Nemanja Stanković, Serbian cellist and Doctor of Musical Arts, is considered as one of the most outstanding Serbian musicians. Nemanja Stanković was born in Kragujevac where, as the class valedictorian, he completed high school education in the class of Prof. Boža Saramandić. As a student of generation, he graduated in the class of Prof. Sandra Belić at the Faculty of of Music in Belgrade. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory in the class of Prof. Natalia Gutman, where he obtained a Master of Arts degree. He attended postgraduate studies at the „Mozarteum“ University in Salzburg where he studied with Prof. Enrico Bronzi, as well as at the „Scuola di Musica di Fiesole“ in Florence, where he worked with Prof. Natalia Gutman and Prof. Elizabeth Wilson. In March 2015, he defended his DMA at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. He attended master classes of renowned artists, such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Mischa Maisky, Alfred Brendel, Jens Peter Maintz and David Strange.
As a soloist, Nemanja Stanković performed with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTS Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Serbica Orchestra, the Italian Youth Orchestra (Orchestra Giovanile Italiana – OGI), the Chech Virtuosi Orchestra, the St. George Strings Chamber Ensemble, the Niš Symphony Orchestra, the Dušan Skovran Belgrade String Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Bitola, the Chamber Orchestra of Zrenjanin, the Christianstad Symfoniker, etc. He collaborated with distinguished conductors, among which are Rafael Payare, Fabrice Bollon, Bojan Suđić, Noam Zur, Denis Shapovalov, Biljana Radovanović, Le Phi Phi and Nicola Paszkowski. Stanković performed throughout Europe (Austria, Italy, France, England, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Malta), North America (USA, Canada, Mexico), Asia (Japan) and Africa (Senegal and Tunisia). He had notable performances at international festivals: BEMUS, NIMUS, OKTOH, Alpen Classica, Kotor Art, Mokranjčevi Dani (Days of Mokranjac), International Cello Fest, BUNT, STRINGS.
Within various chamber ensembles Stanković established collaboration with Nemanja Radulović, Gabriel Feltz, Stanko Madić, Yury Revich, Robert Lakatoš, Jan Vogler, Eszter Haffner, then, with string quartets Noûs (Italy) and Epoque (Czech Republic), as well as with trio Pokret (Movement). In 2019, piano trio Immersio, with Stanković as one of the members, was announced as the „Ensemble of the Year“ by the artistic association Le Dimore del Quartetto and awarded with the prize of the Brivio Sforza Foundation.
Nemanja Stanković was awarded as the finalist of many competitions and contests, such as the International Cello Competition in Liezen (Austria), the International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade (Serbia), Johannes Brahms (Austria), Fidelio.Spezial (Austria), Antonio Janigro (Croatia), Petar Konjović (Serbia). In 2007, the art association ArtLink named him as the most promising young artist in Serbia. In 2018, he was proclaimed as the „Young Artist of the Year“ by the magazine Muzika Klasika (Musica Classica).
In December 2020, Nemanja Stanković released CD named Tragovi (Traces), with the new compositions (eight in total) written for cello by Serbian authors. It was nominated for the Listeners’ Choice award by the Violoncello Foundation from New York (USA). Stanković was also awarded with the City of Belgrade Award – „Despot Stefan Lazarević“ for the „extraordinary interpretation of compositions“ on the album Tragovi, „thanks to his exceptional musicality, suggestiveness, the beauty of the tone and technical perfection“.
Nemanja Stanković was the principal cellist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra during the eight seasons (2011-2019). From 2017 to 2018, he taught Violoncello at the Faculty of Arts in Niš. He is currently employed as an Assistant Professor at the Chamber Music Department of the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. Nemanja Stanković currently plays the instrument made by Carlos Roberts from Cremona (2012).