Zivorad Nikolic

Zivorad Nikolic is a professional accordionist and accordion teacher from Serbia living in London. At the age of seven he joined the Miloje Milojević School of Music where he studied with Vesna Djurdjević, Radomir Tomić, Radenka Ristić and Snezana Vlastić. In 2002 he was accepted by the National Conservatory of Music in Marseille, France and was invited to play at the Napoleon Palace in his first year. Zivorad then studied with Owen Murray at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating in 2009. During this time, he received the Sir John Barbirolli Foundation Award. Since 2007, Zivorad has been a member of Paprika, a six-piece band performing traditional Eastern European music. He is also a member of the Fugata Quintet, Accordduo and She’koyokh, the award-winning Klezmer ensemble. Zivorad has performed as a soloist and in chamber groups in some of the most prestigious venues such as St. Martin in the Fields, St. John’s Smith Square, Royal Festival Hall, Kings Place, Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, New Morning (Paris), The Forum (Melbourne), Enmore Theatre, and Brisbane Powerhouse. He has also performed at renowned festivals such as Glastonbury, WOMAD, Cheltenham, Norfolk & Norwich, Deal, Canterbury, Cambridge, Auckland, and Edinburgh Fringe. In 2006 Zivorad was privileged to perform at György Kurtág 80th birthday concert in Budapest. Zivorad has recorded on the albums of several artists including David Gomez, Aiden Love & Forty Thieves Orchestra and Marti Pellow. In 2011 Zivorad performed in the premiere of Prophet and Loss, a community opera written by Julian Grant. He has also featured on Channel 4’s How Music Works and in a live performance for the BBC Radio 2 programme, Friday Night Is Music Night. Recent highlights include live performance of Kurt Weill’s ‘Threepenny Opera’ conducted by Ilyich Rivas as well as ‘Tobias and Angel ‘a Church Opera by Jonathan Dove. Zivorad also played in some theatre productions in UK such as ‘Fiddler on the Roof ‘at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield as well as ‘Piaf’ at the Curve theatre, Leicester. He has also recorded soundtracks for films and some of the most recent collaborations are with Anne Nikitin and Michael Chanyi-Wills. Zivorad also works successfully with students of all ages. He was featured in a World Encyclopedia of Accordionist "Accordion and World's Best Contemporary Accordionist" published in New York in 2020. In the same year, Zivorad was elected as an Associate of Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) for his contribution to Music.