University of Florida Performing Arts

PLEASE NOTE: This performance is sold out.

Program
Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-flat Major, BWV 998 - Bach
Introduction and Variations on
   Marlborough s’en va-t-en guerre - Sor
Vals No. 3, Opus 8 - Mangoré
Julia Florida - Mangoré
Cueca - Mangoré
Four Dances for Guitar - Cagalj
   Rodrigo in Zagora
   St. Duje’s Bells
   Song & Dance
   Epilogue
Sonata - Brouwer
   Fandangos y Boleros
   Sarabanda de Scriabin
   La Toccata de Pasquini
Two Venezuelan Folk Dances - Lauro
   Aire de Joropo
   El Marabiño

About Robert Belinić

Robert Belinić was the sole winner of the 2001 Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Leipzig, Germany.  In 2002, he became the first guitarist to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York.  He was also the recipient of the 2002 Ivo Vuljevic Award for the best young Croatian musician.  Mr. Belinić recently was recently a prize winner in the first Parkening International Guitar Competition.

Mr. Belinić has given recitals in the United States at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, La Jolla Music Society, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Western Michigan University, Missouri State University, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (New York), and has appeared on the Grand Teton (Wyoming) Music Festival’s Medalist Series, the John E. Marlow Guitar Series in Washington, D.C. and the Gainesville (Georgia) Pro Musica Concert Series.  He has performed as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony, the Paducah (Kentucky) Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic and the Zagreb Soloists.  Mr. Belinić has performed abroad in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Italy, Germany, Lichtenstein, and The Czech Republic, and is a founding member of the Croatian Guitar Quartet.  

The Young Concert Artists Series presented Mr. Belinić’s New York recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, sponsored by the Claire Tow Debut Prize; his Washington, D.C. debut at the Kennedy Center, sponsored by the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Prize; and his Boston debut at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  Mr. Belinić was also awarded YCA’s Fergus New Artist Prize and the Beracasa Foundation Prize for an appearance at the Montpellier Radio-France Festival. 

Born in 1981 in Zagreb, Croatia, Robert Belinić grew up in the nearby town of Popovača.  He began to play the drums at the age of three.  When he was eight years old, he starred in Tale from Croatia, the first film released in newly-independent Croatia.  He began to study classical guitar at the age of 11 at the music school in Kutina with Zvonko Susnjar, and continued his studies with Ante Cagalj in Zagreb.  Every year since 1995, he has participated in the International Summer School for Guitar on the Croatian island of Hvar.  He graduated from the Leopold Mozart Hochschule für Musik in Augsburg, Germany, where he currently holds an assistantship and is pursuing postgraduate studies with Franz Halasz.

Young Concert Artists, Inc. was founded in 1961 as a non-profit organization to discover and launch the careers of extraordinary young musicians.  Many of today’s greatest performers started their careers with Young Concert Artists including Emanuel Ax, Eugenia Zukerman, Chee-Yun, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. The UFPA 2008-09 Season includes performances by two other Young Concert Artists, Alexandre Bouzlov and Benjamin Moser.