Solo Recitals

Petric has appeared widely in solo recitals at the Kennedy Centre, London Southbank, Bridgewater Manchester, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Bunka Kaikan, Agora IRCAM, Wigmore Hall and the Berlin Philharmonic among others. A legendary advocate for the music of our time Petric’s recitals are carefully balanced with adaptations, his Mozart and Scarlatti noted as “...cool, liquid, flowing...” (Maribor Vecer, Slovenia). After Petric’s Wigmore Hall Winterreise with Christoph Prégardien (2019) critic Peter Reed noted Petric’s “…extraordinary grasp of the accordion’s ability to sound like a breath from another planet” (Classical Source).

Concertos

Writing in the Globe and Mail after Petric’s Toronto Symphony premiere of Koprowski’s  Accordion Concerto (1996) Elissa Poole stated “sensational…a brilliant performance.” The performance   launched Petric’s concerto led career with the Vancouver CBC Radio Orchestra, the BBC Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Sweden’s Camerata Roman, Chicago Concertante, Symphony Nova Scotia, Boston Modern Orchestra, SMCQ Ensemble and Nouvel Ensemble Modern. In 2010 Petric performed three concertos in one night by Current, Gougeon and Piazzolla with the Victoria Symphony.

Recordings

A sought-after recording artist, Petric’s 59 recordings on 17 labels and media have garnered “Best Recording” from the Hunter Foundation, Québec’s Prix Opus, Canada’s JUNOs and BBC Radio 3. Petric appears on the NAXOS, CBC5000 Series, CBCMusicaViva, Analekta, ATMA, Centrediscs, Chandos, ConAccord, Springdale, Astrila, Redshift labels, and France’s TV Monde. As well as dozens of recordings of thematic contemporary albums, Petric’s period recordings with Streicher fortepiano include Giulio Regondi’s 19th century complementary art of the English concertina, and thematic albums of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Soler, Scarlatti, Rameau, Haydn, Schubert, and Molique. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired features on Petric 1986, 1996, 2019, Société Radio Canada 2002 and 2004.

Pedagogy

Petric’s pedagogy is informed by the work of many artists including Alberto Manguel, Linda Hutcheon, Thomas de Quincey, and Nicolaus Harnoncourt. Petric has lectured/juried at UBC, WLU, Dalhousie, McGill, University of Toronto, led masterclasses for the Paris Conservatoire, Strasburg, Lille, Trossingen, Copenhagen, Jyvaskylla, Royal Academy London, and the Penderecki Akademy Krakow. Petric is professor of graduate studies and research supervisor for the accordion performance Masters and Doctoral program, Faculté de Musique, Université de Montréal.

Publications

A musicologist, theorist and author Petric’s writings are an organic extension of his performances. His book The Concert Accordion–Contemporary Perspectives (2017) is an unprecedented reconstruction of accordion soloists ignored and forgotten 1880-1950 while documenting 14 instruments and patents 1888-1930 from Catania, Milan, Bolzano, Paris, Lucerne, Turin, Philadelphia, Manhattan and Chicago. Ethno-musicologist Jonathan Goldman described it as a “a towering achievement…” 

Petric’s The Holistic Accordion, a Manifesto (2022) introduces critical thinking to the objective violence of the authoritative accordion and its interpretive legacy. Literary luminary Linda Hutcheon commented “…brilliantly written... theoretically astute and a joy to read.” John Rea, Dean Emeritus McGill found “a powerful text of sustained thinking (and) far-reaching insights…” Publication for Petric’s third manuscript is pending with more manuscripts underway.

Commissions

By 2023 Petric had more than 360 works written for him, including 21 concertos and 31 electroacoustic works, a contribution and diversity unmatched in the history of the accordion. Works by composers such as Jaeger, Hatzis, Morin, and Pritchard featured CX5M computer, MAC software programs, sequencers, CD or WAV file playback systems, digital delay, amplification, live video and sound processing. Pauline Oliveros, Norbert Palej, Linda Catlin Smith, and Howard Skempton have written for him, as well as composers from Québec, Japan, Romania, the UK, Poland, Greece, Italy, the Philippines, Norway, Sweden, Wales, Argentina, Russia, Serbia, Mexico and the USA. For his contributions to Canadian music he was the first instrumentalist laureate of the Canadian Music Centre’s Friend of Canadian Music Award 2005. In 2009 the Canadian Music Centre named him Ambassador of Canadian Music.

Photo Credit: Cylla von Tiedemann