Biography
Pianist and composer Julija Bal is renowned for her originality and emotional depth in performance, bringing a unique concert style that seamlessly blends classical piano repertoire with her own compositions and transcriptions. After a successful debut at Carnegie Hall in 2009, where she showcased her transcriptions of works by Schubert, Albéniz, and Villa-Lobos, her career has continued to thrive.
Julija Bal has received numerous prizes and recognitions, and in 2018, she was honored with the prestigious Order of Rio Branco by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil for her contribution to promoting Brazilian music worldwide. Her piano transcriptions, such as 12 Guitar Etudes by Heitor Villa-Lobos Transcribed for Piano, have earned multiple awards, including the Muzika Klasika award in 2013 for the best musical edition in Serbia.
Julija has performed worldwide, including in the USA, Italy, Poland, Greece, Germany, Serbia, Croatia, Japan, Israel, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and many other countries. She has performed three times at Carnegie Hall, as well as at the Wrocław Philharmonic Hall, the Meguro Hall in Tokyo, and other prestigious venues.
In addition to the “Ibla Grand Prize” (Laureate 2008 and 2023) and the Order of Rio Branco, other notable awards and recognitions include: the International Bradshaw&Buono Competition (USA, 2011), the International “Petar Konjović” Competition (Belgrade), the National “Yamaha” Competition (Novi Sad), the International “Victoria Caffa Righetti” Competition (Italy), and more. She was a finalist in the “Tansmann International Competition of Music Personality” (Poland, 2010), as well as a quarterfinalist in the “TIM International Music Competition” (France, 2012) and the “Fidelio Composition Competition” (Spain, 2017).
Throughout her career, Julija has regularly performed as a chamber musician, collaborating with various ensembles and artists, including “Ad Libitum,” “Bassiona Amorosa,” the ensemble “5+,” “Moderna”, Brazilian family Tomé, Polish pianist Ana Rutkowska Shock, the piano duo “Jelena and Julija” with Jelena Bajić, and the ensemble “Kamerna Rezonanca” (a multiple award-winning ensemble for the project “Beauty of Vocalize,” for which she composed most of the arrangements and original compositions, and in 2023 received an award as a composer for "Chromatic Tango" dedicated to this ensemble).
Since 2011, she has been teaching at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and has also held numerous masterclasses and seminars at universities in Europe, USA, and Asia. Her performances and compositions have been part of significant festivals and projects, with her music being performed in the most prestigious concert halls around the world.
Julija Bal has also been the subject of two documentary films. In May 2021, the national television RTV1 produced a feature film “Etude” following her career, while the film “Ibla, le Chiavi dell´ Anima” (which documented her tour in Asia), produced by “Samarcanda,” received recognition as the best documentary film at the “Festival de Cinema de Alter do Chão 2021” in Brazil.
Julija Bal gained her foundational knowledge of piano and music subjects in her hometown of Novi Sad, studying under Prof. Biljana Dabić at the ‘Isidor Bajić’ Music School and with Professor Kemal Gekić at the Department for Young Talents at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. She continued her studies at the same institution, earning both her undergraduate and master’s degrees under the guidance of Prof. Gekić, Prof Jokut Mihailović and Prof. Biljana Gorunović.
Julija has always focused on both performance and composition, regularly creating her own piano transcriptions, which she combines with traditional repertoire in her concerts. Recently, she completed her doctoral studies at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where she focused on the piano transcriptions and paraphrases of Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni. Under the mentorship of Prof. Dubravka Jovičić, her doctoral research included the performance of Busoni’s works, her own transcriptions, and the creation of a twenty-minute Fantasy-Paraphrase on themes from the ballet of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera.