Marina Arsenijevic

Marina Arsenijevic left the former Yugoslavia in 1999 as a pianist born in Serbia and has since appeared regularly across venues in both the United States and her homeland. She also creates original scores and regularly programs her own Balkan-inflected crossover works during live appearances and on disc.

Born in Belgrade in 1970 while the city still belonged to Yugoslavia, she completed her training at the University of the Arts under a Russian piano instructor. Before NATO forces moved against Slobodan Milosevic, she enjoyed prominence as the glamorous face of Yugoslav classical music, playing under rock-style illumination on a transparent instrument and earning the nickname “Balkan Madonna.” For a period she appeared simply under the name Marina. She endured multiple ordeals before departing, including sheltering in a basement after bombs interrupted a rehearsal with the Serbian National Philharmonic Orchestra and being compelled by Serbian military authorities to give a recital within range of active combat. She presented her own composition Kosovo, which blends Christian and Muslim themes, even though Serbian officials had voiced objections. Her programs routinely incorporate pieces she describes variously as classical crossover, Balkan soul, or ethno-classical, works that also draw on jazz, New Age, and instrumental pop idioms.

After a more moderate government took power, she returned for a concert tour that drew roughly 300,000 listeners altogether. Long an advocate for peace in the Balkans both musically and publicly, she received the Knight of the St. Sava Order of Diplomatic Pacifism from the Serbian government in 2018. In the United States she played Carnegie Hall in New York in both 2003 and 2004, and during George W. Bush’s presidency she performed at the White House for a First Ladies’ Luncheon. She has collaborated with several American orchestras and has maintained a relationship with the West Point Military Academy Band and Cadet Glee Club that began in 2008, when she first presented the program “Marina at West Point: Unity Through Diversity.” The event became an annual occurrence, aired on the Public Broadcasting Service, and earned an Emmy nomination. In 2015 she took part in the opening ceremonies of the International Literary Peace Award in Dayton, Ohio, an occasion marking the twentieth anniversary of the Dayton Accords that ended hostilities in the former Yugoslavia.

She has kept composing, and as of 2020 she was developing a theater work centered on Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla. Her recorded output includes the albums My Balkan Soul (2002) and Fire & Soul (2007), both devoted to her own material, alongside a 2004 collection of Chopin waltzes and the 2010 release Marina at West Point.