Viktor Čižić (Zagreb, 1996) is a pianist and musical artist who expresses himself through solo and chamber performances, composition, arrangement, and improvisation. He has performed across Europe and the United States in venues such as The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, and the Pula Amphitheater. He has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, most notably the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Opera Orchestra of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the Zagreb Soloists, and the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra. His repertoire includes Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg, Piano Concerto No. 3 by Béla Bartók, Concerto for Piano and Strings by Alfred Schnittke, and Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. In addition to the standard repertoire, he also performs contemporary concert music by Croatian composers. With the Cantus Ensemble, he premiered Nexus, a concerto for piano and ensemble by Juraj Marko Žerovnik, at the season-opening concert. With the OMG Orchestra, he performed Nachtmusik, a piece for piano and strings by Krešimir Klarić, and with the Croatian Radiotelevision Tamburitza Orchestra, he presented his own arrangement of Bećarske Mozartkugle by Zlatko Potočnik for piano and tamburitza orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Valentin Egel, Tomislav Fačini, Berislav Šipuš, Simon Robinson, Vjekoslav Babić, Siniša Leopold, and others.
Over the past few years, around twenty of his works—both original compositions and arrangements — have been premiered by ensembles including the Astana Opera Orchestra (Kazakhstan), the Croatian Radiotelevision Tamburitza Orchestra, the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir, pianist Vladimir Babin, harpsichordist Franjo Bilić, clarinetist Sebastijan Sarapa, baritone Jurica Jurasić Kapun, the Turangalila Quartet, and Čižić himself. In addition to concert hall music, he has composed for film, theater, and radio. He defended his thesis on improvisation in contemporary piano performance, a skill he frequently incorporates into his recitals. Besides his own compositions, he has premiered numerous works by Croatian composers. Active in chamber music, he has performed with ensembles such as the Cantus Ensemble (including as a soloist at the Zagreb Music Biennale), the Serious Ensemble Zagreb (SEZ), the Antiphonus Ensemble, the Turangalila Quartet (including at the closing concert of the Milko Kelemen Days festival), and the Score Collective in Amsterdam. With the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir, he has performed Carmina Burana by Carl Orff multiple times in a chamber version for two pianos and percussion. As a répétiteur or pianist (often on stage), he has participated in numerous opera, ballet, and drama productions at various theaters, including the Croatian National Theatres in Zagreb, Rijeka, Varaždin, and Osijek, as well as the Kerempuh Theatre, Erato Theatre, Puppet Factory, and independent productions. He is also familiar with jazz music. As a member of the Music Academy Jazz Orchestra, he recorded the album Harmonija disonance, performed with Zlatko Potočnik’s Quintet and the Mimika Orchestra, and had two of his compositions performed at the JazzHR festival. After graduating from XV Gymnasium and the Vatroslav Lisinski Music School in 2014, where he studied under Branka Fačini-Vrhovski, he enrolled at the Zagreb Music Academy, studying piano under Dalibor Cikojević. He graduated in 2021 under the mentorship of Filip Fak and spent a year on an exchange program at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, studying with Frank van de Laar and Ralph van Raat. For nearly two years, he worked as an artistic associate pianist at the Zagreb Music Academy, and he is currently employed as a pianist with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. He has received several awards, including the Annual Award of the Society of University Teachers of Zagreb and the Darko Lukić Diploma.