Srđan Dedić (Croatia, 1965) graduated in composition in 1989 at the Zagreb Music Academy in the class of Stanko Horvat. He specialized in electronic music at the University of Strasbourg with François-Bernard Mâche (1990-1991) and in composition at Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Geert van Keulen (1991-1993). He won the scholarship of the Japanese Government for foreign artists (Bunka-Cho) and spent 1998-1999 in Tokio, studying composition with Joji Yuasa and traditional Japanese instruments with members of the ensemble Pro Musica Nipponia. From 2005 he teaches at the Department for Composition and Music Theory of the Music Academy in Zagreb.

Dedić’s pieces are performed by prominent orchestras and musicians, such as: Louisville Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Chorea Symphony Orchestra, Cantus Ensemble, String Quartet Penderecky, Zagreb Philharmonics, Symphony Orchestras of Croatian and Slovenian Radio and Television. His pieces were performed at numerous festivals, e.g. ISCM World Music Days 1997 and 2003, UNESCO’s International Composers Rostrum in Paris, Gaudeamus Festival, Music Biennale in Zagreb, Contemporary Music Festival of the Indiana State University, World Saxophone Player’s Congress (Montreal). Awards: First Prize at the Unesco’s Rostrum in Paris (1988), Student Prize for orchestra pieces at the Music Biennale in Zagreb (1989), Award of the Hrvatski glazbeni zavod (1990), First prize at the Contemporary Music Festival of the Indiana State University (1995). From 1991, Dedić develops theories and softwares in the realm of computer-aided composition.

Hey Pearl!
The main subject of this piece is an intuitively composed lyrical thought that is varied in its repetitions, while two contrasting episodes that confront it have been subjected to structuralization. That is why the form of the piece could be explained as A1 B A2 C A3. The piece was premiered by the excellent violoncello player Monika Leskovar at 24th Music Biennale in Zagreb in 2007.