Gagi Petrovic

composer, performer, producer and teacher of music

Portfolio

Current projects

  • 2020-2025 | Pay To Destroy

    In collaboration with Modelo62, with support of Performing Art Fund NL.

    ARTIST STATEMENT

    As long as political leaders and we, consumers, are not taking responsibility for our pollution through the effects of global capitalism, we continue to destroy our planet while blinding ourselves to our influence with comfort. An artist’s power is limited in the grander scheme of geopolitical decision making, but by focusing efforts towards creating thought-provoking and personally confrontational experiences by sharing the notion of hopefulness in a polluted wasteland, artistic works can invite critical reflection on our consumerist behavior. If we are willing to confront ourselves and take action, we could make a difference.

    SUMMARY

    Pay To Destroy [PTD] is an activistic concert where the audience members’ behavior influences the musical output as ‘agents of pollution’, creating a personal sense of urgency and taking the listeners on a contemplative journey. By interacting live during a performance, each listener can choose to make virtual ‘micro-transactions’ to improve their own comfort and by doing so: destroy aspects of the ongoing composition. Such actions irreversibly alter musical patterns which form the basis of the composition, thereby audibly ‘polluting’ the music. There will also be options for ‘healing’ at the cost of comfort, and ‘purchases’ that are more ambiguous in nature. These payments, including their impact, are announced during the piece and are interwoven with the ongoing vocal narration about personal dilemma’s related to “comfort of living” versus “environmental responsibility”.

    Every new presentation of the piece will store the previous developments of musical alterations and destructions. The stored audience decisions assure that the impact of previous viewers’ locations and micro transactions keep influencing the next performances. Similar to the decisions of generations before us and our own.

    BACKGROUND

    As a critical thinker and activist Petrovic has campaigned against international trade treaties, such as TTIP and CETA, to stop their impact on the environment and the further shifting of legal power towards multinational companies. He has campaigned on social media and was involved in multiple physical protests. Additionally, as a citizen and human being he tries to minimise his own ecological footprint by his way of living.  In the current digital revolutions it’s easy to delude ourselves in technological exoticism and with the many services we take for granted as being “free of footprint” while in reality they are not. The internet and now the increased use of AI are big ones in this, that cost tremendous amounts of energy and physical space and other resources.

    So far, his activistic motivations and actions have been mostly separated from his artistic career. With PTD Petrovic hopes to find ways to utilise his expertise as composer, system developer and performing artist to have an impact on how we consumers relate ourselves to our own comfort and its impact on our home planet.  He is aware that his power to shift thinking is limited, but he will attempt to sharpen our senses nonetheless.

  • 2024 | ‘Imaginary Conversations’ & ‘Veneer’ (production)

    Two new iterations of previously composed song cycles:

    Imaginary Conversations (2017-2019)

    1. Stories that consume
    2. Your comfort confronts me
    3. Quiet shouts

    ‘Imaginary Conversations’ covers concerns about interpersonal polarisation. Petrovic performed these songs in house concerts. 

    Veneer (2022)

    1. Caged Flight
    2. Stolen Time
    3. Unshackled

    Veneer was premiered at Rewire Festival 2022, as a live electronic interpretation named ‘Vox Populi’. This studio adaptation includes live singing and moves away from the layered abstractions. It’s about social masking.

  • 2023 | Don Buka (composition)

    Music duo with Ada Bania, making Alternative EDM songs about conquering inner demons.

    Tracklist so far:

    • New Speaker
    • Demonised
    • Souvenirs
    • Toxic Care
    • Addicted
    • Are You Horney Baby
  • 2023 | Music for Theatre and Dance 2011-2024 (mastering)

    A compilation album featuring highlights of my composed music over the past decade, commissioned by contemporary theatre and dance.

    To be released at Moving Furniture Records in 2025.

  • 2022 | Cherish Menzo: D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER (touring)

    Music composition and mastering all audio for a performance with elements from contemporary dance, installation art and live rap (90 minutes).

    Cherish Menzo & GRIP & Frascati Producties

    Body can you become hypothetical, a galaxy, in full gear acceleration, a liquid star monster, failing to die?

    In her new creation, Cherish Menzo and her onstage partner Camilo Mejía Cortés look for ways to detach their bodies from the way they are perceived and the daily reality in which they move. Among other things, they look up to the sky, at dark matter and at black holes that meet and collide to give birth to a new, (afro)futuristic and enigmatic body. DARKMATTER wants to get rid of the biased way of looking at one’s own body, at that of the other, and at the stories we attribute to them. Together, they throw their bodies into a complex conversation that they want to both enter into and transcend – a duality that feeds the performance.

    For more information, see the website.

    Setlist:

    1. Uncanny Landscape
    2. Quartered Island
    3. Latex Birds
    4. Drexciya Under
    5. Drexciya Ascension (ft. Michael Nunes)
    6. Single Entity
    7. Double Goddess (ft. Michael Nunes)
    8. Final Anthem
  • 2018 | Choosing Freedom (concerts)

    Choosing Freedom is my celebration of letting music ring free. For this purpose I made the instrument GEST to approach my own intuition for the creation and performance of electronic music. GEST transforms hand motions that break a light into digital sound gestures based on pre-composed acoustic sources. 

    With this work I  place musical conventions under pressure. This occurs in the sound itself, its narratives and in my presentation of it. The performance covers a set of pieces that each resemble an aspect that I had to let go of, in order to find my freedom:

    1. Divided Attention
    2. Scattered Perception
    3. Emotional Manipulation
    4. Arbitrary Expectation
    5. Conservative Evasion

    Choosing Freedom was a tipping point in my artistic career. This work is presented in smaller and underground venues, but also at local international festivals such as Rewire and Gaudeamus. A concert registration was released at Moving Furniture Records. The album is covered in magazines like Gonzo (NL) and Positionen (GER). An adaption of the last piece toured Europe and Canada as part of the critically acclaimed DARKMATTER. Yet, as a solo performance Choosing Freedom deserves more international presentations. As my contribution to the celebration of expressive emancipation.

