NIKOLA DJURICA
Clarinet
When Nikola was five, and heard and saw clarinet for the first time, he shouted: "I will play this!". And naturally, Nikola enrolled Music school "Davorin Jenko" Belgrade and started learning the instrument that would carry him through life.
In April 2003 and 2005, on a republic contest, Nikola became a laureate of Serbia, as a best performer in his category. During 2003 to 2006, on competitions in Italy, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Russia and Serbia, as a soloist he won 14 special prizes (100 points out of 100) and 9 first prizes, and as a member of nonstandard duo he won 4 special prizes and one first prize on a Republic Contest, competing in a category with oldest contestants (16-18 age). Also, as a member of clarinet quartet Nevski, Nikola won 6 special prizes. He recorded a video shoot for a national television and went to a large number of radio shows where he played. Nikola participated in charity concerts in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Podgorica-Montenegro with an organization called "Music Of Angels", as well as in “Kolarceva Zaduzbina” in Belgrade ("Pupil to pupil"). Nikola’s carrier of "Belgrade's angel 2004", "Best pupil of his Generation 2001-2005" and "Holly Sava award 2005" gave him an opportunity to play principal clarinet on "Requiem" in honor of 250 years of Mozart’s birth. Mr. Djurica was the youngest one to play a solo recital on the most prestigious music festival in Serbia- on the 38th BEMUS in October 2006. Mr. Djurica attended chamber music master classes such as: Prague (Ameropa), Spain (Mozzart-issimo) and in Italy (Amalfi Coast). In 2007 Nikola attended Waimar Master Class with Dr. Charles Neidich (Julliard School of Music) where he was the youngest clarinetist on the festival. That same year with the EMCY he played five-concerts throughout Austria and Germany. In 2008 Nikola played a solo concert where he opened the Festival “Passau” in Passau Germany with his pianist Jelena Popovic.
During his senior year at Interlochen Arts Academy, Mr. Djurica was invited to come back to Belgrade for 3 days by the Serbian Government and received the award “New Face of Serbia” as one of 200 most successful Serbians in his field.
As a Concerto winner at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2010, Nikola performed music from his native land by Ante Grgin, and has developed into a passionate advocate for music from many cultures around the world. During his first year at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Mr. Djurica was the prizewinner of the International Milhaud Competition. During the summer of 2011 Nikola performed a concert in the prestigious “66th Prague Spring” music festival in conjunction with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently won the first prize on an International Music Competition “Ohrid Pearls” in Macedonia as a youngest clarinetist in his category. He has performes regularly at the City Hall of Belgrade with an international cooperation of musicians (Anthony Charles Bracewell-CANADA), where his concerts are live on air and broadcasted on the National Radio Station of Serbia. In 2012, Mr. Djurica was selected to play at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as a part of the “Conservatory Project”. Since the summer of 2012, Mr. Djurica was invited to teach clarinet and chamber music on an International Chamber Music Festival in Prague called “AMEROPA”. In Prague, Nikola was the winner of the Concertante competition, which gave him an opportunity to play as a soloist in “Rudolfinum”-Dvorak’s Hall in Prague with the Camertata Filarmonica Bohemia.
From 2010-2013, Mr. Djurica has been a part of an improvisational ensemble called “The Contranuities Quartet” which he is one of the founding members. “The Contranuities Quartet” is dedicated to bringing diverse people together by exploring the intersections of musical genres and the cultures of the world. He is a founder of the “Duo Gitarinet” which his colleague Mirko Dimitrijevic (guitar). The special thing about the Gitarinet Duo is their originality in performing various types of genres. As time passed the audiences recognized their diversity and started to enjoy the unique arrangements that the duo performs. Gitarinet won the “Serbia’s Got Talent” in 2016 where he performed regularly in the Balkans on many festivals. Since fall of 2016, Nikola has become a leading member of the “Stegreif” Jazz Improvising Chamber Orchestra based in Berlin - Germany. For 10 years now Mr. Djurica has been working, performing and arranging music for Stegreif and is living in Berlin now. From 2022, Mr. Djurica has become a musikalische leitung (musical director) for a big project called Symphony of Change, where he was leading, conducting, organizing rehearsals, as well as working closely with the composers of the orchestra. In a period of just 18 months, he led 5 premieres in 5 different cities and regions of Germany, as well as dozens of performances, workshops with students and rehearsals.
Mr. Djurica has a great passion for chamber music, performing regularly in Europe, Asia and USA, especially performing with string quartets and arraigning music for clarinet and strings. In a collaboration with Virginia Tech University, Mr. Djurica was a faculty at the chamber music festival in Lugano Switzerland for two years, where he was one of the founding members, teaching and performing intensively for 2 weeks in the summer.
In 2022, he also became a co- founder of a festival in Louisville Kentucky USA, where he performed for the past 4 years.
Nikola finished his studies at the prestige Interlochen Arts Academy (Michigan). After 3 years of his studies in Michigan, where his first two years he was a pupil of Dr. Nathan Williams and the last year he studied with Ms. Deborah Chodacki, Mr. Djurica spent time at Juilliard School of Music with Dr. Charles Neidich and finished his bachelor studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music at the top of his class with Mr. Franklin Cohen-The Principal Clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra. He is currently getting his Master’s degree from the Hanns Eisler school of music - Berlin. Nikola continues to explore the sounds and colors of the clarinet, the variety of music that this instrument can fit in and keeps searching for the true and meaningful connections made through music.
