Rajko Maksimović (1935, Serbia) completed his composition studies with Predrag Milošević at the Music Academy in Belgrade in 1961. He received his MPhil (magister) degree in 1965. He spent one school year (1965/66) as a Fulbright Scholar (first generation) at Princeton University, where he was mainly involved in electronic music. He was a professor of composition and orchestration at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade until his retirement (2001). He was also a visiting professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, at the Department of Sound Design (1995–2000), and at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, where he taught composition (2001–2004). He received numerous awards for his work, including the Hristić Award in 1961 for the Piano Concerto, the Mokranjac Award in 1984 for the Testament of the Bishop of Montenegro, Petar Petrović Njegoš, and the October Award in 1989 for the Passion of the Holy Prince Lazar. He also received the Vuk Award (2007) for his lifetime work. He wrote and published a memoir-autobiographical trilogy Tako je to bilo (This is how it happened /1998–2002/; Second edition 2018) and in 2008 the book Govor muzike (Music Talks) in collaboration with Miloš Jevtić.

About the work

In my earlier period, I was interested in the so-called avant-garde; but I later realized that the essence of music is in live performance, and that further means that music should attract those who play and sing it, because they are the ones who will perform it, and thus communicate with the audience. I worked very closely with Darinka Matić-Marović, Aleksandra Ivanović, Pavle Aksentijević, and later with the string quartet Mokranjac, which performed the Suite from my Passion. That prompted me to write something for their violist – Toma Milošević. That is how the composition Pesma i igra (Song and Dance) was created. I tried to make the viola ‘speak’, that is, ‘sing’ in its own way, which is why I also collaborated with Toma during composing.