  • 2015 | GEST (instrument)

    The custom-built GEST allows the performer to design and play electronic music in an intuitive way, turning hand gestures and light sensors into an interface for musical expression. It’s an environment for both composing pieces based on audio recordings and performing structures with indeterminate elements.

    Choosing Freedom

    This solo act (and album) allows the artist to explore the outer edges of music, subverting categorical notions of what music should sound like.

    1. Divided Attention
    2. Scattered Perception
    3. Emotional Manipulation
    4. Arbitrary Expectation
    5. Conservative Evasion
    6. Reminders Reinterpreted

    Composed and performed by Gagi Petrovic. This work has been performed at festivals such as, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Rewire, GOLF and Overkill. It will be released in 2021 at Moving Furniture Records. This work has been premiered as ‘GEST x DPB’.

    Maya & Gagi: Constellations

    1. Conjunctions
    2. Reminders
    3. Divisions

    Composed and performed by Maya Fridman and Gagi Petrovic. These pieces have been performed at festivals such as Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Soundsofmusic and miscellaneous venues.

    Vox Populi

    Composed and performed by Petrovic, premiered in June 2021. Made possible by FPK Werkbijdrage Muziekauteur.

    Current state of GEST

    • Performing solo acts with this instrument (mostly Choosing Freedom)
    • Adapting the software for new pieces (e.g. Pay To Destroy)

Music for Concerts and Releases

  • 2021-2023 | Pay To Destroy (postponed until 2025+)

    New work for GEST and ensemble Modelo62. To be created and premiered in 2023-2024.

    Artist Statement:

    • As long as political leaders and we, consumers, are not taking responsibility for our pollution through the effects of global capitalism, we continue to destroy our planet while blinding ourselves to our influence with comfort. An artist’s power is limited in the grander scheme of geopolitical decision making, but by focusing efforts on creating thought-provoking experiences, artistic works can invite critical reflection on our consumerist behavior. 

    Concept:

    • The project aims to research compositional and technological methods for creating an interactive online concert experience: Pay To Destroy. This 45-minute piece will be composed, programmed and performed live on digital media. For this work he creates a new adaptation of his instrument for electronic music, GEST.
    • Pay To Destroy is an activistic story that flourishes online where the software can easily access data from audience members. Listeners can join by logging into a live stream of the concert. Once the performance starts, GEST has collected geographic and political data from each listener’s location. This is data about pollution caused by consumerism and what that country is currently doing to slow this down, or speed it up. This information is then integrated live during the performance  by the agents of pollutions (musicians), to remind the viewers that just being alive in a certain place on earth already impacts the planet. Through ongoing algorithms, the music’s patterns get polluted, altering them irreversibly. By paying more, through optional micro-transactions, each individual listener can willingly destroy the ongoing performance even further. These payments occur through a virtual online shop. The impact of these purchases have a direct influence on the development of the music. 
    • Whenever Pay To Destroy is presented, every new iteration of the piece continues where the previous developments of pollution left us. The structure remains similar, but the materials have been damaged already. In this way the impact of previous agents’ consumptions keep cumulatively influencing the next performances. 

    Current state:

    • Concept & fundraising.

     

  • 2021-2023 | Unfold Yourself

    A studio album consisting of seven new pieces. Released at Moving Furniture Records.

    Unfold Yourself is a studio album where the composer distances himself from GEST and re-explore the conventional instruments that he plays. It’s seven pieces that narrate an emotional journey regarding personal development.
    1. Disrupt
    2. Obstruct
    3. Shatter
    4. Rejuvenate
    5. Illuminate (hiervan kun je een pre-master versie beluisteren)
    6. Erupt
    7. Arise

    This work is made possible by Performing Arts Fund NL. It will be released at Moving Furniture Records in 2023.

  • 2022 | Vox Populi

    Solo act for GEST (and voice).

    Veneer’ sees Petrovic embracing the more conventional role of the singer-songwriter. The song cycle consists of three pieces about social masking.

    Setlist:

    1. Caged Flight
    2. Stolen Time
    3. Unshackled

    This work is made possible by Performing Arts Fund NL. An electronic interpretation was premiered during Rewire Festival 2022. In 2024 Petrovic revised this work to include live singing, under the new name ‘Veneer’.

  • 2022 | Het voorbijgaande

    Composition for choir SATB, on poetry by Elea Bekkers.

  • 2021 | AnDeres

    For the Plopp! Festival in Saarbrücken, Germany four artists came together to create a new musical and performative installation.

    Elea Bekkers, Viktoria Nikolova and Bahzad Sulaiman.

  • 2021 | 6 questions, 200 letters and 28 poems

    The exhibition by Aimée Zito Lema in Oude Kerk covers its politically turbulent history.

    For the finissage of her exhibition and the goodbye celebration of the artistic director, my job was to musically reinterpret 26 poems based on 6 questions and 200 official letters revolving around recent tumult regarding contemporary art presented in the church.

    A new piece for GEST and 5 poets.

  • 2021 | Smaakt Naar Muziek: Misophonia

    Concept:

    • Smaakt naar muziek means “taste like music” in Dutch. An artistic and culinary experience where three composers prepare a meal and share related music. See also the website.

    Duration: 30 minutes

    Composers:

    • Anthony L. Dunston
    • Felipe Ignacio Noriega Alcaraz
    • Gagi Petrovic

    This event was planned in 2020 but has been postponed due to COVID-19.

    Current state:

    • Composition of new work for GEST.
    • Preparing for performance.
  • 2020 | Hoogtepunten (paused)

    Compositions for three voices (SAB), on poems by Elea Bekkers.

    Performers

    • Elea Bekkers
    • Ada Bania
    • Gagi Petrovic

    Current state:

    • Working on aesthetic research and composition.

     

  • 2020 | Recalcitrance

    A double CD of abstract electronic music with Matthijs Kouw, released as MFR090 at label Moving Furniture Records.

