The only accordionist to have launched a solo career with an official debut, Mr. Petric’s London recital at St. John’s Smith Square “produced the kind of playing that make audiences of all kinds sit up and listen” (The Independent). Petric's embodied interpretations for international concert audiences reflect a prodigious inclusivity ranging from microtonal improvisations with Pauline Oliveros to thematic recitals of Domenico Scarlatti sonatas using Parma and Venice manuscript facsimiles, the complete Trio Sonatas of J.S. Bach, Romantic concertina works by Bernhard Molique and George MacFarren with a 19th century Streicher fortepiano, and informed interpretations in solo and chamber Baroque recitals with viola da gamba and violoncello da spalla based on historic theoretical writings and treatises. Mr. Petric's performance of the Accordion Sequenza at Seiji Ozawa Hall with the Boston Symphony players was cited as a highlight performance in Luciano Berio's 75th birthday concert by the Boston Globe and New York Times. His Wigmore Hall performance of Schubert’s Winterreise with Christoph Prégardien and Pentaedre drew critical acclaim for his "...extraordinary grasp of the accordion’s ability to sound like “breath from another planet” (Classical Source).
The dedicatee of 20 stylistically diverse concertos, Mr. Petric’s premiere of the Koprowski Accordion Concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Jukka Peka Saraste launched his concerto led career. Highlights include Norman Symond's jazz concerto The Eyes of Bidesuk with big band, Denis Gougeon's En Accordeon, Brian Current’s Accordion Concerto commissioned by New York's Koussevitsky Foundation, Omar Daniel's Murder Ballads, Howard Skempton's Double Concerto for oboe d'amore and accordion, and Gunnar Valkare's 1996 concerto Viaggio commissioned for Mr. Petric by Sweden's Reikskonzerter. Mr. Petric premiered the Valkare concerto with the Camerata Roman at Kalmar Castle and his UK London premiere of the concerto at St. John's Smith Square was acclaimed for “astonishing bravura...” (Musical Opinion). He has appeared as concerto soloist with the l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, London's BBC Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra, Vancouver CBC Orchestra, the SMCQ ensemble, the Vancouver Symphony, and Montréal’s Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. In 2010 Mr. Petric performed three concertos in one night with the Victoria Symphony. Petric gave the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Seven Words with conductor Hilel Kagan and strings of the Concertante di Chicago and Chicago Lyric Opera.
As professor of graduate studies at the Universite de Montreal, Faculte de Musique (Quebec) Mr. Petric mentors students in informed interpretation, thesis research and career development. An advocate for an embodied interpretive art, the accordion curriculum includes figured bass literacy, the study of treatises and theoretical writings in the informed interpretation of solo and chamber Baroque, Pre-Classical and Classical works in translation as well as extended contemporary performance techniques and improvisation. He has led masterclasses, lectured and performed at most major academies across Europe including London's Royal Academy, the Amsterdam Conservatory, Sibelius Academy, Royal Copenhagen Conservatory, Manchester's RNCM, Trossingen Hochschule, Paris Conservatoire, Maribor Conservatory, and the Penderecki and Paderewski Akademies among others; in Canada at the Universite de Montreal, UBC, WLU, Dalhousie U., McGill-Schulich, UQUAM, Bishop's University and the University of Toronto.
The invention of electronic instruments by Hugh LeCaine (1914-77) at Canada’s National Research Council in 1945 was inspired by his vision that such instruments would elicit the sound and nuance of the orchestral tradition. Mr. Petric merged that ideal with the stereophonic accordion in his strategic collaborations with the Canadian Electronic Ensemble (CEE) and Québec’s Association pour la Création et la Recherche Electroacoustiques du Québec (ACREQ) with 49 commissions with CD or WAVEfile playback, live processing, digital delay, CX5M and MAC computers, software processing, AI, live video and software applications. Mr. Petric's earliest digital works were introduced to European audiences in 1986 at the invitation of Mogens Ellegaard. Public reception of Mr. Petric's electroacoustic works in the concert hall and on disc was noted by critic Tiina Kiik: “Petric has an international following…his performance of Hatzis’s Orbiting Garden is a powerhouse explosion of florid musical rock star lines… impeccable control of sound shaping the performance between accordion and sound machines … The composers and soloist have created an accessible, culturally important aural experience to be heard time and again.” (WholeNote)
Mr. Petric directed the inclusive Big Squeeze Accordion Festival in collaboration with Toronto's Harbourfont Centre and the CBC's Two New Hours. Festival highlights included improvisations by Mogens Ellegaard, Matti Rantanen, Pauline Oliveros and Mr. Petric with the Canadian Electronic Ensemble. Mr. Petric also directed the CBC’s Virtuosi Series at Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio, and numerous Carte Blanche concerts for Societe Radio Canada broadcast from Salle Pierre Mercure, Québec City's Cathedrale de St. Trinite and New Brunswick's Bay de Chaleurs festival. Petric co-directed the first Canadian presentation of the Complete Berio Sequenzas for the University of Toronto New Music Festival with co-artistic director David Hetherington.