Meet Marta Brankovich

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marta Brankovich. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Marta , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I believe I have inherited my resilience from my mother. I was raised in a conservative Eastern European household with strong family values and great education. However, early in my life, I have realized that being a classical concert pianist will take a lot of resilience. I had to make some Bold moves, moving to different countries, traveling a lot as a teenager alone, knocking on an unknown doors, and constantly proving myself until I make it. In our world, we believe you made it Once you became a recording label artist and that happened to me in 2016 in United States. I have become labeled artist for three Sister production companies and very shortly after I have received numerous reviews for my first album Black Swan Of Piano. From that moment, I knew that I came to this level because of resilience that was instilled in me in the nineties by my parents combined with strong moral values that meant so much growing up.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

‘‘As a young pianist born in Serbia but resident in the United States for the past fifteen years, Marta Brankovich was steadfastly building an impressive resume as a concert artist when lightening struck and her career took flight. A dress, a movie, an enthusiastic crowd, suddenly she was The Black Swan of Piano, a soubriquet she revels in and one she hopes will engerize the blandly decorous image of the traditional piano recital. Meanwhile, her debut CD, Black Swan of Piano provides a tantalizing taste of what’s to come.’’

Fanfare Magazine ‘Black Swan of Piano Spreads Her Wings’- by Robert Schulslaper

I was born in Belgrade, Serbia and I was only 21 years old when I have graduated from the University of Belgrade, as the youngest student with the highest GPA in the generation. During my studies I have received numerous international and domestic awards, scholarships, and public recognitions including winning the Third place on the famous Rubinstein piano competition and receiving a special honorary scholarship from Serbia for making an outstanding career in the US in 2005. Since then I have won two Global Music Awards GMA.
I am currently living between Miami and west coast of Florida where I have accomplished second Master diploma in piano performance in the class of well known pianist and professor Kemal Gekić in Florida International University. During my master studies I was participant of numerous festivals from EPTA in Europe, IKIF in New York, to New Music Festival and Subtropics Festival in South Florida.
Since 2023 I have held over two hundred and fifty solistic recitals in all major halls of Eastern Coast of USA and Europe receiving great reviews and often being called ‘A New Force Of American Pianism’- News Magazine, and ‘Black Swan of Piano’- Miami Herald. She recorded for TV and Radio in Europe, USA, and Canada.
In 2019 my album, Black Swan Of Piano was voted top five classical albums in USA and Canada.
Since then I have been collaborating with many international artists including playing in a piano duet with my own professor Kemal Gekić, receiving great reviews and currently performing with the rising rockstar Denver Cooper in a special duet called Carpe Noctem. Our duet won numerous awards and was featured four times on Times Square billboards. Since this collaboration, we have been traveling through country performing concerts and shows in New York, Las Vegas, Detroit, Nashville, and all over Florida.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I truly believe in hard work and practice. I have been surrounded with some of the top professors in the world which most of them come from Eastern Europe, mostly Russia. They always taught us that 95% of success comes from pure hard practice and work, 4% comes from organically inherited talent, and 1 % comes from pure luck that we were born in the times where our talent is recognized, Advice for future generation of classical pianists and serious musicians is hard to give. We live in different times guided and controlled mostly by social media and digital marketing that is not always allowing us to fully dedicate ourselves to old craft meaning sitting for hours, practicing certain parts of complicated music patterns and not be distracted with gadgets surrounding us.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

I have to give the biggest gratitude and honor to my last piano professor Kemal Gekic, who worked with me for two years on my last Master degree here in Miami. He taught me how to build stamina as a performer, how to focus on myself only, and how to work hard on my craft and study, Also I have learned how necessary is to constantly knock on doors and try to perform for various audiences, how inevitably important it is to build a repertoire between seven and nine hours of music so you can always perform in any given situation. My biggest challenge was doubting myself, especially when I came to this country. Coming from a war infected small eastern European region, it wasn’t easy starting from zero in my early 20s but I did it. To this day, I’m still proving myself and I never stopped learning, practicing, and working on my brand and story of Black Swan of Piano.

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Image Credits

Nita Ann photography

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