    CD1
    Matthijs Kouw – Irradiance
    Matthijs Kouw – Remembrance
    Matthijs Kouw – Absorbance

    CD2
    Gagi Petrovic – Vigilance
    Gagi Petrovic – Diligence
    Gagi Petrovic – Remnants
    Gagi Petrovic – Depressant
    Gagi Petrovic – Insignificant

    Concept
    Philosopher of science Isabelle Stengers has studied the operations of states and their mobilization of technical practices to serve a presupposed general interest, which involves the production of rules and norms. Such rules and norms are blind to forms of knowledge that are denigrated as ‘local’ and ‘traditional’, and feature the correlative elimination of what does not conform and cannot be standardized – in other words, what is recalcitrant to objective evaluation. Anything that resists subsumption to technical rationality is seen as a threat to public order (Isabelle Stengers, In Catastrophic Times: Resisting the Coming Barbarism, pp.73-4).

    The eight tracks on ‘Recalcitrance’ examine abstract topics that range from metaphysical speculation and psychological investigation to reflections on the process of creation itself. Taking a shared set of source sounds as their starting point, Matthijs Kouw and Gagi Petrovic invite listeners to defy what Stengers describes as technical rationality. Recalcitrant subjects ask new questions. They allow the currently dominant reductionist mindset obsessed with productivity to be unsettled by space for reflection and quiet contemplation.

  • 2019-2020 | Wormeaters

    Band member since October 2019: composition, keys and electronics. Activities postponed due to COVID-19.

    Members:

    • Tatjana Rossa: flute and live electronics (Max)
    • Menne Smallenbroek: baritone saxophone
    • André Lourenço: bass guitar
    • Gagi Petrovic: keys and live electronics (Ableton)
  • 2019 | OVERCOME

    Composition for Trash Panda Collective.

  • 2019 | Jade Mineral Razor

    Concept:

    • For the crowdfunding of underground music label Moving Furniture Records featured artists engaged in new collaborations to support the campaign. Gagi Petrovic worked with Matthijs Kouw on a new intuitive piece.

    Released on ‘Moving Music: sounds from the rocking chair’ at Moving Furniture Records.

  • 2018-2022 Choosing Freedom

    Choosing Freedom is my celebration of letting music ring free. For this purpose I made the instrument GEST to approach my own intuition for the creation and performance of electronic music. GEST transforms hand motions that break a light into digital sound gestures based on pre-composed acoustic sources. 

    With this work I  place musical conventions under pressure. This occurs in the sound itself, its narratives and in my presentation of it. The performance covers a set of pieces that each resemble an aspect that I had to let go of, in order to find my freedom:

    1. Divided Attention
    2. Scattered Perception
    3. Emotional Manipulation
    4. Arbitrary Expectation
    5. Conservative Evasion

    Choosing Freedom was a tipping point in my artistic career. This work is presented in smaller and underground venues, but also at local international festivals such as Rewire and Gaudeamus. A concert registration was released at Moving Furniture Records. The album is covered in magazines like Gonzo (NL) and Positionen (GER). An adaption of the last piece toured Europe and Canada as part of the critically acclaimed DARKMATTER. Yet, as a solo performance Choosing Freedom deserves more international presentations. As my contribution to the celebration of expressive emancipation.

  • 2018 | Another Encounter

    Composed for Dodecavember 2018, organised by composer Hinse Mutter.

    Concept:

    • carte blanche: algorithmic composition in Ableton, in celebration of dodecaphony.

    Duration: 5 minutes.

    Premiered in YouTube stream.

  • 2017-2019 | Imaginary Conversations

    Concept, poetry, composition and performance of a song cycle for voice and piano.

    Three pieces based on observations regarding interpersonal polarisation:

    Often I witness a lack of listening among people that have an opposing perspective on something. It appears as if assumptions, on what someone might represent, resonate louder than what that someone actually says. Projected anger and misplaced fear follow while it’s actually more like a severe misunderstanding.
    So far, I don’t think this attitude only occurs on a specific topic or among specific (groups of) people, although it’s extra clear in political debates, or on topics regarding ‘truth’. I hear protection of ‘us’ and I see how this results in polarisation, keeping ‘them’ out while keeping ‘us’ safe from any blame. This way we create a distance which is artificial, counter productive and simply not necessary.

    Three pieces, with a total duration of ca. 20 minutes:

    1. Stories that consume
    2. Your comfort confronts me
    3. Quiet shouts

    Composed and performed by Gagi Petrovic (piano and voice).

    Current state:

    • This piece is finished is currently being performed. There’s also preparations for recording and releasing it as an EP.
  • 2017-2018 | Maya & Gagi: Constellations

    Composition and performance in musical duo with cellist Maya Fridman.

    C0-created pieces, under the name Constellations’:

    1. Conjunctions
    2. Reminders
    3. Divisions

    These works have been performed in multiple festivals, such as Gaudeamus, Soundsofmusic, and other venues.

  • 2017 | S+S

    Composition for voice and soprano saxophone.

    Concept:

    • Capturing stylistic elements from ‘De Stijl’. Based on poetry by ‘Anthony Kok – Stilte + Stem’
    • Composed in one day, as part of the ‘Eendagsliederen’ project.

    Duration: 3 minutes

    Premiered during Grachtenfestival, aired on Radio 4.

  • 2013-2019 | Passing Sounds

    Organiser of, and composer/singer for, concerts with new music. Assistance in artistic direction of Albert Manders, fundraising, budgeting, stagehand and performance.

    Members:

    • Albert Manders, composition and flutes
    • Hinse Mutter, composition and double bass
    • Gagi Petrovic, composition and voice (bass-baritone)
    • Vera van der Bie, violin
    • Daniel Boeke, bass clarinet
    • Anne Veinberg, piano
    • Jelena Popovic, piano
  • 2014-2018 | Ob-literate

    Concept & Composition by Zeno van den Broek and Gagi Petrovic. For vocal ensemble (SSBBB), live electronics (performative objects) and organ.

    Background

    In the summer of 2014 Gaudeamus brought together audio-visual artist Zeno van den Broek (b. 1982) and composer Gagi Petrovic (b. 1986) and commissioned a large scale composition project. The electro-acoustic piece Ob-literate is the duo’s resulting work for organ, vocal ensemble, electronics and custom built performative objects – world premiered at Nicolaikerk, Utrecht on 6 March 2016.

