Aleksandar Nikolic

Aleksandar Nikolic is a Serbian bandoneonist, composer, and professor born in Belgrade in 1973. Educated at the School of Music Vuckovic in Belgrade and the Music Academy in Bratislava (completing postgraduate studies in 1997), Nikolic became the first bandoneonist in the Balkans and the only practicing bandoneón player in the region. He founded Beltango Quinteto in Belgrade in 1998, establishing it as the first authentic tango orchestra from the Balkans. As artistic director and principal performer, Nikolic has led Beltango through over 1,500 concerts across more than 30 countries, blending traditional Argentine tango with Balkan musical elements in their signature “Balkango” opus. The ensemble achieved international recognition as the sole European tango orchestra invited to the 2007 World Tango Festival in Buenos Aires. Beyond his work with Beltango, Nikolic has performed as a soloist with major orchestras including the Belgrade Philharmonic, Zagreb Soloists, and Macedonian Philharmonic, and serves as professor and former director of the State Music Conservatorium in Belgrade. His contributions to contemporary tango composition earned him the Astor Piazzolla Music Contribution Award in 2008. Nikolic’s original compositions for bandoneon and string orchestra have expanded the concert repertoire of an instrument historically limited to tango salons and orchestral contexts.