The Musical Style Of Nemanja Radulović: Thrilling Virtuosity With Depth of Expression

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Nemanja Radulović was born in 1995 in Niš, former Yugoslavia. He began playing the violin at seven, and instantly showed a remarkable talent for the instrument. Since he comes from a family of musicians, he was enrolled in a local music school where he discovered that he possessed perfect pitch. Remarkably, he completed the school’s three-year program within two weeks. Just six weeks after holding the violin for the first time, he performed as a soloist with a local orchestra, and this is where our story begins.

Beginnings 

During the 90s, Nemanja was a student of Dejan Mihajlović at the Faculty of Arts and Music in Belgrade. Later, he took lessons from the renowned Joshua Epstein at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Saarbrücken. Shortly after his 14th birthday, he moved with his family to Paris to study with the famous French violinist Patrice Fontanarosa at the Paris Conservatoire. 

In 2001, Radulović won first prize at the George Enescu International Competition, and two years later, he marched to victory at the Joseph Joachim International Competition in Hanover.

At the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards in Paris, Nemanja Radulović was named “International Revelation of the Year”, and nine years later, he was also named “Instrumental Soloist of the Year.

Style and Repertoire

In just a few years, Radulović man stormed the world of classical music with his virtuoso musicianship and adventurous programs. His style is characterized by an exquisite tone and virtuous technique, and personality which was praised by Deutsche Gramophone as “Spirit of Freedom”. He is regarded as one of the rare virtuoso performers that can open to the full range of human emotions and communicate them through his instrument. His mission to broaden the boundaries of classical music and reach audiences of all ages and backgrounds has been quite a success. He has managed to attract many new listeners and provide innovative insights into the violin’s repertoire. 

The Franco-Serbian violinist made his breakthrough in 2006 when he replaced Maxim Vengerov as a soloist in a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Myung-Whun Chung.

In recent years, he performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Munich Philharmonic, the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Royal Philharmonic, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. His recent highlights include a critically acclaimed residency with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (2016-17).

Radulović is also a great admirer of chamber music and has performed at world-famous international revenues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Théatre des Champs-Élysées, and Salle Pleyel in Pars, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Recently, he started collaborating with clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer and accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, with whom he performed at the Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad, Périgord Noir, and Impérial Annecy festivals.

Family and Personal life

Nemanja Radulović never forgets to mention how much his family played an important role in his musical career, but also for the general joy of life. He still sees his biggest joy in his mother Ljiljana, his father Ninoslav, his sister Jelisaveta, and Danica, who unfortunately passed away at the age of 28. Nemanja claims that his mother is most responsible for his success, as she was the initiator of the sale of the apartment in Niš, for the sake of buying a violin and other possibilities the capital offered. 

Radulović claims their parents were always calm and realistic. They managed to educate them on what is important in life and what is not. It is important to love, respect, and make something beautiful out of all the negative things.