Dragana Petkovic (1969-2007) , pianist from Belgrade. One of the leading chamber musicians and piano accompanists of younger generation in Serbia and Montenegro.

Her affinity and gift for music have bec o me apparent in the early childhood already . Formal study of piano she began at the age of seven in Podgorica , where she was born. First appearances as a soloist she had shortly afterwards.

At the age of twelve she debuted with Montenegrin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Radovan Papovic, performing Beethoven 2 nd piano concerto.

11 years of studies with Diana Damjanovic, her first piano teacher, led her to numerous piano competitions in Montenegro and the ex-Yugoslavia, at which she was a regular first-prize winner.

At the Academy of Music of the University of Montenegro D.Petkovic studied piano under professor Branko Opacic, a distinguished Yugoslav-American pianist, himself a Juilliard graduate and M.A. under Webster and Raieff.

While receiving his coaching, Dragana Petkovic made a great number of successful appearances playing both recitals and concerts with orchestra in many concert-halls of the ex-Yugoslavia, performing also at one of the most prestigious international festivals in ex- Yugoslavia, Days of Music Festival in Herceg-Novi.

At the same time she had already begun to prove herself as an outstandingly gifted chamber music ian and piano accompan ist , the careers of which she will pursue the most at a later stage.

In 1992 D.Petkovic received her University Diploma from the University of Montenegro, with the highest recognitions .

Master ' s degree in Chamber Music she received from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, under the mentorship of Olivera Djurdjevic, Serbian cemballist and a chamber musician of an international fame .

Dragana Petkovic ' s concert curriculum includes successful solo concerts a s well as those in which she appeared paired with the illustruos partners among the best Serbian-Montenegrin musicians such as violinists Tatjana Olujic, W il ly Ferdinand y , young Jovan Bogosavljevic and Katarina Tesenji , violist Dejan Mladjenovic, flutist Svetlana Ristic, etc. Concert itinerary brought her to Portugal, Greece, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Great Britain , France …

For the outstanding interpretation s and the international promotion of the contemporary Montenegrin authors ' pieces, D. Petkovic received Ilija Lakesic Prize from the Composers ' Association of Montenegro.

Dragana Petkovic is a m ember of the Serbian Association of Music Interpreters and the Serbian branch of EPTA (European Piano Teachers' Association) . S he was the Head of Piano Department in Josif Marinkovic Music School in Belgrade for four years and also work ed as a Collaborator at the Faculty of Music of the Serbian-Montenegrin capital. She is very successful as a piano teacher, her students oftenly performing in public, as well as gaining recognitions and being awarded in competitions of the national and international level. D.Petkovic is also a member or a president of the jury in many national piano competitions.

She has made a number of recordings for Radio Podgorica and Radio Belgrade as well as for Radio Bratislava, London Art Fest and many Serbian-Montenegrin and foreign TV stations . Concerts held in London, Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest...with violinists Jovan Bogosavljevic and Katarina Tesenji a re recorded on five 'live' compact discs.

For few years now, composing has become the creative area with a special meaning for her manifold music personality. At the beginning, her main interest was educational music, but she has also started to successfully create works of other types. In collaboration with Biljana Krstic , she is the author of Vežbe i kompozicije za klavir za osnovnu muzicku školu ( Piano Exercises and Pieces for the Elementary Music School ) , published by «Narodna knjiga», Belgrade, 2005, a book of the original piano pieces, compositions and arrangements, first of its kind in Serbia and Montenegro. The book was specially designed for the young piano students and it has already being used in music schools all over Serbia and Montenegro, but in Russia and Israel as well. D. Petkovic is also a member of the Women in Music international association. Her piece of sacred music written for a male choir, Gospodi pomiluj (Kyrie Eleison) was chosen in the Women in Music Call for New Music in 2005 as one of the nine pieces selected among the works of women-composers from more than 40 countries of the world. Its world premiere was on January 30 in Rome, with the blessing of the late pope John Paul II, and it was performed by the famous Italian «Goffredo Petrassi» choire. Dragana Petkovic excellently speaks English and Italian, has experience in journalistic work, and is currently working on her M.A. thesis in Culturology at the Belgrade University. She is very much involved in music and pedagogic research and she is also the author of a number of research papers on music education, published in some of the specialized magazines in S&M. With her colleague, Biljana Krstic , she is also preparing some new piano books, as well as a multimedia project of the music introduction designed for the children of the youngest age.