Professor Slobodan Zivkovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia. Professor Zivkovic, a pianist, vocal coach, choir conductor, ethnomusicologist and accompanist, has been teaching piano for more than thirty-five years. He was born into the fifth generation of a renowned musical family and gained a Bachelor of Music with Merit (in Piano) and a Masters degree in Piano from the Belgrade Music Academy and a Bachelor in Ethnomusicology from the Belgrade University Faculty of Music Art. He has studied with a number of famous professors and pianists including Guido Agosti (Rome), Aldo Chiccolini (Paris) and Lev N. Vlasenko (at the Tchaikovsky Conservatorium of Music in Moscow).

Professor Zivkovic has performed solo recitals and played as a soloist with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Zagreb and Belgrade Radio and Television Orchestras. After his arrival to Australia 16 years ago with his wife, Snezana, son Aleksandar (cellist and music therapist) and daughter Marija (soprano and violinist) they performed regularly in Sydney and Melbourne.

He was a Member of the Advisory Committee for the 3rd Piano Pedagogy Conference in Sydney in 1997 and presented a paper ‘My Approach to Piano Technique’ at that conference. Currently, Professor Zivkovic is a Councillor in the Council of Music Teachers Association of New South Wales.