    Drawing inspiration from articles revolving around the philosophical text The Destructive Character by Walter Benjamin, furthermore distilling words and concepts from interpretations by Dick Raaijmakers and the poem Étui by Adam Staley Groves, the two artists constructed a work which is intense and alienating in its deconstructive dismantling to create space for something altogether new.

    “Starting out Ob-literate presents itself as a dense, intangible moving mass of sound. Little cracks offer a view to what’s hidden beneath. Following an explosion, constituent elements are thrown wide, moving through separating paths – towards isolation. On their own all ‘particules’ find their equilibrium, without actively engaging in relations, although there might be some harmony or friction. A stray element deserts and the balance is rocked into implosion. High pressure forces connections, leading to collapse on itself. With the veil of obscurance lifted: the mark has been made, but damage was done by uncovering the underlying message and the disastrous disintegration is revealed. The storm of this exhilarating centrifugal composition throws up atomised memories of melodic syntax, hints of a phrase or just a word. In Ob-literate these tiny points reference musical coherence and terra firma in a buzzing rhizomatic web of contingent yet tightly controlled aural material. Ultimately Ob-literate blows holes in card houses of fixed ideas or walled-off bubbles – throws open windows and points to the clearest of blue skies as a tabula rasa for our cacophonous times.” [Liner notes by Sven Schlijper-Karssenberg]

    Album Release

    Ob-literate has been released on vinyl through the new collaboration between Gaudeamus and Unsounds: SOUNDS OF THE YOUNG AVANT-GARDE VOL. 02. Gaudeamus foundation and the independent label Unsounds are indispensable actors in the avant-garde and new music field, operating internationally from their common base in the Netherlands. With the Sounds of the Young Avant-Garde Vinyl Collection, they collaborate to present some of the most forward moving sounds in contemporary music, as they are created today by young and mid-career makers. The works are original commissions by Gaudeamus and are selected, produced and released by Unsounds. This joint venture secures a new lease of life for these works apart from and beyond the live music stages, ensuring the most thrilling music of our day and age is preserved as veritable future classics.

    Ob-literate was commissioned by Gaudeamus Muziekweek // Supported by Gaudeamus MuziekweekFonds21 and Dutch Performing Arts NL.

  • 2014-2017 | dp[a] + hsh

    Composition and music production of electro-acoustic work.

    Duration: 20 minutes, in 4 parts.

    Concept:

    • Dysprosody is a very rare speech disorder that can manifest itself in several ways, such as unconventional changes in pitch, volume and rhythm while talking. This could be seen as a nuisance and unwanted deviation on established ways of communication, or as a new opportunity for truly expressing oneself. This is the result of my first attempt on the latter.

    Released on double EP ‘dp[a] + hsh’ at Moving Furniture Records, on CD and digital.

     

  • 2015 | There is nothing.

    Composition and software design for flute and speaker.

    Concept:

    • A spiritual exploration of how words guide a musician’s interpretation of loaded words. The music is based on poetry by Gagi Petrovic:
      • There is nothing.
      • Actually, there is an endless white space
      • and you – faceless, calm.
      • Within this space
      • there is a presence: your tenderness.
      • But still,
      • there is nothing.
      • Nothing but your sound.
      • Within this process
      • there is a love for inconsistencies.
      • There is a joy for sculpting time.
      • Calm down,
      • there is nothing now.
      • Nothing
      • but your love for nothing.
      • There is something!
      • It’s a wish.

    Performed by Albert Manders in Amsterdam (NL) and Margaret Lancester in New York (USA).

  • 2015 | Soundlings & Vox Novus: Circuit Bridges

    Composition of ‘There is nothing’ and coordinating an international collaboration.

    Description:

    • Vox Novus and Soundlings are collaborating on Circuit Bridges: two concerts featuring electroacoustic music on May 28 at Gallery MC, New York City and on the 13th of June at Splendor, Amsterdam.
    • The concerts features brand new works by Gagi Petrovic, Robin Koek, Tijs Ham, Roald van Dillweijn, Melissa GreyDavid Morneau and Milica Paranosic, being performed by Margaret Lancaster and Albert Manders (flute), Thomas Piercy and Gareth Davis (bass clarinet), Cesare Papetti and Bart van Gemert (drum set), Chris Howard and Bart de Vrees (percussion).
  • 2014 | Soundlings: Songcycles

    Composition, coordination and production for a moving ensemble of speakers. Composition with Soundlings member Mark IJzerman.

    Concept:

    • Imagine a big group of cyclers, riding round a public square, creating a true surround-sound-sensation. Songcycles is an electronic composition, which moves through Utrecht. Performed by a peloton of cycling tones. Each bike will be provided with a speaker, which will produce different sounds. All speakers are accurately timed, forming a beautiful composition.

    Duration: 15 minutes

    Songcycles is a coproduction of Soundlings and Rosa Ensemble, with support from Gemeente Utrecht and Culturele Zondagen.

  • 2014 | Give more.

    Composition for extended double bass, performed by Dario Calderone. Patch design for live electronics with Tijs Ham.

    Concept:

    • Double bass as resonator, using contact speakers to amplify the electronics through the wood of the double bass.

    Duration: 9 minutes

    Premiered in Graz, Austria, during Impuls Academy 2015.

    Performed across Europe, in festivals such as Gaudeamus.

  • 2014 | Öt madárka

    Composition for recorder solo.

    Concept:

    • Öt madárka means ‘five birds’ in Hungarian. An abstract story about five similar but different birds, leading their everyday lives.

    Duration: 10 minutes.

    Dedicated to the fruitful collaborations with Zsofia Pásztói, premiered during her final exams at the Conservatory of Utrecht.

  • 2014 | Oxygen is sparse

    Composition for soprano and snare drum.

    Concept:

    • Exploration of resonances in skin and semantics.

    Duration: 5 minutes.

    Premiered in a basement in Rotterdam.

  • 2013 | stRrrct

    Composition for voice, harp and live electronics.

    Excerpt of foreword:

    • “This piece is my response to Dick Raaijmaker’ response (1999) to Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Destructive Character’ (1931). With a selection of their words, I’m not trying to unfold some sort of narrative or morale, it just so happens that certain phrases by both authors intruiged me a lot – and still do.”

