“A powerhouse performer whose playing combines strength with beauty.”
– The Guardian
Dejan Lazić is a Master of Reinvention
Classical music is not sacred. It’s a startling idea to come from one of the musicians dominating the concert piano world circuit, but it’s easy to get Lazić fired up about the need for invention. When Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven were writing, they were constantly playing with their own and each other’s work, writing and rewriting on a theme. That willingness to invent, to refine, to change, is what made these composers great, Lazić says. Music can’t be untouchable, it must be alive. His arrangements are a mark of respect, written to pay tribute to a great artist. Arranging the greats – and increasingly, creating his own compositions – is one way the busy performing artist finds balance in his hectic touring schedule.
Lazić spends more than eight months of each year touring, but when he retreats to his Amsterdam home, he composes. “It’s like musical yoga for me,” he laughs, but he practices the regular kind too. He also plays football, jogs, reads and is a movie buff … but composing is the brain food he loves best.
Coming home to the ACO
A shared passion for invention is one reason Lazić has found such affinity with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and enjoys “coming home” to an orchestra he describes as family. He loves collaborating with longtime friend Richard Tognetti and the openness of Australians to new things. In 2026, he’ll play Rachmaninoff’s lush Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in a joyful concert exploring the power of music to take us on a journey through what is known and unknown.
Precocious talent, childhood passion
At the age of 6, Lazić listened enviously to his mother teach other children piano, and it wasn’t long before he asked for lessons. Soon after they began, his mother sent him to learn from a colleague, protecting the all-important mother-son relationship from such impertinent questions as why certain fingers must play certain notes. That precocious questioning signalled a precocious talent, and after seeing the movie Amadeus at the age of 7, Lazić picked up the clarinet too.
By 12, his talent was so obvious that he was invited to study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg – so his family moved. He was a concert pianist by age 14. Television interviews from the period reveal a confident, joyful child, who practiced 5-6 hours a day but always found time for football, his other great love. (Though having spent long stints in Croatia, Salzburg, Munich and Amsterdam, he won’t be drawn on which club he supports. “I prefer to play football myself!”) Even back then, Lazić knew how to captivate the audience, how to measure his performance by their response. “The audiences are the best mirror for how I have performed,” he said, at just 14.
He credits his parents for their support, who despite being accomplished musicians themselves, never pushed him into music. His mother was more likely to push him to take a break from practicing and go play!
Lazić now performs in the world’s most renowned theatres (Royal Albert Hall, the Lincoln Centre, Royal Concertgebouw), collaborating with outstanding conductors and increasingly, leading orchestras himself. His arrangements are bold, and his compositions are ambitious, recently including tone poems, orchestral works and he even has an opera in progress.
Someone to talk about
Reviews of Lazić’s performances are full of words like “trailblazer”, “risk-taker” and “individuality”, with “unpredictable” and “chutzpah” thrown in for good measure. He’s “first-rate”, “delightful” and “amazing”. He’s the kind of musician you must see, a performer for whom music is alive and full of opportunity. Perhaps it’s no surprise that unlike many classical musicians, he adores jazz, never missing a chance to go to the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York and pick up local jazz recordings. They offer endless inspiration for piano cadenzas.
With a pianist for a mother, a clarinettist for a father, and a violinist for a great-grandfather, it might have been inevitable that Lazić would become a musician himself. But it is his enthusiasm and curiosity that has meshed with raw talent to create the adventurous, prodigious talent dominating the world’s piano scene today.
Click here to discover and book Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody, touring to Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydney, Wollongong, Brisbane and Canberra from 5-18 February.
Written by Jennifer Williams
