Robert Belinic
Guitarist Robert Belinic won the Young Concert Artists European Auditions in Leipzig, Germany, and was the first guitarist ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York in 2002. Mr. Belinić made his debut in New York sponsored by the Claire Tow Debut Prize and his Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center sponsored by the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Prize, and also debuted at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. He was awarded YCA’s Fergus New Artist Prize and the Beracasa Foundation Prize for an appearance at the Montpellier Radio-France Festival. Other important New York appearances include performing the Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez in 2008 with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Michael Stern, and a solo recital at the Morgan Library & Museum.
Mr. Belinić appears in concerto performances with the Neponset Valley Philharmonic Orchestra (MA) and the La Crosse (WI), Victoria (Canada), Hilton Head (SC), and El Paso (TX) symphonies during the 2009-10 season. He performs recitals at the University of Georgia, the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in Michigan and the Evergreen Museum and Library in Baltimore. In Russia, Mr. Belinić appears in concerto performances of the Rodrigo’s Concerto with the Kaliningrad and Lugansk Philharmonics under the baton of Miran Vaupotić. With bandoneon player Miran Vaupotić, he will premiere Roberto Di Marino’s Double Concerto with the Zagreb Soloists of Croatia.
Among his many appearances in the U.S., Mr. Belinić performed as soloist with orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle (NC), the Wichita (KS), Fox Valley (WI), and South Bend (IN) symphonies and in recital at Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the University of Florida in Gainesville, the Crane School of Music in Postdam (NY), Vanguard Concerts in Dayton (OH), and Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Other engagements have been at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, and Merkin Concert Hall, with the La Jolla Music Society, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Western Michigan University, Southwest Missouri State University, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (NY). He has appeared on the Grand Teton Music Festival’s Medalist Series (WY), the John E. Marlow Guitar Series in Washington, DC, and the Gainesville Pro Musica Concert Series (FL).
In Europe, Mr. Belinić has been heard in Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, The Czech Republic, and with the Zagreb Philharmonic. He is a founding member of the Croatian Guitar Quartet.
Born in 1981 in Zagreb, Croatia, Mr. Belinić grew up in the nearby town of Popovača. When he was eight years old, Mr. Belinić became a national celebrity as the child star of “Tale from Croatia,” the first film released in newly-independent Croatia. He began his study of classical guitar at the age of eleven at the music school in Kutina with Zvonko Šušnjar, continuing his studies with Ante Čagalj in Zagreb. Mr. Belinić was the recipient of the 2002 Ivo Vuljević Award for outstanding young Croatian musicians, and was a prize winner of the 2006 Parkening International Guitar Competition in California. He earned a Master’s Degree from the Leopold Mozart Hochschule für Musik in Augsburg, Germany, where he held an assistantship and with Prof. Franz Halász.