    Duration: 8 minutes

    Premiered as part of Coalescence by Soundlings & ROSA Ensemble & Insomnio at RASA Utrecht.

    Special Mentions:

    • This piece received the Third Prize at the Dutch Harp Competition (all ages and nationalities).
  • 2013 | Soundlings: Coalescence

    Composition of the piece ‘stRrrct’ for a concert experience, as part of Soundlings. Singing in the piece ‘Het heeft wel potentie’ by Dianne Verdonk.

    Concept:

    • A space and time where three generations of sound touch, pull and fuse.
    • Imagine a dark space with islands of light and sound. Small separate traces of sounds fly around hastily. At times they illuminate the darkness, leaving bursts and flares of near blinding light. Miscible as these elusive substances are, they sometimes touch each other unavoidably. With only the slightest contact, the streams are pulled together with an incredible force. Coalescence. Moving ahead along the same path for a while – tied together – then suddenly, all is blown to smithereens again.

    Duration: 30 minutes.

    A collaboration between SoundlingsInsomnio Rosa Ensemble commissioned by Gaudeamus Muziekweek

  • 2013-2017 | Soundlings

    Composer and singer for concerts with new music. Production of performances and sound art installations. Activities include:

    • composition & performance
    • attending workshops
    • knowledge exchange with colleagues, discussion & debate
    • organisation
    • fundraiser (subsidies and crowdfunding)
    • communication
    • stagehand

    Projects:

    • Coalescence
    • Songcycles
    • Soundroots
    • Circuit Bridges
  • 2013 | Wir hatten Zeit

    Composition for voice and piano.

    Concept:

    • Capturing reminiscences of winter times, realising time is all we had. Based on poetry by ‘Heinz – So kam dieser Winter’
    • Composed in one day, as part of the ‘Eendagsliederen’ project.

    Duration: 4 minutes

    Premiered during ‘New Songs for the End of Time’ at Codarts Amsterdam. Performed in multiple ocassions, by various musicians.

  • 2013 | Zid

    Composition of choir piece (SATB) for Haarlem Voices.

    Concept:

    • Zid means “wall” in Serbian. This piece

    Duration: 6-7 minutes.

    Performed by Haarlem Voices and Kamerkoor JIP in multiple concerts. This piece has been released on the ‘best of’ album by JIP and can be found on Spotify.

  • 2013 | The light that blinds you

    Composition and system design of duet for alto flute and live electronics. Performed by Albert Manders and interactive software.

    This project was the graduation piece of Gagi Petrovic and is made in close collaboration with Albert Manders.

    Concept:

      • Aesthetic and technological research in acoustic noise textures, musical interactivity between human and software performer.
      • This duet for alto flute and computer system explores a stretch of intensity: both intensity through intimacy and intensity through rigor. All the while the soft susurrance of the hissing flute expands, until its acoustics and its
        electronic counterpart collide in moments of synergy.

     

    • “With this piece, I explore a method of hybrid composition. My main goal is to create a duet in which the acoustic and electronic domain are not only equally important, but also where the human and computer performer both have a similar impact on the performance. My starting point for achieving this balance is by approaching the electronics as a musician with its own “score” and room for interpretation.”

    Duration: 15 minutes:

    1. Mechanic
    2. Theatric
    3. Synergetic

    Special Mentions:

    • This piece was featured during the concert series Custom Made Music and toured in The Netherlands, including the Gaudeamus Festival 2013.
    • This piece was nominated for V2_ Test_Lab: The Graduation Edition.

    https://soundcloud.com/gagipetrovic/the-light-that-blinds-you

  • 2013 | Custom Made Music

    Custom Made Music is a group of instrument builders and musicians.

    Background

    • Due to a lack of graduation concert at their arts academy, Gagi Petrovic and Tijs Ham initiated this concert. They collected interesting composers to collectively presenting their graduation works, while questioning the conventions of presenting live concert music.

    Concept

    • Experience new tunes and new sounds brought to you by selfmade instruments and software in a unconventional concert format. We explore the grey area between contemporary acoustic music induced by abstract electronics and beat orientated music that flirts with pop music. Inspired by the Night of the Unexpected, our concerts are a place for the experimental and the familiar: both stimulating and fun!

    Duration: 45 minutes.

    The series was a succes and toured through The Netherlands in a variety of traditional and unconventional venues, such as basements, musea, festivals and concert halls.

    Composers:

    • Roald van Dillewijn
      Dianne Verdonk
      Stan Verberkt & Dave Mollen
      Olivier Schreuder
      Wim Schonermarck
      Eric Magnée
      Gagi Petrovic
      Tijs Ham
  • 2013 | Verdragen

    Composition for solo recorder and live electronics. Performed by Zsofia Pásztói, electronics & system design with Tijs Ham.

    Duration: 10 minutes:

    • I. Intense
      II. Free
      III. Restrained
      IV. Fierce
      V. Concentrated
      VI. Symbiotic

    Concept:

    • Verdragen means “to endure” and “treaties” in Dutch. The piece is a compositional exploration integrating unusual sounds that should be tolerated if you want to experience piece (e.g. extended techniques).

    Premiered at the Nikolaïkerk, Utrecht.

  • 2013 | Zrno

    Composition for chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone quartet, trumpet, bass baritone (voice), harp and grand piano).

    Concept:

    • Zrno means “grain” in Serbian. This piece explores acoustic adaptions of granular synthesis in an acoustic ensemble context.

    Premiered at Muziekhuis Utrecht.

  • 2012 | Raam tot raam

    Composition for contemporary gamelan ensemble ‘Ensemble Gending‘ and live electronics.

    Duration: 5 minutes.

    Premiered during Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2012

  • 2012 | Donker

    Composition for chamber ensemble. Version 1 is for alto flute, bass clarinet, wind gong and grand piano. Version 2 is for alto flute, bass clarinet, double bass and upright piano.

    Concept:

    • Donker means ‘Dark’ in Dutch . The piece explores the calm and intimacy of the night, when the sun doesn’t shine anymore.

    Premiered at Badcuyp Amsterdam by ensemble Passing Sounds. Performances during Gaudeamus Session and other concerts of Passing Sounds.

