BIOGRAPHY
Momcilo Aleksandric or "Moma" is a classical guitarist who grew up in Serbia. Later he attended the University of Minnesota School of Music and currently resides in the Twin Cities while actively traveling to play concerts and give lectures and master classes across the world. He is one of the most distinctive guitarists of the new generation who is equally devoted to solo and chamber music guitar performance, guitar teaching, various directions in guitar research, interdisciplinary artistic collaboration, as well as the organization of prominent artistic events.
AWARDS & PERFORMANCES
After winning the first prize at the prestigious Hong Kong Altamira International Guitar Competition in 2018, Moma has been invited to give concerts, lectures and master-classes across the world. He appeared at events such as the Thailand International Guitar Festival (Bangkok, 2018), Hong Kong International Guitar Forum (China, 2018), ShenZhen Fuge International Guitar Week (China, 2019), Melbourne International Guitar Conference (Australia, 2019), Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica International Artist Series (Heredia, 2019), ZhenJiang International Guitar Festival (China, 2019), and many others. Lately he also became a prize winner at the Miami International GuitART Festival (Florida, 2018), Guitar Foundation of America Ensemble Competition (Kentucky, 2018), Southern Guitar Festival Ensemble Competition (South Carolina, 2018), University of Rhode Island Rising Guitar Stars Program, and many others. In his residing Twin Cities, he gave multiple performances for the Minnesota Guitar Society, and played two solo and one guitar duo concert in the Baroque Room.
GUITAR EDUCATION
While teaching individual and group lessons at the University of Minnesota, he has been awarded with the University of Minnesota Libraries Grant to create the first University of Minnesota Textbook for guitar that will be published by the same institution. Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica awarded him with a special diploma for the guitar development in Heredia. Momcilo also had a full time teaching position educating children from 7 to 15 years old. He enjoys teaching students of all ages and backgrounds.
GUITAR RESEARCH
Moma is among the distinctive guitarists who aim to merge the classical guitar performance with various research in music theory and musicology. In 2019, the Guitar Foundation of America’s Soundboard Magazine published his research on Miguel Llobet’s Variaciones sobre un Tema de Sor. In addition, he presented his research papers and lecture recitals on Fernando Sor, Miguel Llobet, Benjamin Britten and Leo Brouwer at the University of Melborune (2019), Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2018), Florida International University (2018), University of Indianapolis (2017), University of Cincinnati (2017), and many others.
INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS
He has been a participant of one of the last projects in which the legendary North American experimental artist Pauline Oliveros took part ‒ an interdisciplinary collaboration funded by the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Advanced Study. He is also an active member of the interdisciplinary collaborative group Improvising Ecosystems, where he pursued the research-creative-collaborations on Lake Superior in Duluth, on the Mississippi River, as well as the Hubachek Research Center in the Boundary Waters. He has been invited to join one of the “5x5” interdisciplinary groups with the prominent professors from the University of Minnesota, funded by the Institute for Advanced Study.
BELGRADE GUITAR DISTRICT
As the initial creator and co-founder of the Belgrade Guitar District non-profit organization, Moma has participated in the organization of five concert seasons (2015-19), with the aim of promoting classical guitar and young Serbian guitarists at the most prominent concert halls in Belgrade. He also contributed to the creation of various music videos of the less-known guitar repertoire that are promoted on the Belgrade Guitar District YouTube channel and have reached more than 850.000 views.
Moma studied guitar with prominent Serbian professors Dragan Nikolić, Milkica Ponjavić, Aleksandar Hadži-Đorđević, Srđan Tošić and Maja Radovanlija. He also studied chamber music with Tea Dimitrijevic.