Top Duo for Cowal Music Club

Cowal Music Club’s concert this Sunday 24th November at 2.30 in Dunoon’s Burgh Hall features the AdLibitum Duo, - Andrea & Djordje Gajic, violin and accordion, both of whom are Professors at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow, with Andrea having in 2023 been appointed Head of Strings there – a highly eminent position.

With artists of such distinction performing in Dunoon, this promises to be a quite amazing concert. Some recent critics’ remarks are worth quoting, to illustrate the success this remarkable duo has already enjoyed. One recently wrote,  “Djordje’s skilful arrangements showed off the qualities of both the violin and accordion, and the couple’s extraordinary accomplished virtuoso and evocative playing made for a special and highly memorable concert.”  And another referred to “dazzling accordion accompaniments”.

Andrea’s violin, a top ranking high-quality Italian Gagliano from 1766, and her track record of  solo appearances, -are quite remarkable!  So too is her  solo repertoire, which includes concertos by Sibelius, Brahms, Barber, and Beethoven.  In 2021 she was a major contributor to the COP 26 concert held in Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall, when she played excerpts as soloist from Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’. She has performed widely across the world, including the UK, USA, Russia, Lithuania, Finland, Germany, Australia, Yugoslavia, and France, and has also worked with the celebrated Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti.  Already highly respected as one of Scotland’s most eminent violin tutors, she is also about to join the staff of the Faculty of Strings at the Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Djorjde, who is Accordion Professor at RCS, began his musical studies in Serbia at the age of 6, and graduated from the Russian Academy of Music in 1993 with an M.Mus degree and the title of ‘Solo Performer’. He has won first prize at numerous International Accordion Competitions in Serbia, St Etienne and Fontainebleau in France, and Pescara, Stresa & Camalo in Italy, as well as broadcasting on radio and TV for the BBC, RTS Serbia, RTR Russia, and RAI Italy. He is a renowned recitalist across all of Europe, as well as further afield in the USA, Australia, China, Russia, Bahrain and Tunisia.  Djordje teaches at St Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh and Douglas Academy, as well as at RCS.

The programme for Sunday’s concert looks highly impressive and varied, ranging from Arvo Paert’s evocative ‘Fratres’,  through Baroque arrangements of  Vivaldi, Scarlatti and Bach, to ‘Le Grand Tango’ by Piazzolla,  and Sarasate’s ‘Carmen Fantasy’, - reputedly one of the most difficult pieces in the violin repertoire, as the afternoon’s Finale.

Enjoy!