Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak (born 7 February 1940 in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

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Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

) is a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and music teacher.

Early life

Tomsic received private lessons at a very young age and continued with education at the Music High School in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

and later at the Slovene Academy of Music under professor Zora Zarnik. Following the advice of concert pianist

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Bra ...

, she went to the United States at age 12 and in 1957 graduated from

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

in New York. Her teachers were Katherine Bacon and

Alexander Uninsky Alexander Uninsky ( ua, Олекса́ндр Юні́нський; russian: Александр Юнинский, translit=Aleksandr Yuninskij, pronounced You-nin-skee; Kiev, Dallas, 19 December 1972) was an American classical pianist of Ukrainia ...

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.

heard her New York Town Hall recital and invited her to study with him privately in the late 1950s. Tomšič became one of Rubinstein's protegées.

Career

Tomsic has been teaching piano at the Slovene Academy of music in Ljubljana since 1967. She has had a wide ranging concert career and is often invited to judge piano competitions including Van Cliburn, Leeds, L. v. Beethoven, Clara Haskil, and others. Dubravka Tomšič is very much sought after as a performer, making recital and concerto appearances all over Europe, Asia, North America, Mexico, Australia and Africa. She is credited with more than 3,500 performances and more than 20 records and 70 CD releases. For her artistic and pedagogic endeavours she has received numerous awards: 3rd prize at the

Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition The Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition is a music competition for young pianists that takes place in Bolzano, Italy. It was founded in 1949 by Cesare Nordio in memory of the pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. History The fir ...

(Bolzano, 1961), Prešeren Fund Award (1962), 1. award at Mozart's festival recital (Brussels, 1967), Župančič Award (1970), gold lyre SUMUJ Award (1974),

Prešeren Award The Prešeren Award ( sl, Prešernova nagrada), also called the Grand Prešeren Award ( sl, Velika Prešernova nagrada), is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia. It is awarded each yea ...

(1975), AVNOJ Award (1976), Golden Award of the University in Ljubljana for her pedagogic and artistic achievements (1989), etc. She is an honorary member of the Slovene Philharmonics since 1995. Her students include: Majda Martinc, Sonja Pahor, Hinko Haas, Lidija Stanković, Tatjana Ognjanović, Tomaž Petrač, Anja German, Miha Haas, Slaven Kulenovic, Natalija Šaver, Tadej Horvat, Sara Rustja Turniški, Stanislav Krutilov and Fada Azzeh.

Personal life

She was married to the late Slovenian composer Alojz Srebotnjak and has a son Martin Srebotnjak, who is a Slovenian film director.

References

External links

*
Biography on the Bach Cantatas Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomsic-Srebotnjak, Dubravka 1940 births Living people People from Dubrovnik Prize-winners of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition Prešeren Award laureates Slovenian classical pianists Slovenian people of Croatian descent