  • 2011-2012 | Ongewenst

    Ensemble piece for flute, clarinette, trumpet, music stands and 8-speaker live electronics.

    Duration: 10 minutes

    Premiered at Nikolaïkerk, Utrecht (NL).

    Concept:

    • Ongewenst means ‘unwanted’ in Dutch. This piece aims to explore unwanted sounds and emancipate them into musical material. This includes sounds of breathing, key clicks, sheet paper en music stands.
  • 2011 | Wandrer

    Composition and performance of choir piece (SMzATB) for Haarlem Studenten Koor, on a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926).

    Concept:

    • Wandrer means “wanderer” in German. This piece is an emotional sonification of a world traveler that has witnessed sorrows around the world.
    • from Traumgekrönt (1896), XVII:

      Weltenweiter Wandrer,
      walle fort in Ruh…
      also kennt kein andrer
      Menschenleid wie du.

      Wenn mit lichtem Leuchten
      du beginnst den Lauf,
      schlägt der Schmerzen die feuchten
      Augen zu dir auf.

      Drinnen liegt – als riefen
      sie dir zu: Versteh! –
      tief in ihre Tiefen
      eine Welt voll Weh…

      Tausend Tränen reden
      ewig ungestillt,
      und in einer jeden
      spiegelt sich dein Bild.

    Duration: 7 minutes.

    Premiered at the Philharmonie Haarlem (Stadsschouwburg).

  • 2011 | Muur

    Solo, for recorder or concert flute. Premiered during Passing Sounds (2013) at Badcuyp Amsterdam.

    Duration: 4 minutes

    Concept:

    • Muur means ‘wall’ in Dutch. This piece aims to create a wall of sound with just a small wind instrument.

     

Music for Contemporary Dance and Theatre

  • 2024 | Ariadna Gironès Mata: SO?!WHAT (design)

    Music design for solo dance performance by Ariadna Gironès Mata (45 minutes). Some of this work is released on the album Music for Dance and Theatre. 

    SO?!WHAT is a combines choreography, visual and plastic arts. The artist dances through different physicalities as she bends, distorts, and transforms her body.

  • 2023 | Benjamin Kahn: The Blue Hour

    Solo dance performance by Benjamin Kahn, premiering in Marseille (FR).

  • 2023 | Davy Pieters: Not all is lost

    Nonverbal theater performance by Davy Pieters, production of Theater Rotterdam.

    Not all is lost is a performance about bodies. About bodies caring for other bodies. About the power of our mutual interdependence. About our fragile need for the other. What does it mean to care? What does it mean to be cared for?

    Pieters links the element earth to the young adult stage of life. In doing so, she creates room for growth, but also for decay, death and silence. The performers share the floor with a living, earthly landscape. In this evocative physical performance, body and landscape together tell a panoramic story about care and neglect.

    Composed Pieces:

    1. Storm [6:24]
    2. Twilight 1 [6:00]
    3. Left Alone [11:40]
    4. Anxious Step [7:44]
    5. Drizzling Winds [4:32]
    6. Flee [2:56]
    7. Into Soil [3:14]
    8. Twilight 2 [3:52]
    9. Merry Go Round [4:32]
    10. Embraced [2:04]
    11. Self Care 1 [4:00]
    12. Catch and Fall [1:08]
    13. Dress Becomes Baby [4:15]
    14. Self Care 2 [3:28]
    15. Universe

    Duration: 75 minutes.

    Dutch tour: March 22 – May 27, 2023 

  • 2022 | Cherish Menzo: D̶A̶R̶K̶MATTER (touring)

    Music composition and mastering all audio for a performance with elements from contemporary dance, installation art and live rap (90 minutes).

    Cherish Menzo & GRIP & Frascati Producties

    Body can you become hypothetical, a galaxy, in full gear acceleration, a liquid star monster, failing to die?

    In her new creation, Cherish Menzo and her onstage partner Camilo Mejía Cortés look for ways to detach their bodies from the way they are perceived and the daily reality in which they move. Among other things, they look up to the sky, at dark matter and at black holes that meet and collide to give birth to a new, (afro)futuristic and enigmatic body. DARKMATTER wants to get rid of the biased way of looking at one’s own body, at that of the other, and at the stories we attribute to them. Together, they throw their bodies into a complex conversation that they want to both enter into and transcend – a duality that feeds the performance.

    For more information, see the website.

    Setlist:

    1. Uncanny Landscape
    2. Quartered Island
    3. Latex Birds
    4. Drexciya Under
    5. Drexciya Ascension (ft. Michael Nunes)
    6. Single Entity
    7. Double Goddess (ft. Michael Nunes)
    8. Final Anthem

    Duration: 80 minutes.

  • 2018 | Aileen Pfauth: Bloei

    Composition, sound design, co-creation and music production for solo theatre by Aileen Pfauth.

    Concept:

    • Bloei means “to bloom” in Dutch. A solo piece about a dementing poet. 

    Duration: 60 minutes.

    Premiered at Fringe Festival.

    Words of the director and actor:

    • “I want to thank Gagi Petrovic for working with me on this play. We talked for many hours about my grandfather and the meaning of his poetry. We listened over and over again to all the conversations Of Frits and me I recorded at Frits’ ‘atelier’. I read him almost all Frits’ poems and he listened so thoughtfully to my visions, insights, doubts and all the meanings i saw in Frits work and then made the backbone of this play. He created a dreamy but down to earth atmosphere in sound, that in all its modesty tries to live up to the neutral way of living my grandfather feels is so important, walking that line of magical disenchantement. His sounddesign changes the environment on stage and reveals a world where different layers of reality coexist.
      I am so happy to have found out how wonderful it is to create something together.
      Gagi! Thank you for the love you put in to this play. And thank you for giving me insights about my perceptions on myself in this proces with your music. The new music you made these last weeks told a story I couldn’t tell myself yet, and that made me realise how sincerley you connected with the story I am trying to tell with BLOEI. (It’s all about love, OFCOURSE IT IS!) xxx”
  • 2017 | Haya Maëla: AYAH

    Composition and music production for contemporary dance by Danshuis Haarlem, integrating and mastering it with existing music.

