Rastko Popović, DMA
Rastko Popović (DMA) studied music performance (viola) at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade in the class of prof. Dejan Mlađenović, and at the Department for Music and Dance, University of Stavanger, Norway (MA) with Elisabet Skaar Sijpkens and Wouter Raubenheimer. He completed his education with the highest grades. He has participated in a number of viola, chamber and early music master classes held by renowned artists. During studies he has won several prizes at national and international youth music competitions, among others, the second prize on the Jeunesses Musicales International Competition in Skopje, Macedonia in 2004. He was a member of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, played in St. George Strings, Camerata Serbica and was engaged as a substitute viola player in the Symphony Orchestra of the Serbian Broadcasting Company and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. From 2008 to 2015 he worked as a viola teacher in music school Josip Slavenski in Belgrade.
He performs regularly, appearing both on national and international concert stages. He plays in a duo with pianist Marijana Savov-Stojanović, and is a member of Look @ Susan and Musikkens retning: nord-sør trios. In addition to classical viola, chamber and orchestra repertoire, he is actively interested in historically informed performance practice as a member of the Belgrade Baroque ensemble. Rastko also explores the world of contemporary and alternative music by experimenting on his electric viola. In this vein, he started his I’m my own merry-go-round artistic project. Rastko is especially interested in the field of artistic research in music and combined practical and theoretical approach to music performance. He has presented papers at several national and international music conferences. Since 2011 he is employed as a String methods teacher at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade.