PORTRAIT OF SCRIABIN

Sabrina Zelić graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of renowned pianist Pavica Gvozdić in 1990. Thanks to her musicality, temperament, and a high degree of technical skill, she won a state scholarship to study at the prestigious Moscow University P. I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, where in 1991/92 academic year she attended a specialization program in the class of Prof. Henrietta Mirvis with the assistance of Irina Plotnikova. At the Conservatory she also completed her postgraduate studies in 1996 in the class of the great Russian pianist Nikolai Petrov, who describes her as an excellent musician with a good sense of form and sound. During her education, she held numerous solo and chamber concerts and participated in many regional, national, and international competitions, winning numerous awards and recognitions. She also acquired her knowledge working with eminent artists such as Evgeny Timakin, Rudolf Kehrer, Arbo Valdma, Alexander Satz and Elizaveta Ginzburg.

Ever since her first solo recital, held at the age of 13 in the class of Prof. Neda Stanković, Sabrina Zelić has been continuously present on the piano scene. She has given numerous solo recitals in cultural centers and renowned halls throughout Europe, including Croatia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain, Russia, Tatarstan, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a soloist, she performed with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra and collaborated in the projects of the Zagreb Philharmonic. In cooperation with Croatian and international colleagues, she has given numerous chamber performances. Her exceptional successes in chamber music include concerts of Russian and Croatian contemporary music held in Moscow and Kazan. Special mention must be made of the performance of Bach’s and Mozart’s concertos for two pianos in collaboration with the Kazan Chamber Orchestra, performed at the Rachmaninoff Hall of the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow.

She has guested at many festivals, including the European Music Days in Munich, Ohrid Summer, Sarajevo Winter, October Days of Culture, Tatarstan’s Europe–Asia Contemporary Music Festival, the Lubenice Musical Evenings International Chamber Music Festival, as well as the International Chamber Music Festival in Vukovar. She has recorded with Croatian Radio-Television and Radio-Televisions Moscow, Bryansk, Detmold, Florence, Udine, Sarajevo, Priština, Belgrade, Mostar and Skopje.

In 2010, in recognition of her series of successful performances in Chopin’s jubilee year and her commitment and contribution to the work of the Fryderyk Chopin Society, Poland’s Ministry of Culture honored her with the Order of Merit for Polish Culture. She works diligently on the promotion of the Russian piano school and related pedagogical literature. Her translations of sections from the book “P. I. Tchaikovsky’s Children’s Album” (authored by S. Eisenstadt) were published in Tonovi, a Croatian journal for music and dance teachers. Her translation of A. Maykapar’s book “J. S. Bach’s Two-Part Inventions” was published in 2021. In addition to her concert performances, she dedicates herself to pedagogical work at Zagreb University’s Academy of Music, integrating the traditions of the Zagreb and the Russian piano schools.