    Concept:

    • A story about the father figure and patriarch oppression.

    Duration: 45 minutes.

  • 2017 | Benjamin Kahn: Sorry… But I Feel Slightly Disidentified (touring)

    Arrangement of existing music, adding some of mine and sound mastering for contemporary dance by Benjamin Kahn

  • 2015 | Mouna Laroussi: Haschoema

    Composition and music production for contemporary dance duet by Mouna Laroussi, a resident at Dansmakers Amsterdam.

    Concept:

    • The word Haschoema means ‘shame on you’ and is used in the Moroccan community when someone’s behaviour is inappropriate – especially if that someone is a woman. This single word expresses an understanding, a feeling and a certain tension.
    • “When the choreographer commissioned me to write music for her dance duet revolving around this theme of social control, my assignment became clear: to capture oppression.”

    Premiered at Dansmakers Amsterdam, then toured through the Netherlands as part of Moving Futures Festival.

    Released partly on double EP ‘dp[a] + hsh’ at Moving Furniture Records.

  • 2015 | Nicolette Alkemade: De Golfbrekers

    Composition and music production for contemporary dance on beach theatres.

    Concept:

    • Based on stories about drowning children in the seas, the music captures forces of nature.

    Duration: 30 minutes.

    Special mention

    • This music has later also been featured in the IDFA-nominated documentary Back To The Taj Mahal Hotel
  • 2013 | Paul Feld: The Sound of Freedom

    Composition, music production and electronics arrangements of work by Junkie XL for theatre by director Paul Feld.

    Description:

    • In celebration of “Vrede van Utrecht 1474” (peace treaties of Utrecht), the Dutch military collaborated with scientists and artists to create an open air theatre spectacle at an old military base.

    Duration: 70 minutes.

    Premiered during Festival De Basis at Soesterberg.

  • 2012-2013 | Homesick: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes

    Interdisciplinary creation of the performance ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes’. Homesick consists of choreographers Cherish Menzo & Lynn Meijer, stage designer Celina Yavelow and composer Gagi Petrovic leading a group of 14 dancers.

    Activities include:

    • co-founder
    • composition of live music for vocal trio (SAB) and fixed electronics, named ‘Y1-5’
    • performer (acting, singing)
    • production (fundraiser & communication)

    Duration: 30 minutes.

    The piece has been presented on open space stages in Parksessies Haarlem and Vondelpark Openluchttheater Amsterdam.

  • 2012 | Jolien van Haaster: Carnival

    Composition and music production for contemporary dance, integrating new work with existing pieces.

    Concept:

    • Dance piece exploring fantastical elements of being a traveling circus.

    Duration: 25 minutes

    Performed in Haarlem.

  • 2012 | Homesick – Café Noir

    Music for contemporary dance duo by Cherish Menzo & Lynn Meijer, with stage design by Celina Yavelow.

    Duration: 15 minutes.

    Premied at Frascati, Amsterdam.

  • 2012 | Jolien van Haaster: Gekkenhuis

    Music for contemporary dance by Jolien van Haaster.

    Electro-acoustic music that integrates recorded monologues of the dancers regarding feeling crazy.

    Duration: 3o minutes.

    Concept:

    • Exploring the emotional rollercoaster of people stuck in a mental asylum.

    Premiered in Haarlem

  • 2012 | Celina Yavelow: What happens first

    Music for Dance Film by Celina Yavelow.

    Electronics music based on controlling feedback and noise.

    Duration: 15 minutes.

    Premiered at the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam.

  • 2012 | LeineRoebana: Dans door Tim, a Dance Concert

    Contemporary Dance, Music for Dance Solo by Tim Persent.

    Arrangement of tango music by Piazolla for baroque ensemble with electronics. Part of internship at LeineRoebana.

    Duration: 7 minutes.

    Toured with Holland Dance Festival.

  • 2011 | Jolien van Haaster: Heating

    Composition and music production of new music integrated with existing music, for a new choreography by Jolien van Haaster.

    Duration: 30 minutes

    Premiered at Codarts, Rotterdam.

Music for Film, Documentary and Podcast

  • 2024 | Pauline Nijenhuis: I Am Online

    Short film by Pauline Nijenhuis, for exhibit at Dat Bolwerck.

    Duration: 1 minute.

  • 2020 | European Pavillion Podcast: Post-National Imaginaries

    Composition and music production for a podcasts series by European Pavillion Podcast. Guitars, synths and beats. 

    Duration: 45 minutes

  • 2019 | Eline Hesse: Petrol Dollars For A Different Engine

    Composition and music production for documentary by Eline F. Hesse and Robin Vogel.

    Concept:

    • A coming of age story about a person who inherits a financial portfolio and goes on a journey to re-invest it into a more sustainable future. More information.

    Duration: 60 minutes.

  • 2018-2019 | Alejandro Ramirez: sans-nam (Sn)

    Composition, music production and sound editing for video art and documentary by Alejandro Ramirez.

    Concept:

    • Showing multiple perspectives of the long living relations between the material tin and human kind.

    Duration: 60 minutes.

  • 2017 | Carina Molier: Back to the Taj Mahal Hotel

    Music being used in documentary by Carina Molier (Witfilm), that is nominated film for the IDFA Awards.

    Concept:

    • Poetically retelling the real event of the terrorist strikes on Taj Mahal Hotel.

    Featured pieces by Gagi Petrovic:

    • DGbs4_v1.3
    • stRrrct
    • hsh_2-3, from ‘dp[a]+hsh’
    • circ5.0
  • 2015 | De Vorm: Pod Sessions

    Composition, music production, sound logo design and sound editing for podcast series.

    Duration: 45 minutes.

     

     

  • 2011 | Boris Braak: Tsjernobyl

    Composition and music for short documentary by Boris Braak. Guitars and electronics.

    Duration: 7 minutes

  • 2011 | Patrick Carelsz: Hendrik

    Composition and music production for short movie by Patrick Carelsz.

    Duration: 10 minutes.

  • 2010 | Patrick Carelsz: Het Schilderij

    Composition and music production for short movie by Patrick Carelsz.

