Ksenija Komljenović
Dr. Ksenija Komljenović (Belgrade, Serbia) is an award-winning percussionist, educator, and composer. Throughout her versatile career, she has studied, performed, and taught across Europe, the United States, and Asia. Ksenija is the first woman from Serbia with a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Degree. She holds the Assistant Professor of Percussion position at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, serves as a producer/host on the At Percussion Podcast, and is on the organizational committee of the new Tierras Percussion Competition.
Ksenija’s devotion to percussion is shaped through her advocacy for contemporary and chamber music, as well as intercultural collaboration. Her three chamber ensembles (PNEUMA, Vesna Piano/Percussion Duo, Balkan Percussion Duo) unite some of the finest young performers from across the world. As the artistic director of PNEUMA, a new percussion group, she strives to evolve the creative vision planted and shared among the performers during their studies under Svet Stoyanov and Matt Strauss at the Frost School of Music. Vesna Duo's debut album (to be released in Spring 2022) will feature Ksenija's arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring for marimba and piano. Ksenija's initiative resulted in several pioneering cultural-exchange projects between the U.S. and her home country, including the first drumline camp and contemporary percussion workshop in Serbia.
As a co-founder of the Balkan Percussion Duo, she won the Second Prize at the International Percussion Competition Luxembourg in 2018. In 2019, Ksenija was selected to be a co-principal for the World Percussion Group with whom she toured around England, Spain, and Portugal. In Fall 2021, she appeared at the XXI International Conservatory Week Festival (St. Petersburg, Russia) and the 31st International Young Laureate Music Competitions Festival (Katowice, Poland). Ksenija has performed and collaborated with some of the preeminent musicians of her time including James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman), Jeff Beal (House of Cards), The New York Voices, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Grusin, Martin Bresnick, Andy Akiho, Ben Folds, and Joan Tower.
Ksenija holds degrees from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, Illinois State University, and the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, Serbia. Her compositions and arrangements are published by Bachovich Music Publications. Ksenija is a Marimba One artist.