Hrvatski

Tomsic, Dubravka | pianist

Date created: 28.05.2015.
  • More
  • Performance

The celebrated Slovenian pianist Tomsic enjoys "something of a cult status among pianophiles" (Gramophone Magazine), with performances that convey "heroic power and Olympian vision" (Los Angeles Times) as well as "splendor, drama, passion, poetry, and subtlety" (Boston Globe). The only protégé of legendary pianist Artur Rubinstein, who considered her "a perfect and marvelous pianist," she gave her first public recital at age five and later embarked on an international career that took her to five continents, performing more than 5000 concerts to date.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Tomsic has been heard in recitals at major halls of Munich, Tokyo, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Budapest, Madrid, Amsterdam, London and Rome and at the international festivals of Dubrovnik, Vienna, Prague, Naples, Dresden, Paris, Mexico City, Joliette (Canada), Gilmore, Newport, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart in New York City. Equally in demand as a soloist with orchestra, she has appeared with the Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Czech Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, Dresden Staatskapelle, Moscow State Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Mexico City Philharmonic and the symphonies of Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and the major orchestras of Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide).

More than 90 recordings of recital works and piano concertos released since 1987 attest to Dubravka Tomsic’s status as a major recording artist. In 2003 she won the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque of the Franz Liszt Society in Budapest for her album on the ipo label, featuring an all-Liszt program that includes the B Minor Sonata. She can be heard on Vox Classics, Koch International and other labels. She collaborated with great conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Hans Graf, Bernard Haitink, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Rudolf Kempe, Neemi Jaarvi, Herbert Blomstedt, John Pritchard, Edo de wart, Carlos Miguel Prieto, among many more.

Ms. Tomsic began her studies at the Ljubljana Academy of Music with Zora Zarnik and at age twelve moved to New York on the recommendation of Claudio Arrau to study with Katherine Bacon at the Juilliard School. While still a teenager she earned a Bachelor of Science and Diploma in Piano with two special awards and made her New York Philharmonic, Town Hall and Chicago recital debuts. She also gave a recital at Carnegie Hall about which Artur Rubinstein wrote a glowing account in his memoirs My Many Years.

As a young pianist, Dubravka Tomsic won many awards and international competitions and now serves as juror for several major international piano competitions, including the Van Cliburn, Leeds, Beethoven, Clara Haskil, Bach, Schumann, Santander, AXA Dublin, the International Piano-e-Competition in Minneapolis and Cleveland. Ms. Tomsic gives master classes in Europe and in the U.S. and is Emeritus Professor at the Ljubljana University Academy of Music.

She is honorary member of the Slovenian Philharmonic since 1995 and she was officially awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Ljubljana by the city’s mayor in 2005. Ms. Tomsic is the Dame among Slovenian artists and the Cultural Ambassador in promoting Slovenian pianism to all parts of the world.