„It always seems impossible until its done.“
Nelson Mandela
She graduated from the piano department at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where she also obtained a master’s degree in 2012 in the class of prof. Branko Penčić. During her schooling, she won numerous awards at competitions in Serbia and abroad and performed at concerts as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles.
She started her pedagogical work as a second-year student at the Petar Krancevic Elementary School in Sremska Mitrovica. Since then, her students have won numerous awards at competitions in Serbia and abroad, as well as the Saint Sava Charter, which the City of Sremska Mitrovica awards to the most successful students. In addition, she is the organizer of numerous concerts and seminars, and since 2018 she has been the artistic director of the Piano Festival in Sremska Mitrovica.
In addition to pedagogical work, she is active in cultural, artistic and concert activities. She plays in the Quartet “Maestre” with colleagues, professors of piano, flute and tamburitza, with whom she held many independent, charity and educational concerts and thus contributed to the popularization of classical music in Serbia.
In addition to working at the Elementary School “Petar Krancevic”, she is engaged in pedagogical work within the Association for Creative Development of Children “Piccolo”, which she founded in 2004. Over the past 15 years of working with “Piccolo”, hundreds of children have grown up singing in a choir or playing piano or guitar.
She writes and composes songs for the Children’s Choir “Piccolo,” which were recorded in 2018 on the choir’s first CD, “Srećosnilisuncokrili”. During the past years, the choir had numerous performances as well as a concert in the Great Hall of the Kolarac Endowment in May 2019. The choir had notable performances at the Sava Center in Belgrade, the Novi Sad Synagogue and at the Zmaj Children’s Games in Novi Sad, as well as in other cities in Serbia. has recorded for RTV, RTS, TV “Pink” …
She has been a member of the Rotary Club of Sremska Mitrovica since 2017. She is the holder of the “Paul Harris Fellow” award, which is given to individuals who have expressed special concern for the community and has served as president of the Rotary Club of Sremska Mitrovica for 2020/21 as well as the Project Manager of the Rotary District Concert Year 2483.
In her youth, she was involved in triathlon and now in recreational marathon running.
Married to Aleksandar, mother of Lana, Sara and Sava.
Maestre Quartet
The “Maestre” quartet is a ensemble that is the result of many years of friendship and cooperation between four professors of the “Petar Krancevic” elementary music school from Sremska Mitrovica and consists of: Dusanka Gavrilovic and Milda Kuzminac (piano), Zorica Opacic (tamburitza) and Jelena Vlaovic (flute).
The goal of the performances of the Quartet “Maestre” is to spread positive energy, bring classical music closer to the audience through popular compositions arranged in a new arrangement and presented in an unusual instrumental composition.
In addition to concerts in Sremska Mitrovica and other cities in Serbia, “Maestre” also performed in the Great Hall of the Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment in Belgrade, and recorded the entire performance and radio show in Novi Sad’s Studio M, as well as material for the show dedicated to this band on TV Novi Sad.
The first performance of the quartet was the New Year’s concert held on December 29, 2016 at the Museum of Srem. The following was a charity concert in cooperation with the Mitrovica Club on June 21, 2017 “Love painted with notes” in the Gallery “Lazar Vozarevic” in Sremska Mitrovica, from the income of which a new concert hall of the City was equipped.
The charity concert, in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Sremska Mitrovica as the organizer, was held on December 5, 2017 at the Dobrica Milutinović Theater. Significant financial resources have been provided for the renovation of the auditorium of the Music School “Petar Krancevic”.
The Maestre Quartet also engages in educational concerts, promotions of classical music and instruments. It held a series of concerts intended exclusively for high school students in Sremska Mitrovica, Sombor, Vršac, Zrenjanin and Niš.
Piccolo Piano Talents
The Piccolo Piano Talents competition is intended for children under the age of 15 and is designed to support children who dedicate time to learning to play the piano in this time of quick information. A special attraction of this online competition is the final Gala concert of the laureates, when the entire website becomes a virtual concert hall.
Over 170 competitors from as many as 23 countries took part in the first competition, and they competed in two categories: Piano Solo and Piano Duo.
With the stated characteristics, this competition, which aims to promote beauty and joy through the skills of playing the piano and at the same time offering a handful of novelties in pedagogical work and competitive performance, is unique not only in our country but also beyond.
Piano Festival
Since 2018, Dušanka Gavrilović has been artistic director of the Piano Festival, which gathers hundreds of young pianists, professors and fans of piano art every May. In addition to the competition and concert part, during the festival, guests from the country and the region have the opportunity to enjoy a number of accompanying activities, from art workshops to sightseeing of the ancient Sirmium.
With its characteristics, this competition, which aims to promote beauty and joy through the skills of playing the piano and at the same time offering a handful of novelties in pedagogical work and competitive performance, is unique in the area of AP Vojvodina.
Piccolo Children’s Choir
The children’s choir “Piccolo” was foundedin 2006 as the Association for Creative Development of Children “Piccolo”. Members of the “Piccolo” Choir perform at numerous city events, as well as at concerts throughout Serbia. The anthem of the Swimming Federation of Serbia, “Swimming, sport number one,” is their work, and numerous concerts organized by humanitarian organizations and associations of national minorities are colored by the voices of children from this choir. During 2018, they recorded their first original album “Srećosnilisuncokrili”. Every year, Piccolo starts the school year with Piccolo Sun Fest, performing on one of the open air stages in Sremska Mitrovica.
In addition to a large number of solo concerts in the city, they held a concert in the Great Hall of the Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation on May 25, 2019 as part of the How to Listen to a Concert cycle. They sang in the Novi Sad Synagogue as part of the project “Musicians of a Big Heart” and in Sava Center within the cooperation with the “State of Children Decadeland”. In the previous period, choir memberswere frequent guests on RTS, RTV, TV “Pink”… Please have a look at their performances on the YouTube channel of the Children’s Choir “Piccolo”, and find out more about them on their Facebook page.
88 Notes of Love
Recognizing the need for hundreds of students and professors of the music school as well as guest artists in Sremska Mitrovica, the Rotary Club of Sremska Mitrovica made the decision to launch the “88 notes of love” campaign, which resulted in donating a new polyconcert piano to the “Petar Krancevic” Music School.
The money for the purchase of the piano was collected thanks to the donation of 88 keys by individuals and legal entities from Sremska Mitrovica, Novi Sad and Belgrade, as well as all members of the Rotary Club of Sremska Mitrovica.
The piano was officially presented to the management of the Music School “Petar Krancevic” on April 22, 2021, while the “Thanksgiving Concert” was held for all donors on May 27, 2021.
