"Gekic rides the charismatic edge of genius" Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe.

One of the most important pianists emerging on today’s international music scene, Gekic is heard in a live 1997 concert featuring the works listed below.

CHOPIN

1. Impromptu in A-flat, Op. 29,   3:41
2. Impromptu in F-sharp, Op. 36,   5:14
3. Polonaise in C minor, Op. 40, No. 2,  8:31
4. Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44,  10:40
Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35

  5. I Grave - Doppio movimento  7:46
  6. II Scherzo 7:00
  7. III Marche Funèbre: Lento 8:30
  8. IV Finale: Presto 1:27

LISZT-BUSONI-GEKIC:
Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro 13:55

LISZT:
Grand Gallop Chromatique  4:12

Recorded live in performance, August 27, 1997 
Assembly Hall, Subotica, Yugoslavia
Steinway Piano

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Split on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia in 1962, Kemal Gekic could already pick out accurate melodies on the piano at age one-and-a-half. He received his early musical training from his aunt,
Prof. Lorenza Baturina, and in 1978 entered the class of Prof. Jokuthon Mihailovic at the Art Academy of NoviSad, Yugoslavia. He earned the highest mark ever granted a diploma exam recital in 1982, and was immediately appointed to the faculty of the piano department which he now directs.

After his spectacular performances at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1985) and Montreal (1988), Gekic began performing extensively throughout Europe, Japan, Canada, USSR, and the Middle East, with broadcasts on RAI Italy, TV Portugal, RTV Lower Saxony, Germany, Intervision, POLTEL Poland, Radio-Canada, and NHK Japan.

The year 1996 marked a significant increase in Gekic’s concert activity, resulting in tours of Japan, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. After the great success of his U.S. tour, he was immediately re-invited for the second one, in 1997, the year that his Naxos CD of Liszt-Rossini transcriptions was released.

Gekic’s future plans include U.S. and European tours during the 1999/2000 season, and the release of four CDs featuring live recordings of works by Handel, Liszt, Scriabin, and Reger.

His recording contract with JVC Music of Japan and USA resulted in his fifth CD, the acclaimed landmark recording of the complete Liszt Transcendental Etudes which presages Gekic’s emergence as one of the major pianists of his generation.