and records regularly for radio and television. Her original pieces for marimba and marimba duo have been published by Malletworks (USA). She is an active lecturer in marimba and percussion clinics and masterclasses in the USA, South America and Europe.
Her recent concert appearances include acclaimed tours in Slovenia and Croatia with Schwantner’s percussion concerto and Mac Millan's Veni Veni Emmanuel. She also received enthusiastic reviews for her performances of Philip Glass’s Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists with Jonathan Haas, and Igor Kuljerić’s marimba concerto.
Other engagements in 2007 included participation in the Zagreb Music Biennale and the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in Appleton, Wisconsin and numerous concerts as a soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras in Croatia.
Ivana performs on Marimbaone instruments.
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