Biography

Nicholas Pavkovic received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in mathematics and a master’s degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where he studied with Elinor Armer. His 2011 composition, Angelus Novus, received the school's James Highsmith Award. A prolific composer for film, Mr. Pavkovic has scored more than two dozen narrative features and shorts, and was named a Sundance Composers Lab fellow in 2008. His 2008 Concertino for Piano and Percussion won the grand prize in the Percussive Arts Society composition competition and was premiered by the SFCM Percussion Ensemble. He is active in the planning and administration of the school's annual Hot Air Festival, which hosted the premiere of his chamber opera, Sredni Vashtar, in 2010. In 2011, SFS Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour and SFS Principal Keyboardist Robin Sutherland premiered Mr. Pavkovic's Viola Rhapsody. Mr. Sutherland subsequently commissioned Volante (2012), a three-movement suite for clarinet and piano. Mr. Pavkovic is General Manager of the concert series Curious Flights and serves as Executive Director of the Ross McKee Foundation for the Musical Arts. These current performances mark his San Francisco Symphony debut.

(June 2013)