Blog

It was a great pleasure to work with a young film maker, Noa Martinet on his short film “My Little Superhero”, that went to Nikon film festival. My dear friend, Fanch Parker did a great sound design and arrangement for my composition “Forgotten Hero” that nicely embellished emotions in the film of the main characters. I feel happy and proud to be part of the team!

To watch the film, click here 

Feeling honored and grateful that OWMR chose “Forgotten Hero” as the best composition in Jan. 2025. This is the second time that I received the award from the radio based in UK.

A huge thanks to Pandora radio in the USA for featuring “Forgotten Hero” immediately after it was published by YRR Records, which is the end of Jan.

My newest single “Forgotten Hero” was published on Jan. 31st by YRR and it is dedicated to Alan Turing. It is a contemporary classical double single composed and recording by me. It features two versions of the track on a grand piano and with a felt piano sound. Forgotten Hero is about the life story of Alan Turing, who was a genius and who managed to shorten the duration of the 2nd World War with his invention of the predecessor of the very first computer. Unfortunately, due to his autism, he had a harsh treatment by his surrounding throughout his life, and got an utterly sadistic/cruel court order due to his homosexuality that ended his life too early.

I felt very happy and honored to play at the National Theater in Osijek before the play “Woman Anthem” in Dec. 2024

I am delighted to announce that my new (seventh) album “Sparks” was published by Yellow Rose Records, and is available on all major streaming platforms as of Oct. 25th, 2024. The album starts with the track “Breeze”, which is uplifting and embraces listeners. “Sparks” is a compilation of different intense feelings that were poured into different musical stories. The album actually celebrates many facets of creativity, coming from life experiences, but also from a theatre play script “Woman Anthem” written by Davor Spisic that inspired several the compositions on this new album.

Enjoy listening and write to me your impressions!

In the summer of 2024, I got an invitation from the Recoding Academy from the USA to become a voting member in order to vote on who gets Grammys. At first, I thought that some kind of spam arrived to my email box. However, I soon found out that several radio stations from the USA and Europe recommended me to the Recording Academy, as I received emails from these radio stations – informing me that they suggested me to the Academy and that they would like to congratulate me for receiving the invitation! It felt surreal, and I was really honored to accept it!

I enjoyed the online onboarding initiatives done by the Academy, where I was able to meet many of my peers from different countries. We had the first phase of voting during early Oct. and we had to listen to a lot of music to make as objective as possible voting – to be able to get the list of nominees.

It is encouraging to see that the Academy pays close attention to the diversity of their voting member! I am proud to be part of that story…

“Sun Will Shine” is about times when we feel down, but we have a hopeful thought that tomorrow it will be better. After rain, sun comes again and it shines on all of us…

On Oct. 4th, 2024 my label YRR from Sweden, published “Sun Will Shine”, and it is available on all streaming platforms

I am delighted to share that BBC radio and the Richard Laurence Piano show broadcasted my composition Awakening, which was super beautifully orchestrated by my friend Fanch Parker. It was broadcasted on Sept. 22nd, 2024 in a Sleeping Forecast program.

This compositions is dedicated to my dear friend Heike Mattiesen, who passed away at the end of 2023. She was battling cancer for many years, and unfortunately, she did not make it. When I learned about it just around the Christmas time, I could not stop crying – and I was on the streets of Osijek, my home town.

Heike passed away in her early 50s, way too soon…and until last moment she dedicated her time to fans, friends, and students – she was a virtuoso on guitar and did many concerts in the last years, recorded a beautiful new album “Guitar Divas” in the fall of 2023, and did masterclasses with a lot of dedication and support given to her students. We will all miss her dearly!

The single came out on Sept. 13th, 2024 and was published by YYR – available on all streaming platforms.

I am glad to announce that Yellow Rose Records published my newest composition “Shadow” on all major streaming platforms on July 7th, 2024. The song is dedicated to Sinead O’Connor, as I very much loved to listen to her in my teenage days. I was very saddened to learn that this summer she passed away too soon, too young. She had a very troubled childhood and a difficult growing up with her cruel mother. I poured my emotions inside of “Shadow” to depict through music my readings about her childhood and my sadness because of her premature ending….

My label, Piano and Nature, sent to me this message that I would like to share with you

“Happy release day! Please see the general release link here: https://AntonijaPacek.lnk.to/Elegy

It’s already added to Classical Music For Studying by Maestro Music: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6wObnEPQ63a4kei1sEcMdH?si=b8e7bea4a69d47db

We’ll also plant a tree for your release. So together, we’re helping nature and local farmers.
At this moment, we work with https://onetreeplanted.org/ for planting trees. Several times a year, we’ll send our releases to OneTreePlanted, so they can plant the trees where they’re needed the most.

If you didn’t receive it already, you’ll receive a digital certificate or several digital certificates for the number of trees planted on your behalf! If you don’t like to receive the certificate, just let us know, the tree will be planted for your release anyway! With your help, we’ve already planted over 300 trees! More info: https://www.pianoandnature.com/forest/ Thank you and speak to you soon!”

I am so happy that one tree will be planted with this release!

I am thrilled to announce that my physical album “Spark” with 12 new compositions and 2 bonus tracks was out on 28.06.2024. I am thrilled to receive two beautiful reviews for this album from Stereo Stickman and from OWMR RADIO in UK. You can find full articles under press section here.

A premier in Pula of the “Woman Anthem” theater play written by Davor Spisic and directed by Robert Raponja had a lot applause on June 28th, 2024. I would like to congratulate to the entire team.

