Dejan Bogdanovic (Originally: Дејан Богдановић or Dejan Bogdanović) (birthdate unknown) is a Serbian and Italian violinist. Early life Bogdanovic comes from an artistic family. His grandfather, a famous sculptor from Belgrade, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris and there met Pablo Picasso with whom a he was a friend. His father is a well-known painter and writer; exhibitions of his works have had a great following at home and abroad (his works have been shown many times at the Biennale di Venezia) and his books of poems and prose have been translated into numerous European languages. From an early age, Dejan showed a remarkable inclination for music and began his studies at the "Isidor Bajić" school of music in his hometown, Novi Sad, one of the most prestigious cultural centres of the Ex-Yugoslavia (Vojvodina). At the "Baic" institute he was a pupil of two well-known teachers, Maestro R. Kovac and Maestro J. Furman and soon after he was accepted for the S.Z.M.T. (School for Gifted Children), the only one of its kind and under the patronage of the President of the Republic. As a soloist of this school and at only eleven years old, Dejan Bogdanovic performed in important concert halls in Yugoslavia and in Spain, France, Germany and England and during the forthcoming years won many times the "First Prize for Young Violinists". At seventeen years old he performed Paganini's first violin concerto and Felix Mendelssohn's E minor concerto with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. Since then he has been soloist with many symphony and chamber orchestras, in his home country and abroad (symphony orchestras of Prague, Vienna, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Kuhmo, Moscow and many others). After brilliantly passing special exams he was admitted, as the youngest pupil, to the University of Novi Sad (violin faculty). There was intense artistic activity during these university years, studying at this time with well-known teachers of the Russian school such as Eugenia Cugaeva, Marina Jasvili, Ilya Grubert and above all with Zinaida Gilels with whom the maestro had a strong connection and apart from a close professional collaboration also had a profound friendship unfortunately ending with the death of the great Russian pedagogue. Winner of various scholarships he has worked together with exceptional artists such as N. Braining, J.J. Kantaroff, A. Balakerskaya, O. Kagan. Career Study and specialization, even though very engaging, did not impede his intensive concert activity; in