Serbia on Music Theory Print

Alen Ilijic

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Alen Ilijic (Serbian Cyrillic: Ален Илијић), (born 30 January 1975 in Gevgelija, SFR Yugoslavia), is a Serbian new media avant-garde composer and polymedia artist. He studied film music with Professor Amit Sen at City of Westminster College in London, and composition, orchestration, electronic music, and sound engineering at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, with one of the most well-known composers, music theorists and modern music scholars in Eastern Europe, Srđan Hofman. Career During his studies in London as a singer-songwriter and guitarist, Alen Ilijic formed the band Zealot, in 1993. At the time, his musical expression was in the form of experimental rock, noise, and Byzantine music. Zealot performed at Rock Garden, Hope and Anchor, Islington, Red Eye, Mean Fiddler, etc. With its innovative sound, Zealot had a big impact on the British underground scene during the nineties. The band stopped performing in 1999, due to Alen’s return to Yugoslavia, Serbia. From this point onward, Alen Ilijic’s interest was in the avant-garde movement, under the influence of Béla Bartók, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, and Serbian polymedia artist and composer Vladan Radovanović. His album I have no

Andrej Aćin

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Andrej Aćin is a Serbian director, screenwriter and composer from Belgrade, currently residing in Toronto, Canada. In the 1990s, he fronted the gothic rock band BAAL, with which he released one studio album. After BAAL disbanded in 1995, Aćin released the material intended to be released on the second BAAL album under the name Retro Deux. After cooperating with the French group Noir Désir in the late 1990s, he dedicated himself to film score composing and directing short and documentary films, receiving a number of awards for his work. He graduated from the film directing department of the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Musical career BAAL Having composed ambiental music during the 1980s, Aćin founded the gothic rock band BAAL in 1989, as its keyboardist and lead vocalist, with bass guitarist Srđa Popović, guitarist Vojkan Petković, and drummer Vlada Marinković. The band released their debut album Između božanstva i ništavila (Between Divinity and Nothingness) in 1993. featured guest appearances by Mizar vocalist Goran Tanevski, on the track “Talas” (“The Wave”), Ekatarina Velika frontman Milan Mladenović, guitar on the title track, Van Gogh frontman Zvonimir Đukić, guitar on t

Boris Kovač

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Boris Kovač (; born 1955) is a Serbian composer and multi-instrumentalist. Biography Kovač was born in Novi Sad, Vojvodina region of Serbia, then part of Yugoslavia. He studied on the accordion as a child and later received one year of instruction on saxophone, but is self-taught on a wide array of instruments. In 1977 he formed Meta Sekcija, a jazz group. Kovač released his first album, Ritual Nova, in 1986 in Yugoslavia, and Recommended Records of the United Kingdom released its 1989 follow-up, Ritual Nova 2, as part of its eastern European music series, Points East. In 1989, Kovač established Ogledalo, a chamber music theater group in Novi Sad. From 1991 to 1996, Kovač lived in Italy, Slovenia and Austria to escape the Yugoslav wars, but he returned to Serbia following the cessation of fighting. Inspired by the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the Kosovo War, he formed La Danza Apocalyptica Balcanica, shortened to LaDaABa Orchest, in 2001. The group played ballroom dance music “to exorcise the madness of war.” In 2002, Kovač founded Kachara Records (from the Serbian качар kačar) named for his family house in Bukovac (part of the Petrovaradin municipality in the city of Novi Sa

Dejan Despić

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Dejan Despić (, ; 11 May 1930 – 16 November 2024) was a Serbian classical composer, author, music theoretician and pedagogue. Biography Despić studied composition with Marko Tajčević and conducting with Mihajlo Vukdragović between 1950 and 1955 at the Music Academy in Belgrade. After his studies, he devoted himself to composing and teaching. From 1956 to 1965 he was teacher at “Mokranjac” music school in Belgrade and from 1956 to 1995 he worked as a Professor at the Belgrade Music Academy (FMU). Despić was a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU). Despić was the author of more than 240 compositions - with a special penchant for concertante genres and chamber music – and an opera, in addition to several scientific and theoretical studies, and numerous textbooks (music theory, harmony, harmony analysis, orchestration) for both school and university level. Despić died on 16 November 2024, at the age of 94. Music Despić won many awards for his music; his “Manchester Trio for flute, violoncello, and piano, Op. 93” (1987) – composed specifically for a Manchester performance – and “Diptih, Op. 166, for English horn and chamber orchestra” (2005) – for which he won t

Dragutin Gostuški

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Dragutin Gostuški (January 3, 1923 – September 21, 1998) was a famous Serbian composer, musicologist, and art historian. He taught for many years at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. Early life and career As a very young man, Dragutin showed an outstanding talent for art: besides composing, he also painted and sculpted. After graduating from two faculties (Faculty of Philosophy, Group for History of Art and sky diving, 1951; and Musical Academy, Department for Composition and Conducting, Class of professor M. Živkovic) in 1952 he joined the Institute of Musicology at SANU on the suggestion of Petar Konjović. Still a young research assistant, he started his long-term and prolific work in the field of music theory and musicology. However, although his successful musical works (the ballet Remi in 1960 and the Concerto Accelerato, 1961) were greatly appreciated and brought him rewards in the country and abroad, at the beginning of the 1960s Gostuški stopped composing. Dragutin Gostuški’s principal field of work was comparative aesthetics, a discipline he established in Serbia. He is still considered its only outstanding proponent. His theoretical work over many years resulted in a majo

