A musical homecoming

Pestka played in the East Lansing High School orchestra and the Lansing Junior Symphony and also attended Michigan fine arts camps Blue Lake and Interlochen. Additionally, he played with defunct local progressive rock band the Sexual Pantalones.

Pestka went on to pursue degrees in music composition and electronic music performance at the University of Michigan, graduating in 2007. He said that his experiences in East Lansing spurred him to move to Iceland after graduation with his girlfriend, an Icelandic violinist.

“I had always wanted to learn a language by immersion,” Pestka said. “East Lansing had so many diverse students who were bilingual, even trilingual, and I was always envious of that.”

Pestka studied violin in the MSU Suzuki Program with Judy Palac, associate professor of music education. They first met when Pestka was 7, and Palac recalls seeing great potential in him even at a young age.

“Karl was always a very musical violinist, always very expressive, a very thoughtful person all the way around and just a deep thinker,” she said. “It was some of the most beautiful violin playing I’ve ever heard in my studio — ever.”

Pestka joined Arstidir (the name means “seasons” in English) in 2010. The band’s unique sound is a result of the combination of traditional stringed instruments mixed with electronic ornamentation. Pestka’s contributions to the band’s sound go beyond his violin playing.

“I also play the viola, and I do all of the band’s live electronic music,” he said.

Each member of the band also sings, creating lush vocal harmonies over the orchestral and electronic arrangements. The result is a distinctive sound paired with lyrics regarding “heartbreak, longing, memory and a deep connection to the circular oneness of life,” according to the band’s website.

Arstidir first rose to an international audience in 2013, when a video of an impromptu performance in a train station of Icelandic hymn “Heyr himna smiour” went viral on YouTube, racking up over 4 million hits. This newfound fame prompted a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $70,000 to fund its most recent album, “Hvel.”

With the release of this album, the band embarked on a tour of Iceland and Russia. Among Arstidir’s list of accomplishments includes being the first Icelandic band to win the Eiserner Eversteiner European Folk Music Award and playing with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in November, which Pestka recalls as “feeling like you were creating something way, way bigger than yourself.”

Arstidir plays Common Ground Thursday on the GM Pavilion Stage at 7:15 p.m.

Palac is excited to hear her former student at the band’s Common Ground set.

“He has a tone on the violin that won’t let you go,” she said. “You can’t help but listen to him.”

As for long term plans, Pestka isn’t looking too far ahead.

“Well, short term — until Aug. 2 — we’ll be finishing up our tour in the U.S,” he said.

Making its way west in a converted school bus, Arstidir will end its inaugural U.S. tour in Tucson, Ariz. Afterward, Pestka plans to return to Reykjavik where also he teaches violin, viola, electronic music and music theory and also enjoys tandem bicycling and sea swimming.

Arstidir at Common Ground Music Festival

7:15 p.m. - 8 p.m. Thursday, July 9 Adado Riverfront Park (877) 569-7767, commongroundfest.com