The only accordionist to give an official debut recital with artistic management to media acclaim, Mr Petric’s London debut was followed by invitations to major international venues. His explorations range from thematic recitals of microtonal improvisations, Scarlatti sonatas with manuscript facsimiles, and the complete Trio Sonatas of J.S. Bach in one evening, in performances described as '...dramatic ...irridescent and haunting.' Mr. Petric's performance of the Accordion Sequenza for Berio's 75th birthday celebration at Tanglewood's Seiji Ozawa Hall was cited a highlight in the The New YorkTimes and the Boston Globe, his Wigmore Hall performance noted for his "...extraordinary grasp of the accordion’s ability to sound like “breath from another planet” (Paul Reed,Classical Source.)
The dedicatee of 20 concertos, Mr. Petric's concerto led career began with the premiere of Peter Paul Koprowski's Accordion Concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra followed by the performance of three concertos in one night with the Victoria Symphony. Concerto highlights include the world premiere of the Valkare concerto Viaggio at Sweden's Kalmar Castle, it's London premiere of “astonishing bravura...” (Musical Opinion) and the world premiere recording of the Koprowski concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (CBC5000 Series). He has appeared as soloist including the London BBC Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra, Camerata Roman of Sweden, Concertante di Chicago; l'Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Montreal's SMCQ ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Symphony Nova Scotia, Hamilton Philharmonic, ThunderBay Symphony, and the Vancouver Symphony.
Invited to a professorship created for him at the Université de Montréal Faculté de Musique, Mr Petric mentors students exploring authentic interpretation beyond authentic instruments.
Mr. Petric gratefully acknowledges his valued collaborators of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble (CEE), and Québec’s Association pour la Création et la Recherche Electroacoustiques du Québec (ACREQ) in the creation of a new digital canon with 43 new works exploring CD or WAVEfile playback, sequencers, live processing, digital delay, CX5M and MAC computers, software processing, AI, live video and software applications. He is referenced in Alexa Woloshyn's A History of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble (Queen's-McGill Press). His innovative technochamber art in the concert hall was documented by Wholenote (Tiina Kiik): “Petric has an international following....his performance of Hatzis’s Orbiting Garden is a powerhouse explosion of florid musical rock star lines… impeccable control of sound shaping the performance between accordion and sound machines in an accessible, culturally important aural experience to be heard time and again.”
Petric has given more than 490 premieres of works dedicated to him. Premiere highlights include Marjan Mozetich's iconic Dance of the Blind, David Jaeger's Shadowbox, Witold Lutoslawski's Dance Preludes, Claude Vivier's Pulau Dewata, Peter Koprowski's Accordion Concerto, and the first complete performance of the Bach Trio Sonatas with accordion. He gave the American premieres of Sofia Gubaidulina's Seven Words and Luciano Berio's Accordion Sequenza, and the world, Asian, European, Middle Eastern and London premieres of Normand Forget's iconic chamber version of Schubert's Die Winterreise with German tenor Christoph Pregardien.
Mr. Petric's inaugural festival direction was Toronto's Big Squeeze Accordion Festival in collaboration with Derek Andrews, HarbourfontCentre and the CBC's Two New Hours. His artistic stewardship was followed by invitations to direct the CBC’s Virtuosi Series at Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio, numerous Carte Blanche concerts in Quebec for Societe Radio Canada broadcast live to air from Montreal's Salle Pierre Mercure, Québec City's Cathedrale de St. Trinite and New Brunswick's Bay de Chaleurs festival as well as the Canadian premiere presentation of the Complete Berio Sequenzas for the University of Toronto New Music Festival with co-director David Hetherington.