The Novi Sad Jazz Festival Promotion
Petra Leona Matiša, voice • Dušan Sarić, piano • Dragan Hajnrih, guitar • Aleksandar Petrović, bass • Miloš Grbatinić, drums
PETRA LEONA MATIŠA
Born in Subotica in 1991, Petra Leona Matiša has had diverse interests since her early childhood. During her elementary education, she went to music school as well, she danced ballet, trained tennis and recited on a competition level. She enrolled into High Music School (Department of Cello), simultaneously with comprehensive high school, but she soon realized that she belonged to the world of music, so she continued her education in music school alone. By the end of her second grade, she auditioned for the Jazz Singing Department and passed, so she continued her education in two departments. In 2010 she went to university to study cello, but due to circumstances, she dropped out and dedicated her time to singing. She matriculated Jazz Singing in 2012, the same year when the Jazz and Popular Music Department opened at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade. She applied and became part of the first generation of this school in class of Prof. MA Vesna Petković. She graduated in 2016 with the title of the Graduated Music Performer. The same year she started her Master studies in Belgrade.
During her studies she attended the Summer Jazz Academy in Novi Sad 2015, and workshops of artists such as: Aaron Goldberg, Bojan Zulfikarpašić, Stjepko Gut, Michelle Hendricks, Anna Lauvergnac, Jelena Jovović, Sofija Knežević, among others.
Besides club gigs, her notable performances include concerts at the Belgrade Jazz Festival (2014), Pančevo Jazz Festival (2014), Nishville Jazz Festival (2012 and 2013), the Youth Centre in Belgrad – The International Day of Jazz (2014), the Jazzik Festival in Subotica (2010 and 2011), ARLEMM Art Festival (2013), III European Student Summit… A collaboration with the Big Band of the Academy in Ljubljana resulted in a mini tour of Ljubljana and five Serbian cities (2013). She has performed within the project “EUtropia” organized by the International Network “ROOTS & ROUTES”– performance presented within the festival “SZIGET” (2012), and been a guest of a number of radio and television shows (RTS, RTV, Studio B…).
Moreover, during her studies she had an opportunity to show her organizational skills several times, so when she was in the third year of studies, she became a member of the Student Parliament and in the fourth year she was elected President.
Since 2011 she has been an associate collaborator of Radio Novi Sad as the author of the show “Jazz Hour”. In 2012 she worked for Pannon RTV in Subotica, also as an author of jazz and serious music shows.
Iz radoznalosti se oprobala i u drugim oblastima, te je volontirala na raznim manifestacijama, kao npr.: Međunarodni filmski festival Palić (stalni član od 2014. god.), Međunarodni festival pozorišta za decu u Subotici, Exit Festival.
Out of curiosity, she was active in other fields as well, so she volunteered in various events, such as: International Film Festival Palić (permanent team member since 2014), International Children’s Festival in Subotica, Exit Festival.
In the last two years she has been teaching Hungarian language as well, which resulted in a completely new, different approach to her mother tongue, which inspired her to hone this truly rich language in the world of art.
One of the greatest pleasures in her time is photography. She likes travelling.
DUŠAN SARIĆ
After completing the Music High School in Kraljevo, Piano Department, with Marija Ostojić, Dušan Sarić enrolled into the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where he studied in the Department of Music Theory and Analysis. After one year, he left this department and transferred to the Jazz Piano Department to study with Prof. Sava Miletić, where he graduated. He is an active performer on the Belgrade music scene where he has had an opportunity to learn from and play with a number of domestic jazz musicians such as: Steve Gut, Miša Blam, Milan Nikolić, Vanja Kevrešan, Sava Miletić, Luka Ignjatović, Novak Mijović, Peđa Milutinović, Aleksandar Cvetković, Jovan Maljoković…
DRAGAN HAJNRIH
Dragan Hajnrih was born in 1993 in Belgrade. He started learning music at the age of 11. He completed the Music School ‟Kornelije Stanković” in Belgrade (Jazz Department) with Prof. Boris Lemajić, and then enrolled into the Faculty of Music (Jazz Department) in Belgrade, with Prof. MA Vanja Kevrešan and is currently in his last, fourth years of studies. He has won the first prize in the jazz guitar category in Competition and Festival ‟Jarakova gitara” in Čačak in 2013. Dragan has cooperated with the University of Music Arts in Ljubljana within the partnership on the Tempus project ‟InMusWB”, where he took part in a tour of Serbia and Slovenia. In the international music competition “The Best Musical Mind” in Belgrade in 2016, organised by “Multikultivator”, he won the first prize for the best arrangement, which includes full scholarship for the summer semester in the Berklee College in Valencia. As a guitar player, composer and arranger he has worked with a number of bands and ensembles as well as musicians, such as: Milan Pavković, Milan Nikolić, Matej Hotko, Rastko Obradović, Vanja Kevrešan, Novak Mijović, Lazar Tošić, Stjepko Gut, Luka Ignjatović, Predrag Milutinović, Miloš Krstić, Petar Krstajić, Slobodan Dragović, Mladen Dragović, Branimir Marković, Tanja Jovićević, David Doruzka, Marko Črnčec, Dragan Ivanović, Hana Vučičević, Dušan Vukmirović, Branko Marković, Ivana Vukmirović, Zaur Mirzaev, Sava Miletić, Nikola Stajić, Nevena Đordjević and many others…
He leads his own band – The Gagi Hajnrih Sextet, and works with Rich Bitch, Gis Maj Es, Tanja Jovićević Blues Band, Oktobar 1864, Igor Vince, Maraqya, etc.
He is the winner of the Berklee scholarship in Boston for their undergraduate programme.
He has performed at the regional jazz festival in Novi Beograd, Belgrade Jazz Festival, Pančevo Jazz Festival, Nishville Jazz Festival, in the concert hall “Kolarac”, in the Student Cultural Centre, Children’s Cultural Centre, Cultural Centre of Užice, in the Cultural Centre “Studenstki grad”, in the Youth Centre in Belgrade …
ALEKSANDAR PETROVIĆ
Aleksandar Petrović, a jazz guitarist from Belgrade, is a student of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, Jazz and Popular Music Department, Guitar Section, with Prof. Vanja Kevrešan. Besides the guitar, he plays the electric bass. He has performed at a number of festivals in Serbia and collaborated with Steve Gut, Milan Nikolić, Bojan Zulfikarpašić… He has recorded one album as a sideman. Aleksandar composes and performs his original music with his own band. The band has won the title of the second best band in the ‟Multiultikultivator” competition in Belgrade and got the album recording as the prize.
MILOŠ GRBATINIĆ
Born in 1994, Miloš Grbatinić started learning music at the age of 13, when he enrolled into the Department of Saxophone and Percussions of the Music Elementary School in Šid. Upon completing his secondary music education in Novi Sad with Prof. Srđan Palačković, he left for Belgrade, where he started studying at the Faculty of Music – Jazz Drums, with Prof. Miroslav Karlović. Since then, he has been actively working with a number of jazz musicians in Belgrade. In 2015 he joined the Serbian Radio Television Big Band. He has performed at a number of festivals throughout Serbia – Belgrade, Novi Sad, Valjevo, Pančevo…