Katarina & Ljubica Duo is an extraordinary ensemble which composes and performs authors’ music in Balkan/jazz/classic fusion genre. Members of the duo – Katarina Rankovic, piano, vocal and Ljubica Damcevic, violin, vocal – are both educated as classical musicians.
Katarina Ranković was born in Belgrade in 1990. She finished Primary and secondary music school “Mokranjac” in the class of Professor Katarina Šandorov, and graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade , class of Professor Jelena Jovanovic - Petrovic . She has performed as a soloist and member of chamber ensembles in major halls such as Kolarac , gallery “Progres”, gallery ”ARTGET”, the Ethnographic Museum, Home of the Russian National Library of Serbia , Students’ Cultural Center of Belgrade , Students’ cultural Center of Krusevac , UK “Vuk Karadzic” in Belgrade, ‘Kolarac’ Hall. She has won many awards , and some of them are: first prize with chamber ensembles at the national competition in 2006 and 2008 , first prize at the “Spring Festival” 2007 in the category of soloists and chamber ensembles , the first prize at the competition “Lisinski” chamber music in 2008 , second prize at the International Competition “SIMC” in Bijeljina for chamber music in 2009 , third prize at competitions in music schools “Slavenski” in 1998 and “ Vladimir Djordjevic” in 2008. Two solo concerts at the Russian House and the National Library of Serbia were held in 2012. She attended a master class with Professor Valdma , and collaborated with Professor Stanko Sepic ( Serbia ) and Sandra Vučenović - Schnabel ( Germany). In addition to the successful study , she is socially engaged , and the winner of many national and international scholarships .
Ljubica Damčević is born in 1991. in Belgrade. She gained primary and secondary music education in the music school “Dr Vojislav Vučković” with professor Biljana Jakšić-Nikolić. She graduated from the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade in the class of professor Marija Špengler. She has won numerous awards in national and international competitions . During high school she was a member of the orchestra " Tango Juventud " and has had considerable success on tour in Italy and at the International Festival of Castelfidardo in the category of " Music of Astor Piazzolla" where they won first prize. She has performed in major halls of Belgrade as well as Kolarac , SANU Gallery and ARTGET , JDP , Students' Cultural Centre, Russian home etc. . She has worked with numerous violinists and pedagogues including Dejan Mihailovic , Vesna Stankovic , Mincho Minchev , Dejan Bogdanovic , Gordan Nikolic , David Takeno and Stefan Milenkovic.
The Duo was created in 2013. Since then these two young artists have performed actively. Some highlights include their concert at Belgrade week of art, Performance at Langnau Jazz Nights in Switzerland, experimental performances at the Museum of Science and Technology, concert at Gallery of Kolarac Foundation.
Katarina & Ljubica Duo enjoys sharing the concert platform with different musicians. The very important is their collaboration with Marko Stojanovic Louis, a percussionist and singer, but they also collaborate with classical musicians such as Katarina Jovanovic, soprano. Inspired by the technology and 21st century waves they have shown some interest in electronic music and started cooperation with DJ Vid Marjanovic.
It is not only the music that inspires this young and ambitious duo. Also they found the place to express themselves in the field of theatre and film. In February 2014. Katarina & Ljubica Duo was the part of the project “Little Prince”, a theatre play based on the novel by Egzypery as composers and music performers. Later that year, in the June of 2014, the duo composed music for the short film “Cleaner”.
Their performances are the mixture of music, literature, acting, dance and visual arts. Katarina & Ljubica Duo always searches for the beauty of the moment and therefore the art of the present moment is the key word for revealing the secret of their understanding.