Petrit Çeku

Intendant in Residence | Guitar

Petrit Çeku was born in 1985 in Prizren (Kosovo) and received his first guitar lessons there with Luan Sapunxhiu. In 2002 he went to Zagreb (Croatia) to continue his musical education first with Xhevdet Sahatxhija and later at the Zagreb Academy of Music in the famous class of Darko Petrinjak, where he graduated in 2008. He then moved to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (USA) to study with Manuel Barrueco. In 2013, he successfully completed his studies there.

Petrit Çeku, who has been praised by guitar critic Colin Cooper as an “exceptionally gifted soloist”, is the winner of numerous prestigious international guitar competitions, including the “Parkening International Guitar Competition” in Malibu (USA), the “Schadt String Competition” in Allentown (USA), the “International Guitar Competition Maurizio Biasini” in Bologna (Italy) and the “International Guitar Competition Michele Pittaluga” in Alessandria (Italy).

Petrit Çeku’s extraordinary empathy and expressiveness have attracted the attention of audiences worldwide and created a buzz. He has given numerous concerts in Europe and North America and has performed as a soloist with major orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the State Hermitage St. Petersburg and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. He also performs regularly with the famous ensemble Zagreb Soloists and is a founding member of the guitar trio “Elogio”, formed in 2008. In 2012 Petrit Çeku made his first guest appearance at the FESTIVAL NEXT GENERATION and in 2013 at the Festival MusicConnects in Bad Ragaz (Switzerland).

In 2008 his first solo CD was released by Naxos. In 2015 the Spanish label Eudora Records released his recording of the six cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach in an arrangement for guitar by Valter Dešpalj.

Petrit Çeku plays on a Ross Gutmeier guitar.