In the article there were also some reflections upon my work on sound design for the theater play:

“A special place in the play is given to the ambiental, inspiring music and sound design of Antonija Pacek, a composer who lives near Vienna. She introduced the audience to the atmosphere of the play with her magical piano concerto. Among other things, she performed works from her recently released album “Sparks”, some of which are also part of the show. Speaking about the creation of the music for Zena Hymn, Antonija Pacek says that the text got under her skin already with the first reading, and she used the music to describe the emotions that this deeply felt story carries.”

Dear friends,

I would like to invite you to a premier of the theater play “Woman Anthem”, written by Davor Spisic, who won a Marin Drzic award for it, and directed by Robert Raponja. The premier will be on June 28th, 2024 at 9.00 pm on the castle in Pula. Monika Duvnjak has the major role, and is embodying Paula Preradovic herself (a woman that wrote a national anthem text for Austria), with her appearance on the stage in the roles of Mother and Father is a heroine Selma Alispahić, the champion of the Sarajevo theater SARTR (Sarajevo War Theater). In the role of Irina, the simultaneously delicate and powerful drama champion of the Croatian National Theater of Osijek, Anita Schmidt, and Katica Šubarić, a multiple award-winning actress from Osijek, who is also the winner of the Croatian Theater Award, shines with the role of Gerda.

I will play a short concert before the play starts, and look forward to seeing you there.

My newest composition “In Your Eyes”, written for my husband, is coming out on June 21st, 2024, and it will be published by the Yellow Rose Records label. Stay tuned!

Yellow Rose Records wrote: “The Wave is a modern classical single composed and recorded by Antonija Pacek, a native Croatian/Austrian awarded neoclassical composer and pianist. The tune is about riding a wave like our life with ups and downs, being constantly in motion.” it was published on May 10th. Please let me know what this melody evokes in you…

So delighted to share with you that “Almost Goodbye” from my fourth album “Forever” was broadcasted on the BBC radio in London, Sleeping Forecast program, on May 22nd, 2024 right at the beginning of this program!

Laura from Italy presents new artists every week. At the beginning of May, she presented me as a composer and an artist and my music to her audience.

I appreciate her words on her blog so much: “I can’t express how much I am honoured to introduce Antonija to my blog, who played in venues such as L’Arena di Verona (that for an Italian like me is simply a dream!)…” She also compared me to Ludovico Einaudi in her blog. For more information and for my interview with Laura, please go to my Instagram page: antonijapacek

It is an immense honor that BBC sounds led by Alexa Kruger, chose “Reminiscent” to be broadcasted on this popular Piano Focus program. The composition was awarded by OWMR radio in UK as the single of the month. “Reminiscent ” was inspired by a beautiful and awarded script for a theater play,  titled “Woman Anthem”, written by Davor Spisic.

On April 5th, “Spark” single was published with a Piano and Nature record company from the Netherlands. It is the first time that I work with this dynamic label. They placed “Spark” on the Calm&Focused editorial playlist on Spotify. The song is also on the playlist: Reading Music from Andante Piano records and several other great ones. I wrote the composition for a romantic scene of the “Woman Anthem” play.

I feel excited to share with you that my newest single “Stars” will be published on March 8th, 2024 by YRR. It will be out on special day, the International Women’s Day. “Stars” was inspired by the book by Neil De Grasse Tyson “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”, which depict a travel through space and how to understand what is happening to our universe. The song expresses my awe about the universe and the stars. The best compliment was given by my friend, who works for NASA. After listening to the composition, he told me that it moved him to tears. Feeling grateful and honored!

Feeling very grateful and honored that “Reminiscent” composition was the winner of the Chrissie Sheppard Award as the Best Single for Jan. 2024 on One World Music radio in UK. I wrote this composition for the theater piece “Woman Anthem” about the life of a renown writer and poet, Paula Preradovic. The play will be premiered on June 29th, 2024 in Pula and will be playing in many cities in Croatia, Serbia, Bosna and Herzegovina, as well as in Vienna, Austria.

Feeling happy that BBC radio in London chose to broadcast “River” (radio edit) at the very beginning of the program. Previously, BBC radio London played my composition “Awakening” that was beautifully orchestrated by Fanch Parker.

Here is the link so that you can hear the entire program.

My new single is to be published by Yellow Rose Records. The composition was inspired by the life of Paula Preradovic, an amazing writer. She wrote a beautiful text for the Austria anthem. Her life connects WW1 and WW2, Austro-Hungarian empire and the era after it’s fall, also connecting her place of childhood, Pula in Croatia and her mother’s country, that is Austria.

My new single “River” will be published by YRR on Nov. 24th, 2023. The composition represents the river running through all its obstacles, and finding new paths to overcome these stepping stones. Just like our lives…

Happy to celebrate with you that my composition “To You”, written for my husband, has already more than 111 k streams on Spotify, and that total streams on Spotify for all of my published music are more than 720 k!

I am also currently composing music for a theater piece, and will inform you about more details soon!

Thank you for listening to my music!

Dear listeners and curators!

Thank you so much for placing my music on various playlists and for listening to it. I was truly happy that so many of you listened to my music, from so many different countries and for so many hours during the 2023!

On Aug. 1st, 2023, Awakening, an orchestral version, was broadcasted on BBC radio London in a program named, the Sleeping Forecast.

The program recording will be available until the end of Sept. on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0g43wvz

We really enjoyed playing our concert in Rovinj! Thank you Domagoj Terzic for being such a great host.