Photo: Stefan Bremer

Maja Bogdanović

Following her stunning recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall, The Strad hailed Maja Bogdanovic for “an outstanding performance of exceptional tonal beauty and great maturity of interpretation.” Since then, she has taken her place among today’s foremost cellists.

Recent concerto engagements include the Tonhalle Orchester/Zurich, Tokyo Philharmonic, Minas Gerais Philharmonic in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Slovenian Radio Orchestra/Ljubljana, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Belgrade Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, Bergische Philharmonie, Bremerhaven Staatsorchester, Korean Wonju Philharmonic Orchestra, Morelia Philharmonic/Mexico, Salta Symphony/Argentina, Serbian Radio Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic, as well as chamber orchestras which include St. George Strings, Sejong Soloists, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

In the U.S., Ms. Bogdanovic made her debut at the 2017 Grand Teton Music Festival under the baton of Cristian Macelaru. She has also performed with the Forth Worth Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Lubbock Symphony, Portland Symphony, and Princeton Symphony.

An avid chamber musician, Maja Bogdanovic is a frequent guest at leading chamber music festivals and worlds leading venues such as Kuhmo Festival in Finland, Stift International Chamber Music Festival in The Netherlands, Amsterdamse Cello Biënnale, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Folle Journée/Nantes, Folle Journee/Ekaterinburg , Giverny Festival, Muziekgebouw/Amsterdam, Palais des Congrès/Nantes, Prinzregententheater/Munich, Salle Gaveau and Salle Pleyel/Paris, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Carnegie Hall/New York, Bass Hall/Fort Worth, Storioni Festival and the Zeist Festival in Holland. She concertizes regularly with artists such as pianists Nino Gvetadze and Marianna Shirinyan and violinists Daniel Rowland, Frederieke Saeijs and Nemanja Radulovic.

Continuing her activities as a recording artist, Ms. Bogdanovic has produced several internationally-released CDs for the French label Lyrinx, as well as a Nimbus label recording of Philip Sawyers’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, dedicated to her by the composer. Her latest recital disc, ‘Eastern wind’ (Orchid Classics), with pianist Maria Belooussova, features compositions for cello and piano by Glière and Rachmaninoff and has received rave reviews.

A new CD release (Challenge Records) is scheduled for March ‘20 with violinist Daniel Rowland, including Ravel Duo, Penderecki’s Ciaconna, and world premiere recordings by Vasks, Sollima, Nisinman and Piazzolla.

Within her wide repertoire, Maja Bogdanovic devotes a special place to contemporary music. She has premiered works of Nicolas Bacri, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ivan Jevtic, Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Sawyers, Eric Tanguy, Benjamin Yusupov, Natasha Bogojević, Isidora Žebeljan, among others. Her collaboration with Krzysztof Penderecki began with the Belgrade Philharmonic in 2008 and with the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana, where she performed his Cello Concerto No. 2 under the baton of the composer. This led to several further collaborations, such as the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and the Orchestra National de Pays de la Loire. Amongst a select group of the world’s leading artists, including Lorin Maazel, Anne-Sophie Mutter and others, she was invited to play for special performances in Warsaw and Krakow celebrating Maestro Penderecki’s 80th and 85th birthdays, collaborating with Yuri Bashmet, John Axelrod, Julian Rachlin and Barry Douglas. In 2019, Maja recorded Krzysztof Penderecki’s Second Cello Concerto under the guidance of Maestro Penderecki, with Sinfonia Iuventus and Mo. Maciej Tworek for the DUX Label.

Laureate of numerous international competitions, Ms. Bogdanovic won First Prize at the third Aldo Parisot Cello Competition in South Korea and received the Second Prize and Special Audience Award at the Gaspar Cassado International Competition in Tokyo. She was awarded the Special Prize at the Concours Rostropovich in Paris and, in the same year, became a multiple laureate of the International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade. She was named UMUS Artist of the Year in 2011 by the Association of Music Artists of Serbia.

Born in Belgrade, Serbia, Maja Bogdanovic began playing the cello at a very early age, studying with Professor Nada Jovanovic at the Music School Kosta Manojlovic in Zemun. She went on to graduate with a First Prize from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she completed her postgraduate course with Michel Strauss while there, she also studied chamber music with Itamar Golan and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Following her studies in Paris, she pursued further training at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Professor Jens Peter Maintz, as well as Bernard Greenhouse, Alban Gerhardt, Young-Chang Cho, and Heinrich Schiff.

Ms. Bogdanovic’s instrument was custom made for her by French luthier Frank Ravatin.