Belgrade-born Lidija and Sanja Bizjak studied with Zlata Maleš before joining Jacques Rouvier’s class at the Paris Conservatoire several years later.
After initially pursuing careers as soloists, in 2002 they launched their duo career performing with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and winning two special prizes at the ARD Munich Piano Duo competition in 2005.
Popular with audiences in France, they have gone on to perform at the Auditorium de Radio France, Musée d’Orsay and Salle Gaveau, at the Roque d’Anthéron, Nohant, Sully, Auvers-sur-Oise, Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice, La Folle Journée in Nantes, Ekaterinburg and in Japan.
They regularly perform with orchestras such as Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker…
Lidija and Sanja Bizjak’s highlights include Debut in BBC Proms in London with « Le Carnaval des Animaux » with the Britten Sinfonia, Stravinsky’s Petrushka and The Rite of Spring CD for Mirare and Martinu’s and Poulenc’s concertos with Stuttgart Philharmonic for Onyx, both highly acclaimed in the press.
Born in Belgrade in 1976, Lidija Bizjak began to play the piano at the age of six. She graduated from the Music Academy in Belgrade in 1996 and then studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Jacques Rouvier and Maurice Bourgue, winning first prizes in both piano and chamber music. In 2001 she finished her postgraduate studies at the Conservatoire under Jacques Rouvier. She has also played in master classes for Murray Perahia, Leon Fleisher, Ferenc Rados, Arie Vardi, Alexander Lonquich, Ida Levin, Christoph Richter, Ksenija Jankovic, Irena Grafenauer and Sergio Azzolini.
After winning many national competitions, she gained a top prize at the 2000 Dublin International Piano Competition, as well as the special prize for the compulsory modern piece.
She has given a large number of recitals and performances with orchestra. In 2000 she was chosen by the Cité de la Musique in Paris to represent the City with Alexei Ogrintchouk in the international Rising Stars Series and performed in many of the world’s great concert halls, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as well as the Cité de la Musique in Paris.
She has participated in Festivals such as the Open Prussia Cove, Colmar, Lockenhaus, Roque d’Anthéron, Folle Journée-Nantes, Périgord Noir, Juventus, Midem Classic, Laon, Martinu in Prague… She has also appeared on ARTE, Mezzo and Serbian Radio-Television and has recorded for SWR Stuttgart, RTE in Ireland, France Musique and Radio Prague-Martinu Foundation.
Lidija Bizjak’s CD with Schubert and Schumann sonatas at Lyrinx-France label received the “Diapason Découverte” award in 2006.
Born in Belgrade in 1988 where she starts the piano with Zlata Maleš, Sanja Bizjak becomes a student at the Paris Conservatoire under Jacques Rouvier at the age of twelve. Since she has been studying with Alexander Satz in Graz, Elisso Virsaladze in Munich and Dmitri Alexeev in London and has played in master classes for Ferenc Rados, Menahem Pressler, Maurice Bourgue, Oleg Maisenberg, Igor Lazko, Felix Gottlieb and Stanislav Pochekin.
After winning many competitions for young pianists, she gained 2nd prize at the 2003 «Vladimir Horowitz» competition in Kiev. Sanja has given a large number of recitals in Europe, United States, South America and Japan and performances with Orchestre d’Avignon, Essen and Belgrade Philharmonic, Ukraine Symphonic orchestra, Mozart virtuoso festival orchestra in Tokyo.
She made her Paris début in l’Auditorium du Louvre in 2006 and has participated as a soloist since in festivals such la Folle journée in Nantes and in Tokyo, La Roque d’Anthéron, Nohant, Auvers-sur-Oise in France, Bemus in Serbia, in Victoria Hall in Geneva, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Palazzetto Bru-Zane in Venise…
Sanja made recordings for 3Sat, BBC 3, RAI 2, SAT, TV France 3, France Musique and Mezzo as well as her first solo CD dedicated to all S. Rachmaninov’s “Etudes – Tableaux” released in 2013 for the French label DiscAuverS. She was laureate of the Natixis foundation in Paris from 2005.