The only accordionist to have launched a solo career with an official debut, Mr. Petric’s London recital at St. John’s Smith Square “produced the kind of playing that make audiences of all kinds sit up and listen” (The Independent). Petric's embodied interpretations for international concert audiences offer a prodigious inclusivity ranging from microtonal improvisations with Pauline Oliveros to thematic recitals of Domenico Scarlatti sonatas, the complete Trio Sonatas of J.S. Bach, Romantic concertina works by Bernhard Molique and George MacFarren with a 19th century Streicher fortepiano, and Baroque recitals with viola da gamba and violoncello da spalla. Mr. Petric's performance of the Accordion Sequenza at Seiji Ozawa Hall with the Boston Symphony players was cited as a highlight performance in Luciano Berio's 75th birthday concert by the Boston Globe and New York Times. His Wigmore Hall performance of Schubert’s Winterreise with Christoph Prégardien and Pentaedre drew critical acclaim for his "...extraordinary grasp of the accordion’s ability to sound like “breath from another planet” (Classical Source).
The dedicatee of 20 stylistically diverse concertos, Mr. Petric’s premiere of the Koprowski Accordion Concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Jukka Peka Saraste launched his concerto led career. Highlights include Denis Gougeon's En Accordeon, Brian Current’s Accordion Concerto, a work of “…amazing lyricism and Petric’s superb sense of rhythmic design” (Halifax Chronicle Herald), Howard Skempton's Double Concerto for oboe d'amore and accordion, and Gunnar Valkare's 1996 Swedish Reikzkonzerter concerto commission Viaggio. Mr. Petric premiered the Valkare concerto on a Swedish tour with the Camerata Roman at Kalmar Castle. Petric's UK London premiere of the concerto at St. John's Smith Square was acclaimed for “astonishing bravura...” (Musical Opinion). He has appeared as concerto soloist with the l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the BBC Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra, Vancouver CBC Orchestra, the SMCQ ensemble, the Vancouver Symphony, and Montréal’s Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. In 2005 Mr Petric performed two concertos in one night with the Windsor Symphony and in 2010 three concertos in one night with the Victoria Symphony in works by Denis Gougeon, Brian Current and Astor Piazzolla. Mr. Petric gave the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Seven Words with conductor Hilel Kagan and strings of the Concertante di Chicago and Chicago Lyric Opera, and repeat Canadian performances of Seven Words with the London Symphony and Toronto's Soundstreams orchestra.
Mr. Petric is professor of graduate studies at the Universite de Montreal, Faculte de Musique (Quebec) where he mentors international students in the development of an embodied interpretive art for the concert hall. He has led masterclasses, lectured and performed at most major academies across Europe including London's Royal Academy, the Amsterdam Conservatory, Sibelius Academy, Royal Copenhagen Conservatory, Manchester's RNCM, Trossingen Hochschule, Paris Conservatoire, Maribor Conservatory, and the Penderecki and Paderewski Akademies among others; in Canada at the Universite de Montreal, UBC, WLU, Dalhousie U., McGill-Schulich, UQUAM, Bishop's University and the University of Toronto.
The creation of electronic instruments with voltage control systems by Canadian Hugh LeCaine (1914-77) at Canada’s National Research Council in 1945 was driven by his vision that such instruments would be capable of the “beautiful sound and nuance” typical of the orchestral tradition. It was an ideal that Mr. Petric merged with the liminal stereophonic breath of the accordion for his audiences. His strategic collaborations with the Canadian Electronic Ensemble (CEE) and Québec’s Association pour la Création et la Recherche Electroacoustiques du Québec (ACREQ) resulted in 49 digital creations with CD or WAVEfile playback, live processing, digital delay, CX5M and MAC computers, software processing, AI, live video and software applications. The works were introduced in 1986 to his Scandanavian, French and UK audiences positing them firmly in the canon and the digital concert hall.
His more than 80 international performances and a recording on the ConAccord label of Christos Hatzis’s Orbiting Garden were noted by writer 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 … the composers and soloist have created an accessible, culturally important aural experience…to be heard time and again.” (WholeNote)
Mr. Petric’s work as artistic director began with his curation of the inclusive Big Squeeze Accordion Festival in collaboration with Toronto's Harbourfont Centre and the CBC's beloved program Two New Hours. Festival highlights included Mogens Ellegaard, Matti Rantanen, Pauline Oliveros and Mr. Petric improvising and premiering works with the Canadian Electronic Ensemble and performances of 32 accordionists over 17 days. Other events curated by Mr. Petric included CBC’s Virtuosi Series at Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio, and numerous Carte Blanche series for Societe Radio Canada from Montreal's Salle Pierre Mercure, Québec City's Cathedrale de St. Trinite and New Brunswick's Bay de Chaleurs festival. Mr. Petric co-directed the first Canadian presentation of the Complete Berio Sequenzas for the University of Toronto New Music Festival with co-artistic director David Hetherington. At five hours in length the concert featured narrations of Sanguinetti’s poetry for each Sequenza, staging by Grahame Cozzubo, and digitized lighting for each work performed by Canada’s leading symphonic and solo artists.