Serbian violinist Mina Mendelson is a Doctor of Musical Arts, as well as a professor of violin at the Faculty of Arts, University of Niš. She completed both her Master’s degree and DMA at the Music Academy in Belgrade, where she obtained the highest mark and constituting the first ‘Doctor of Performing Art –Violin’ awarded in Serbia. She graduated under the tutelage of Prof. Fern Rasković, a student of the great David Oistrakh, and participated in masterclasses with Mateja Marinković, Professor of the Royal Academy of Music, London; David Takeno, Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London; Sreten Krstić, leader of Munich Philharmonic orchestra, as well as Sabine Grollmus and Stefan Barratdue, Norway.

Dr Mendelson has won numerous top prizes awards at national, federal and international competitions. She has performed in the most prestigious concert halls in the Balkan region including Kolarac – Belgrade, Sinagoga – Novi Sad, Sinagoga- Szegedin and Glazbeni zavod – Zagreb as well as a soloist with several important orchestras including UIC Strings- Zhuhai (China), Belgrade Strings “Dušan Skovran”, Niš Symphony Orchestra, Jewish Chamber Orchestra and St George Strings.

Known for her elegant and sophisticated performances, Dr. Mendelson is an active and successful chamber musician. Her outstanding performances led to a scholarship from the Norwegian government to study at the University of Kristiansand. She has also made a number of recordings for Radio and TV Belgrade, the most important of which are the TV series: Chamber TV Scene, episode: L. Van Beethoven (Quartet in C minor, Op. 18), and the CD entitled “Mokranjac Bahu”, a recording with concert held in 2000 in the Great Hall of the Kolarac Endowment to mark the 250th anniversary of the death of JS Bach, where he performed as a soloist with Nela Mendelssohn and the Chamber Ensemble “Mokranjac” performing Bach’s concerto for two violins and orchestra in D minor.

As a soloist, chamber musician and in leading positions of St George Strings, Belgrade Strings “Dušan Skovran” and Jewish Chamber Orchestra she has appeared in many festivals, including BEMUS, NOMUS, NIMUS, Ohrid Summer Festival and European Days of Jewish Culture, as well as music festivals in Sofia, Bodrum, Sapanca and Kalemegdan. In addition, she has performed in France, England, Bulgaria, Holland, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Turkey and China as well as all across her native Serbia where she made many recordings for the leading Serbian radio and television stations.

In parallel with her busy performing career, Dr Mendelson is also in demand as a violin pedagogue. She headed the strings department from 2018-2021 and is currently a full professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Niš. Since October 2021, she was appointed as the Artistic director of Serbian oldest and most famous chamber orchestra, St George Strings (Belgrade).