Petar Pejčić - ECHO Rising Star

In Prayer to Ecstasy, young Serbian cellist Petar Pejčić embarks on a musical exploration of spiritual experience: from quiet introspection to physical intensity and ecstatic transcendence. The meditative lines of Bach and Ernest Bloch flow into Ligeti’s gripping sonata and the visceral eruptions of Giovanni Sollima. At the centre of the programme stands a new work by Đuro Živković. Following an earlier collaboration on the composer’s concerto Unceasing Prayers, a profound artistic connection emerged between composer and performer. In the hands of Pejčić – “a wonderful musician with a compelling sense of storytelling,” according to Le Soir – the cello becomes an extension of the voice, expressing the universal and deeply human longing for connection with something beyond oneself.

Petar Pejčić was named a Rising Star for the 2026-2027 season by Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Konzerthaus Dortmund and Palau de la Música Catalana within the ECHO network. During his European tour, the artist will perform at Bozar and give a private concert for the residents of Petit-Château, Brussels’ refugee arrival centre, in collaboration with Fedasil and Orfeo.