Biography
Ivan Petrovic-Poljak was born in Croatia in 2004. He has been playing the piano since he was eight years old. He was a student at the Vatroslav Lisinski Middle School of Music in Zagreb in the class of Prof. Olga Cinkoburova. Since 2022, he has been studying at the Music Academy in Zagreb in the class of Prof. Ruben Dalibaltayan.
He receives a scholarship from the Academy of Music in Liechtenstein and takes part in the intensive music weeks and activities that take place there.
Ivan qualified for the semifinals of the “International Competition Young Virtuosos Lidiya Kouteva” in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2023. He was the only pianist to take part in the final of the “Eurovision competition for young musicians” in Montpellier in 2022. He has been national champion five times, three times in the solo category and twice in the chamber music category. He was the absolute winner of the "EPTA Croatia International Competition" and has won around 30 first prizes in national and international competitions. His most recent achievements are the 1st prize and the special prize for his Liszt interpretation at the “Liszt-Bartok Piano Competition” 2020 in Sofia (online) and the 1st prize at the “Radovljica International Piano Competition” in 2021. Ivan won the “Croatian National Competition”, in the group of academy students with the maximum score. He’s the national champion for the 5th time in a row since 2015. He also received the 1st prize and the special prize at the “Virtuosi per Musica di Pianoforte Competition” in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, 2019 and the 1st and special prize at the “Piano Talents Competition” in Milan, Italy, in the same year. In 2020, he was the winner of the "Croatian Election for Eurovision Young Musician Contest" and won the 1st prize and the special prize at the "Young Virtuoso International Competition" in Zagreb.
read more
Ivan gave two solo concerts in Poland organized by the Croatian Honorary Consulate in Kraków and solo concerts in Pozega, Croatia. In 2023, he performed with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra.