„. . . It is important,
that you don't close the keyboard cover
when you finish your studies.
Your piano should become part of your life“
- Sabrina Zelić
„high-quality musician with a good feeling
for form and sound“

- Nikolaj Petrov

„...Delicate musicality,
a simplicity of gestures,
lyrical sensibility,
virtuosity,
a thoughtful interpretation,
feeling for musical form and sound,
rich inner world,
meaningful piano performance
the skill of mastering timbres as a specific parameter,
an exceptional dynamic potential,
temperament,
temper and interesting personality...“
are but a few of the characteristics attributed to Sabrina Zelić
by critics and her former educators and professors

“Delicate musicality, a simplicity of gestures, lyrical sensibility, virtuosity, a thoughtful interpretation, feeling for musical form and sound, rich inner world, meaningful piano performance, the skill of mastering timbres as a specific parameter, an exceptional dynamic potential, temper and interesting personality”

are but a few of the characteristics attributed to Sabrina Zelić by critics and her former educators and professors.

Sabrina Zelić was born in 1967. She attended and finished her elementary school and musical high school in Sarajevo (under supervision of Professor Neda Stanković). During that period she took part in many local, national and international competitions, winning numerous national and international awards as both soloist and a member of the piano duo with Boris Kraljević.

In 1985 she entered the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb to study piano. She finished her studies under supervision of the renowned pianist, Professor Pavica Gvozdić. During the studies she had numerous solo concerts and chamber music concerts. Zelić’s musicality, temper and high technical skills are best manifested in her romantic and impressionist repertoire.

Sabrina Zelić’s marked qualities won her a government fellowship so she continued her studies at the prestigious P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory where she underwent advanced training under supervision of Professor G. Mirvis (assisted by I. Plotnikova). Continuing her advanced training at the Moscow Conservatory, she completed her postgraduate studies in 1996, under supervision of Professor Nikolai Petrov, who describes her as a “high-quality musician with a good feeling for form and sound”. During her studies she collaborated with renowned educators and pianists such as Evgeny Timakin, Rudolf Kehrer, Arbo Valdma, Alexander Satz and Elisaveta Ginzburg.

Since her first solo recital at the age of 13 to the present day, Sabrina Zelić has been permanently active as a piano performer. She has had some 200 solo recitals in numerous cultural hubs of Croatia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Russia, Tatarstan, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. She has regularly collaborated with the renowned Russian pianist Rustem Kudoyarov in a chamber ensemble.

Sabrina Zelić has participated in the projects of Zagreb and Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestras. In the latter one she performed as a soloist under the baton of Emir Nuhanović (the 1996 premiere of Asim Horozić’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra). In 2006 she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C-major KV 467 with the same orchestra, under the direction of Samra Bučan.

In 2010 – the “Chopin Year” – she performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F-minor, Op. 21 together with the Rucner String Quartet. The same year, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland awarded Sabrina Zelić with the Medal for Merit to Culture for her personal dedication, a series of successful concerts in the Chopin Year and her contribution to the Fryderyk Chopin Society. She received the medal from H. E. Wieslaw Tarka, Polish ambassador to the Republic of Croatia.

The concerts of Sabrina Zelić were aired by Croatian Radiotelevision and by the radio and TV stations of Moscow, Brjansk, Detmold, Florence, Udine, Sarajevo, Priština, Belgrade, Mostar and Skopje. She performs at such musical events as European Music Days in Munich, Ohrid Summer, Sarajevo Winter, October Culture Days, Sarajevo Summer, Europe-Asia Contemporary Music Festival in Tatarstan and the international chamber music festival Lubenice Music Nights.

As well as giving many concerts, she is dedicated to her teaching, passing on the tradition of the Zagreb Piano School and complementing it with the experience and methods of the Russian Piano School. As part of her efforts in this area, she translated and edited the Russian music educator S. Ajzebstandt’s book Tchaikovsky: Children’s Album, published in 2013 in the music and dance educators’ periodical Tonovi.

Sabrina Zelić is particularly proud of her work as an educator. Since 1998 she has been teaching at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb – the oldest and largest institution of higher music education in the Republic of Croatia. She feels privileged to have an opportunity to actively contribute to the reputation and high excellence of music education for which this institution is known in Croatia and abroad.

“… It is important that you don’t close the keyboard cover when you finish your studies. Your piano should become part of your life”.

Sabrina Zelić