In 1995, Mladen Đorđević was appointed Professor of Trumpet at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade, where he still teaches today as a full professor and serves as Head of the Wind Instruments Department. From 2005 to 2011, he was also engaged as a Professor of Trumpet at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and from 1998 to 2012 at the Music Academy in Cetinje (Montenegro).
He began his professional career in 1987 with the RTS Symphony Orchestra, after which he joined the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra in 1989, where he served until 2011 as Principal Trumpet. Parallel to his orchestral career, he developed an active solo career and quickly became one of the leading trumpet soloists in Serbia and throughout the Balkans. From 2013 to the present, he has been Principal Trumpet of the RTS Symphony Orchestra. At the same time, he has been engaged by the renowned orchestra FAMES in Skopje (North Macedonia), specializing in recording film music for international projects of world cinema.
Throughout his orchestral career, Mladen Đorđević has performed with many internationally acclaimed conductors and soloists, including Zubin Mehta, Vasily Sinaisky, Uroš Lajovic, Bojan Suđić, Kristian Mandeal, Emil Tabakov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Iván Fischer, Boris Berezovsky, Marta Argerich, Ivo Pogorelich, Maxim Vengerov, Sreten Krstić, and many other artists, as well as with the most relevant orchestras in Serbia and the Balkans.
His rich solo career has been crowned with performances in prestigious concert halls worldwide, often enriched through collaborations with some of today’s greatest trumpet players. Highlights include concerts with Eric Aubier and the Amiens Brass Orchestra (Amiens, France); the Festspiele Mecklenburg Trumpet Gala with Gábor Boldoczki, accompanied by the Franz Liszt Orchestra of Budapest (Vorpommern, Schwerin, Germany); Trumpetissimo – a gala concert with leading European soloists Gábor Boldoczki and Sergei Nakariakov with the Prague Philharmonia (Kolarac Concert Hall, Belgrade, Serbia); the premiere performance of the Trumpet Concerto by Dejan Despić with the RTS Symphony Orchestra (Kolarac Concert Hall, Belgrade, Serbia); a concert at the Mokranjac Days Festival titled Anthology of Serbian Trumpet Music (Negotin, Serbia); a tour of Ukraine with the orchestra Strings of St. George performing G. F. Telemann’s Trumpet Concerto in D major at the National Philharmonic Halls in Kyiv and Lviv; a tour of China with the Belgrade Philharmonic performing A. Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto (Beijing, Shenyang, Dalian); Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra (BEMUS, Belgrade); and many others.
The repertoire of Mladen Đorđević encompasses the complete trumpet literature, from the Baroque period to the 20th century. Throughout his solo career, he has devoted special attention to promoting new works by Serbian composers, some of which were dedicated to him. These include Lazar’s Vigil – a concerto for trumpet and orchestra by Svetislav Božić, and a Sonata for Trumpet and Piano by the same composer; The Revelation of St. John – a work for solo trumpet and large choir by Jugoslav Bošnjak; the Trumpet Concerto by Dejan Despić; Laura – a jazz suite, Capriccio Trumpissimo, Sonata for Trumpet and Piano, and Trumpet Concerto by Ante Grgin; as well as Esperanza Nueva for trumpet and piano and Serbiana for trumpet and piano by Dragana Jovanović.
In 2004, Mladen Đorđević founded the ensemble Jazzical, with which he performed in Paris (France) and Craiova (Romania), presenting the demanding composition Toot Suite by Claude Bolling for trumpet and jazz trio. The ensemble is characterized by a fusion of classical and jazz music, requiring exceptional virtuosity and technical mastery from the soloist. Since 2011, Mladen Đorđević has also been a member of the brass quintet BC Brass, consisting of leading soloists from the Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Belgrade Philharmonics. The ensemble has performed extensively in major music centers across the Balkans—Ljubljana, Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Skopje, Budva, and Belgrade—and in 2020 released the CD Opera Brass, featuring opera overtures arranged for brass quintet.
Mladen Đorđević is the recipient of the Golden Plaque of the Belgrade Philharmonic and the Silver Medal of the University of Arts in Belgrade. His compact disc Anthology of Serbian Trumpet Music was named Album of the Year 2024 by the magazine Muzika Klasika.
Discography
CD Anthology of Serbian Trumpet Music – works by Serbian composers for trumpet and piano, in collaboration with Uki Ovaskainen (piano), released by PGP-RTS, 2024
CD Trumpi and Jazzical – music by C. Bolling, A. Grgin, and M. Garson for solo trumpet and jazz trio (Faculty of Music Arts, Belgrade, 2011)
CD Music for Trumpet and Organ – with Maja Smiljanić Radić, featuring Baroque works for trumpet and organ (Faculty of Music Arts, Belgrade, 2011)
CD Eric Aubier – Ivan Jevtić: Complete Trumpet Works, performing second trumpet in Divertimento for Two Trumpets and Orchestra (Harmonia Mundi, 2002)
CD Jugoslav Bošnjak: Orchestral and Choral Cosmogony, performing The Revelation of St. John for solo trumpet and choir (PGP RTS, 2008)
CD RTS Symphony Orchestra – Ivan Jevtić: Concerto for Trumpet and Trombone (PGP RTS, 2000)
CD by pianist Tatjana Ranković – Dmitri Shostakovich: Concerto for Piano and Trumpet (IBOX, New York, USA, 2010)
CD Ante Grgin: Portrait – performing Laura for trumpet and orchestra (Marcophon, Switzerland)