Ivana Bilic
Born in 1970, Ivana Bilic studied percussion with Prof Igor Lesnik and graduated from the Zagreb Music Academy in 1993. She attended various masterclasses with Keiko Abe, Siegfried Fink, Klaus Tresselt and Jean Geoffroy.
Ivana has made solo appearances with the Croatian and Danish Radio Symphony Orchestras, Slovenian Philharmony, Danubia Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists, Varazdin Chamber Orchestra, Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Split Navy Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Ivan Zajc Opera in Rijeka.
She has performed in several international festivals (including Music Biennale Zagreb, Musicora Paris, Melos Ethos Bratislava, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Trieste Contemporanea, Tempus Fugit Tel Aviv, Zeltsman Marimba Festival (Wisconsin), Julian Rachlin and Friends…) and is a member of several chamber music groups. In 1998, she received the Best Young Croatian Artist Award.
Since 1996, she has been 1st timpanist of the Croatian Radio Symphony Orchestra and part of the faculty at the Zagreb Music Academy. She regularly records for radio and television. Ivana has received two prestitious Porin Awards (2001 and 2004) for her debut solo CD ‘Follow me’ and for her solo appearance in Igor Kuljeric’s Marimba Concerto on the CD ‘Igor Kuljeric – Contemporary Croatian Composers’.
She regularly gives marimba and percussion clinics and masterclasses in the USA, South America and Europe. Recent work has included:
- Festival de marimbistas, Chiapas, Mexico, 2004
- Zeltsman Marimba Festival, Boston, USA, 2004
- Belgium Marimba Competition and Festival 2004 (guest artist)
- Appearances at PASIC 2002 and 2006
- PAS Italy Percussion Days (jury member and clinician)
- Alcoy 2007 percussion course, Spain (guest artist and clinician)
She has received enthusiastic reviews for her performances of Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto, MacMillan`s Veni Veni Emmanuel percussion concerto, Philip Glass’ Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists with Jonathan Haas, and Igor Kuljeric’s Marimba Concerto. Ivana performs, arranges and co-edits new works for percussion; she is the author of several marimba solos and a duo published by Malletworks.
Photograph by Romano-Grozic