Jasna Veličković (Belgrade, 1974) studied composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of Srđan Hofman. She obtained her master’s degree at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, in the classes of Louis Andriessen, Gilius van Bergeijk and Clarence Barlow with highest marks. During her studies she attended master classes in Rađevice, Češki Krumlov and Apeldorn.

Compositions of Jasna Veličković have been performed by Belgrade Philharmonic,  Dutch Radio Kamerorkest conducted by Peter Eötvos, David Kweksilber Big Band and soprano Claron McFadden, Belgrade Strings Dušan Skovran, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne from Montreal, Piano Possibile from Munich, Aleph and Cairn from France, Logos from Gent, Post&Mulder, Maarten Altena Ensemble - MAE, Axys, Soil, Loos, De Ereprijs from the Netherlands etc. The music of Jasna Veličković has been performed in France, Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Ukraine, Switzerland and the USA, as well as at numerous festivals of contemporary music including Holland Festival, Gaudeamus Music Week, De Suite Muziek Week and Karnatic Lab in Amsterdam, Archipel Festival in Geneva, Festival Aspekte in Salzburg, Time of Music Viitasaari, Musical Biennale in Zagreb, festivals in Nice and Munich, Dutch Music Days in Utrecht, Composers in the First Person in Belgrade, Belgrade Summer Festival, International Review of Composers. She has received numerous commissions from the University of Leiden, Gaudeamus Foundation, Adevantgarde festival from Germany, Royamont Foundation from France, etc.

Jasna Veličković is one of the founders of the initiative for research and production of contemporary music, live and visual arts Chinch. She is also one of the founders of the group Walking Theory dedicated to theoretical performance.

She won awards at the International Review of Composers, the International Competition of Young Composers Gradus ad Parnassum in Kyiv 1995, and competition Nederlandse Programma Stichting 2002 within the festival Dutch Music Days in Utrecht. She won the IRINO Prize for chamber music in Tokyo, Japan in 2007.

She lives in Amsterdam as a freelance artist.

DNA AND? (2002) belongs to a group of musical studies derived from the already existing musical material. The material is not used as quotation, nor as a musical supplement to the material being composed, but as a radical change with respect to the way the said material is used. Among these studies, the ones I would like to single out are Good Bach for piano and CD (2000) and Dream Opera (2001).

!DNA AND? conceptually takes over the structure of the DNK molecule where each smaller unit of the molecule has its musical double taken-copied-replicated from the score The Rites of Spring by Igor Stravinsky.

I have chosen Stravinsky not only because he is one of the most fundamental and most recognizable composers of the 20th century, but also because he was entangled in a similar “network”, through his involvement with the works of Pergolesi, Venosa…

The composition !DNA AND? was premiered at the Dutch Music Days in 2002, by Radio Kamerorkest conducted by Peter Eötvos.

Sputnik is a composition written in 2005 following the invitation of Nada Kolundžija and Deborah Richards for a concert which would feature compositions for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart. I have accepted the invitation not only because I highly esteem both pianists, but also because in the same year I was working on a piece titled Fiasco the score of which includes six very old pianos, “naturally” out of tune. Sputnik, as well as Strelka, created in 2004 for 2 pianos, harpsichord, musical saw, harp, accordion and cimbalom, belongs to a group of works whose specific timbre directly influences the building of the musical material.

Sputnik is made up of short movements and its “orbit” is free and unpredictable.