PREDRAG GOSTA is quickly emerging as one of the most charismatic conductors of his generation today. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the New Europe Symphony Orchestra in Bulgaria, Music Director of the Atlanta-based Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, and the Artistic Director of the acclaimed period-instrument orchestra New Trinity Baroque. He also served as the Assistant Conductor of the National Philharmonic in Washington DC and was on the faculty at Oxford College of Emory University.
Born in Belgrade and originally trained as a violinist, Predrag Gosta completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in voice, harpsichord and conducting at Trinity College of Music in London and Georgia State University in Atlanta. He then studied further in Europe and Russia with renowned maestros such as Jorma Panula, Gustav Meier, Colin Metters, and Alexander Polyanichko.
Equally at home with orchestral, choral, operatic and ballet repertoire, Gosta’s guest conducting engagements included the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Capella “Glinka,” Russian National Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Tomsk Philharmonic, Maikop Philharmonic, Murmansk Philharmonic, Kislovodsk Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic, Chihuahua Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), Welsh Concert Orchestra, Radom Chamber Orchestra (Poland), Krasnodar Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Rousse Philharmonic and Bulgarian National Opera in Bourgas. In the United States, he conducted Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Opera Theatre in Kentucky, the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale, and many other orchestras, choruses and ensembles. His 2011/12 guest conducting engagements include the acclaimed London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, as well as symphonic orchestras in Argentina, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria, Germany and Slovakia, in addition to the regular season appearances with the New Europe Symphony Orchestra, Gwinnett Ballet Theatre and New Trinity Baroque.
Gosta’s biggest international acclaim probably comes through his period-instrument ensemble New Trinity Baroque. Within New Trinity Baroque, he collaborated with many notable early music artists, such as Evelyn Tubb, Marion Verbruggen, Steven Devine, Ingrid Matthews and a Gramophone-award winner John Holloway. Since its foundation in 1998, the ensemble toured USA, England, Finland, Sweden and the Balkans, appearing at festivals and concert series in New York, Boston, London and further (Boston Early Music Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston Vammala Early Music Festival in Finland, etc.). With New Trinity, Gosta recorded over a dozen critically acclaimed CDs – among them, the 2002 recording of Purcell’s “Dido & Aeneas” (with Evelyn Tubb in the title role) was labeled by Oxford University Press’ “Early Music” and “Early Music America” magazines as one of the best recordings of this opera ever made. Gosta’s recordings are exclusively distributed by Naxos, and can be found through iTunes and many music retailers worldwide.
A regular presenter of master classes and lectures, Predrag Gosta has published articles in leading music journals. Having also the interest in contemporary music, he premiered number of works by living and 20th century composers (Platz, Božičević, Makris), including some of his own. As the President of the Makris Foundation in Washington DC, which promotes music of the Greek-American composer Andreas Makris, he currently oversees a team of editors working on publication of the complete works by this composer. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of UrtextEditions.com publisher of historically accurate editions.
Gosta is a recipient of numerous grants, awards and scholarships, including the scholarships from the Vandervell Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust in England, the Porter Foundation grant, and the Regents Opportunity Scholarship from Georgia State University. In 2006 he received the Leadership Award from the US Congressional Committee, and he has been featured in the newest edition of “Who is Who in America.” He is a member of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars and the Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity, as well as the President of the international early music society Early Music Network and Artistic Advisor of the Peter the Great Music Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia.