Biography
Irena Josifoska was born in Serbia in 1996. At the age of five, she began playing the cello in the class of her mother Judit Niederholzer Josifoska. After graduating from the music high school and studying at the music academy in her hometown of Novi Sad, she completed her bachelor's degree at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold in the class of Prof. Xenia Jankovic. Since then she has been studying for a master's degree at the Berlin University of the Arts with Professor Jens-Peter Maintz.
Irena took part in master classes with David Geringas, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Wenn Sinn Yang, Claudio Bohorquez, Jerome Pernoo, Christian Poltera and Daniel Müller Schott, among others. She is also a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein, where she regularly takes part in the academy's intensive weeks and activities.
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Irena has won many important prizes at national and international competitions, including the “International Dotzauer Competition for Young Cellists”, the “Liezen International Cello Competition”, the “International Petar Konjovic Competition”, the “Belgrade Young Talent Stage” and the “Auryn Competition for Chamber Music” in Detmold. As the youngest participant, she reached the final of the international “Jeunesses Musicales Competition” in Belgrade in 2015 and won the audience award as well as several special prizes. In 2017 she was the youngest semi-finalist in the “Queen Elisabeth Competition” in Brussels, Belgium. In 2019 she won the silver medal at the “Vienna International Music Competition” and the gold medal at the “Manhattan International Music Competition”. In 2020 she won the special prize at the “Janigro Competition” in Zagreb. In 2021 she won the “Prix Jean-Nicolas Firmenich” at the Verbier Festival Academy. Irena also received several awards, including the “Art-link Prize” for the most promising female musician in 2013, the “Award for the best young artist 2015” from the Society of Serbian Artists and the “The Little Prince” award in 2018.
Irena has given concerts in Europe and America as a soloist, accompanied by well-known orchestras such as, among others, the Württemberg Philharmonic Reutlingen, the Philharmonic Orchestra Hagen, the Kaunas Philharmonie, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Detmold Chamber Orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic, the NWD Orchestra and the Orchester Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.
Irena took part in various festivals and projects, including the Rutesheim Cello Academy, the ISA (International Summer Academy), the Moritzburg Festival Academy, the Montepulciano Chamber Music Festival, the Thuringian Bach Weeks, the Hohenstaufen Chamber Music Festival, the Nitzow Chamber Music Festival, the Ljubljana Festival and the Music Forum in Trenta, Slovenia, with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Irena worked and played with musicians and conductors such as Ivry Gitlis, Helmuth Rilling, Kent Nagano, Heinrich Schiff, Frank Braley, Andrea Lieberknecht, Dag Jensen, Marie-Luise Neunecker, Frank Michael Erben and Maria-Elisabeth Lott. The composers Tibor Hartig, Dejan Despic, Svetozar Sasa Kovacevic, Aleksandar Vujic and Günter Puzberg dedicated compositions to Irena.
In April 2014, A-records (Sweden) released Irena's first CD. Her second CD followed in September of the same year with the support of Art-link and Bank Societe Generale. Irena also plays the baroque cello, with which she recorded a CD in 2019 for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and Sony, together with the VOX Barock Ensemble on baroque instruments.
Irena was a recipient of the Deutschlandstipendium and is currently receiving a grant from Ad Infinitum and the DAAD Foundation.