Petrit Çeku
Petrit Çeku’s exquisite sensibility and expressiveness have attracted and engaged audiences worldwide. He has performed many recitals throughout the world and was a soloist with symphonic orchestras such as Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Czech Chamber Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, State Hermitage Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Pannon Philharmonic and Zagreb Philharmonic. He collaborates regularly with the famed ensemble The Zagreb Soloists and is a founding member of Guitar Trio Elogio, established in 2008.
Hailed by Calgary Herald as “an effortless player, with a strong, projecting sound”, Çeku is the first prize winner of many international guitar competitions, including the most prestigious ones like Parkening (Malibu, USA), Schadt (Allentown, USA), Biasini (Bologna, Italy), and Pittaluga (Alessandria, Italy). He was the only classical music act in the 2018 Night of the Proms Tour with the Antwerpen Philharmonic conducted by Alexandra Arrieche, featuring pop music greats like Brian Ferry, Milow, Seal and Suzanne Vega.
Çeku graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of Darko Petrinjak and at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore USA in the class of Manuel Barrueco.
Petrit Çeku teaches Chamber Music for Guitar, a special graduate study dedicated to chamber music, at The University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in Austria. His recordings have been released by Naxos, BuntArt and Eudora records. Çeku’s record The Cello Suites, which includes all six cello suites by Bach was nominated for ICMA. Recording sessions for this album were the subject of documentary film ‘Sarabande’ by the award-winning director Kaltrina Krasniqi. Continuing the collaboration with the filmmaker, Petrit Çeku later composed the original score for her feature film ‘Vera Dreams of the Sea’, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival 2021.
Petrit Çeku is a D’Addario artist and plays on a Ross Gutmeier guitar.