Biography - English
One of Croatia and Europe's leading performers, Mario Perestegi (Zagreb,
1971) began his concert career touring Croatia whilst still completing his
undergraduate studies with Professor Anđelko Klobučar in Zagreb.
Graduating in organ and church music, Mario continued his post-graduate
studies of the organ on the topic «The organ sonata-symphony in the XX
century» under the mentorship of Professor Hubert Bergant at the Academy
for Music in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His interest for French organ music took
him to Paris, working with legendary organist and musician Marie-Claire
Alain with whom he studied the interpretation of the French organ
literature, and in 2002/3 interpretation of J.S. Bach's Leipzig Chorales
with Professor Mario Penzar at the Music Academy in Zagreb.
To date, Mario has performed more than 300 solo concerts on 4 continents.
Notable venues include the Zagreb Concert Hall Vatroslav Lisinski and Leon
Janacek Hall in Brno, and famous cathedrals worldwide such as Paris (Notre
Dame), Salzburg, Berlin, Zagreb, Bruxelles (St. Michael and St. Gudula),
Riga (Riga Dome Cathedral), Ljubljana, Maribor, Olomouc, Helsinki, Trieste, Frombork, Melbourne, Sidney, Wachington, Boston, New York and Prague.
His extensive touring to date has seen him visit Australia in 2005
performing in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and in 2006 touring the
United States performing in prestigious venues in New York, Washington,
Boston, Chicago and Williamsburg. In 2009 Mario toured Russia for the
first time, performing in Moscow and Sochi.
Professor Perestegi is in demand as a performer, and teacher. He passes
his knowledge and enthusiasm for music to the next generation of aspiring
musicians as Associate Professor at the Music Academy in Ljubljana,
Slovenia. He commenced his pedagogical work at the Academy in 1995 (at the age of 24) where he lectures and leads the organ class.