DENISE DJOKIC
Cellist Denise Djokic has been praised worldwide for her
sincere, powerful interpretations, and her bold command
of the instrument. Instantly recognized by her "arrestingly
beautiful tone colour" (The Strad), she moves audiences
with her natural musical instinct and her remarkable combination
of strength and sensitivity.
An acclaimed soloist with many principle orchestras, she
has appeared with the Toronto Symphony, North Carolina Symphony,
National Arts Centre Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Buffalo
Philharmonic, and Mexico City's Orquesta Filharmonica UNAM,
as well as the symphony orchestras of Vancouver, Omaha,
Montreal, Winnipeg, Syracuse, Missoula, Santa Cruz, Brazil's
Amazonas Philharmonic, and many others across the continent.
She has performed with such renowned conductors as Andrew
Litton, Grant Llewellyn, Yannick Nézet-Séguin,
Charles Olivieri-Monroe, Darko Butorac, Bernhard Gueller,
Jung-Ho Pak, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Avi Ostrovsky, and Kenneth
Schermerhorn, among others.
As a recitalist, Denise performs with her long-time musical
partner, pianist David Jalbert. They have performed together
in Washington, D.C. at the Phillips Collection and Museum
of Women in the Arts, in San Francisco, Cologne, Mexico
City, Vancouver, at Chicago's Dame Myra Hess series and
New York's Bargemusic, as well as many other cities throughout
North America. Denise and David also tour with Piano Plus,
an organization which brings performances to rural communities
in Canada. Denise's love of chamber music brings her to
many festivals each year, including the Ottawa Chamber Music
Festival, Caramoor, Park City, Ravinia, San Miguel de Allende,
and the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival. She also performs
with New York's Omega Ensemble and the Jupiter Chamber Players.
Immediately following the release of her debut recording
on the Sony Classical label, Denise was a featured performer
at the 2002 Grammy Awards. The self-titled CD won great
critical acclaim and received a 2002 East Coast Music Award.
Her following recording, "Folklore", (Allegro/Endeavor)
received a JUNO nomination as well as an ECMA, and hit the
Billboard Chart's top 15 Classical CD's. "Folklore"
was also featured on NPR's "All Things Considered".
Denise has recently recorded the complete Britten Solo Suites
for the ATMA label.
Denise has been the subject of a BRAVO! TV documentary
entitled "Seven Days, Seven Nights", which followed
her through a week-long recital tour. She has also been
a speaker at IdeaCity in Toronto, and was a keynote speaker
at the Queen's Women In Leadership Conference. Denise was
named by MacLean's Magazine as one of the top "25 Canadians
who are Changing our World", and by ELLE Magazine as
one of "Canada's Most Powerful Women".
Having grown up in a large musical family, Denise first
began to learn the cello with her uncle and aunt, cellists
Pierre Djokic and Michelle Djokic. Her parents, Lynn and
Philippe, as well as her brother, Marc, are all musicians.
Denise furthered her studies in Cleveland with Richard Aaron,
and in Boston, where she studied with Laurence Lesser and
Paul Katz. Denise gratefully acknowledges the support of
the Canada Council for the Arts.