    Duration: 3 minutes.

  • 2007 | Victor van Doorn: Lust and Found

    Composition of new tango music and performance (melodica) for short dance film by Victor van Doorn.

    Duration: 4 minutes.

Performance

  • 2022 | Lisa & Gagi: Between 0 and a 1000

    Summary of summer research residency at Het Huis Utrecht. 

    Contemporary circus meets abstract electronic music.

    Born from urgency, Lisa Chudalla and Gagi Petrovic met in a united artistic act of protest. As part of the ‘Kapsalon Theater’ demonstration in January 2022, where over 50 Theaters in the Netherlands opened  their doors for one day, they were paired together for a one-off show in Het Huis Utrecht to stand against the inconsistent lift of measures that massively disadvantaged the art and culture sector in the Netherlands. They had close to zero time to get acquainted with each other or rehearse together.

    The improvisation following surprised not only them but also the theater and its audience. It was impossible to tell apart which artist followed the other, they were in sync. This inspired them to continue researching this special connection and make more performances together, with actual time for preparation.

    We envision a multi-sensory experience, where both disciplines merge into an interdependent and immersive experience, a synergetic artistic entity. We aim to move beyond clear distinctions of who follows whom.

    Our materials consist visually of acrobatic motion with chains, wheels and lights; aurally of abstract electronic expressionism, manipulations of present site-specific locations and performance sounds (with hints of singer-songwritership). The musical instrument, GEST, is a simple piece of hardware that reads light intensity and then continuously translates that into values between (roughly) 0 and a 1000. These moving digits then in turn feed the software of the instrument which allow for live audio manipulation of prepared recordings.

  • 2022 | Zeno van den Broek: From Voice To Pulse

    Vocalist for new audiovisual work by Zeno van den Broek.

    From Voice To Pulse explores the tension between the human and the digital sphere. The film merges detailed imagery that serves as a kind of digital loom, with ever-faster algorithmic percussion and an algorithmic text, written by open-source text generator GPT-2 and delivered by Gagi Petrovic. Artist and composer Zeno van den Broek shares a fresh, intriguing perspective on our interaction with artificial intelligence.”

    This work has been presented during IFFR 2023, as finalist in the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition.

  • 2013-2019 | Passing Sounds

    Singing bass-baritone.

    Members:

    • Albert Manders, composition and flutes
    • Hinse Mutter, composition and double bass
    • Gagi Petrovic, composition and voice (bass-baritone)
    • Vera van der Bie, violin
    • Daniel Boeke, bass clarinet
    • Anne Veinberg, piano
    • Jelena Popovic, piano
  • 2017-2018 | Maya & Gagi: Constellations

    Composition and performance in musical duo with cellist Maya Fridman.

    C0-created pieces, under the name ‘Constellations’:

    1. Conjunctions
    2. Reminders
    3. Divisions

    These works have been performed in multiple festivals, such as Gaudeamus, Soundsofmusic, and other venues.

  • 2017 | Oorsprong Curator Series

    Curating of ad hoc ensemble for collective improvisation. Oorsprong Curators Series is an initiative of Raoul van der Weide.

    Ensemble:

    • Angelo Custodio, counter tenor
    • Albert Manders, flute
    • Maya Fridman, cello & voice
    • Dju Zaric, piano & DIY electronics
    • Gagi Petrovic, GEST (DIY electronics)
  • 2014 | Soundlings: Soundroots

    Composition, production and acting for sound art trail with a narrative on the secret sounds of plants.

    Concept

    • Soundlings took the audience, guided by Gagi Petrovic, on a poetic journey through the botanical gardens of Utrecht, while telling a story and inviting people to listen. Consisting of a short talk, a trail of almost thirty sound installations and a spatial composition in the old Botanical Gardens of Utrecht, the collective plays with what’s real and what’s not. By doing this, they’re balancing between actual theory of biology and technology, and poetics and mythology, making for a trail that leaves the visitor wondering.

    Duration: 3 hours

    Performed during Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2014

  • 2014 | Pedro Matias: NOT SMOOTH OR GRACE-FUL

    Acting in performance art by Pedro Matias.

    Performed at Rietveld Academy and Museumnacht.

  • 2010-2012 | Haarlems Studenten Koor

    Singing bass-baritone.

Education

  • 2019-present | Courses & Workshops for Electronic Music

    Ad hoc guidance on project-based learning, regarding the use of technology for musical purpose. For music artists that are beginning with

    Students include:

    • Kuo-Han Chen Sánchez, private lessons during his masters as sound artist and electronic composer, covering fundamental and advanced composition techniques.
    • NKK NXT, offering feedback and suggestions for singer Viktoria Nikolova on creating her own electronic arrangement in Ableton Live.
    • Baggeraats, classical musician collective doing a residence at Windows of Opportunity. Offering ad hoc guidance of a technical set-up for a live concert.
    • Ada Bania, private lessons in using Ableton Live for composing, producing and performing songs consisting beats, sound synthesis and voice sampling.
  • 2011-present | HKU: Music & Technology

    At the Utrecht School of Arts he guides students in finding their own musical language, while exploring existing musical conventions and understanding fundamental music theory. He mostly teaches in the second and third year of the bachelor, in interactive and project based subjects.

    The subjects cover:

    • composition of autonomous music
    • composition and music production of music for short film and modern dance
    • context & repertoire of contemporary avant-garde
    • composition techniques for acoustic and electronic music
    • music theory of western music
    • creative coaching on project based composition

     

  • 2014-2018 | HKU: Research & Development

    Selected as ‘Young Potential’ to participate in research regarding creative decision making. Some of the findings are released under the name ‘Makersmanieren’.

    • Conduct research with discussions, depth interviews and debates
    • Internal analysis of inter-faculty collaboration within education of HKU
  • 2014-2018 | HKU: Mentor & Coordinator of Basisopleiding Muziek & Technologie (HKU)

    Coordinating the preparatory course of HKU, while offering guidance to the students. This includes:

    • guiding students in analysing their wished and ambitions
    • emotional support
    • refining the courses
    • planning & scheduling
    • temporary teacher