Đuro Živković

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Đuro Živković, also rendered as Djuro Zivkovic (Serbian Cyrillic: Ђуро Живковић; born 1975), is a Serbian-Swedish composer and violinist. He has lived in Stockholm, Sweden, since 2000. Biography Živković was born in Belgrade, where he studied violin and composition at the Music Academy. He later studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm under Pär Lindgren. His musical style is characterized by fantastic narration, virtuosic instrumentation and stylistic, highly profiled sound. He has developed a variety of compositional techniques such as polyrhythmic improvisation, special harmony-based scales, microtones, layer-polyphony and heterophony. His “harmonic field” technique, which include the difference tone harmonisations as well as the Ancient mode was a topic for academic research at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz in Austria, and can be found in several of his works, including “Le Cimetière Marin” and “The White Angel.” He has composed a wide range of works including chamber, orchestral and vocal music, music for solo instruments and choral music. Živković is also a professional violinist and violist, performing new music, as well as an improviser on vi

Dušan Radić

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Dušan Radić (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Радић; 10 April 1929 – 3 April 2010) was a Serbian composer, university professor, and a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA, SANU in Serbian). Biography Radić was born in Sombor. He completed elementary and high school sophomore year in his birthplace Sombor. He concurrently attended the music school of the Serbian Church Singing Society. He relocated to Belgrade in 1941 where he continued education at the Second men’s gymnasium and the “Stanković” music school. He matriculated at the Belgrade Academy of music (now Faculty of music, University of Arts in Belgrade) in 1946 in the composition class of Milenko Živković, who acted as his mentor until 1954. Since 1957 Radić studied in Paris with Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen, completing, upon return, a master’s degree in 1962 with Živković as his adviser. In early student works Radić demonstrated his innovative tendencies in the quest for expressive means different than those exhibited in the late Romanticism and soc-realism. While his melodies reveal their “origins in our lands,” Radić rarely resorts to direct quotations of folk tunes, and by frequently treating voca

Dušan Trbojević

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Dušan Trbojević (June 13, 1925 – September 9, 2011) was a Serbian pianist, composer, musical writer and university professor. Education Trbojević was born in Maribor, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He studied composition with Milenko Živković at the Belgrade Music Academy, and piano with Milanka Đaja at the same institution. He graduated in 1951 (Piano Performance) and 1953 (Composition) and continued his studies of piano with Kendall Taylor at the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music in London (1954–1957). Additionally, he studied in the U.S. (1965–1966). Performing career Trbojević has performed actively as a soloist, accompanist and conductor throughout Europe, as well as in the U.S., China, India, Iran, Egypt, Cuba, Mexico. He gave the first performances of compositions by eminent Serbian composers Vlastimir Peričić, Milutin Radenković, Vasilije Moktanjac, Petar Ozgijan and Žarko Mirković. Teaching career Trbojević was Professor of Piano at the University of Arts in Belgrade Faculty of Music, University of Novi Sad Academy of Arts and University of Titograd Academy of Music. His former students include many prominent pianists including Rita Kinka. Compositi

Enriko Josif

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Enriko Josif (; 1 May 1924 – 13 March 2003) was a Serbian composer, pedagogue and musical writer, and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Biography He was born on 1 May 1924, in Belgrade into a Sephardic Jewish family. His father, Mosha Josif was a merchant representative of Italian and German industries and an amateur dramatist. His mother Sofia (born Fahri), was from a rich family from Zemun. With good knowledge of foreign languages (she was educated in a Swiss institute), she worked as a translator (she translated verses by Serbian poets to German language) and a member of the international PEN Club. Intelligentsia, such as Jovan Dučić and Miloš Đurić were collaborators and friends of her. In the Josif family music had an important place. Josif’s mother played the piano, while father was especially favourable about opera. Mosha and Sofia Josif wanted their both sons, Enriko and Albert, to study music, but it was Enriko’s talent that was recognized properly. Very soon he got his first, private music teacher, composer and conductor Vladislav Grinski. In that period, Enriko Josif wrote his first compositions. After father’s death (1937) started a hard period for Enr

Igor Garnier

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Igor Garnier (16 February 1990 – 4 July 2021 ) was a Serbian DJ, composer, songwriter and music producer. Life and career Garnier was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. His first creative encounter with music was at the age of 6 when he started attending music school for piano. As a very successful pianist with a vast array of international rewards he decided to take his music knowledge further to the next level. In Music High School, he majored in Music Production, Music Theory and Piano, providing him the general knowledge on music. After Music High School, he entered the European Music University majoring in Sound Engineering where he completed the essentials of music production and sound engineering. He was introduced to electronic music in 2005, enabling him to experiment with an endless amount of sounds that could not be created with traditional instruments and yet the compositions consisted of dozens of musical layers orchestrating simultaneously. In this complexity he found harmony and creative output that he could engage in, drawing him deeper and deeper into the world of electronic music. As time passed Igor Garnier’s talent and determination grew larger while his focus on wri

Isaiah the Serb

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Isaiah the Serb (Serbian Cyrillic: Исаија Србин/Isaija Srbin) was a Serbian Orthodox hieromonk and composer of chants who flourished in the second half of the 15th century. Along with Kir Joakim, Kir Stefan the Serb, Nikola the Serb he faithfully followed Byzantine musical tradition, writing in the late kalophonic style of the 14th and 15th centuries. Life and works Isaiah worked in the Matejče Monastery, near Kumanovo (in modern North Macedonia). He was a prolific author of acolouthias (in Old Church Slavonic послѣдованиѥ). Each acolouthia was an anthology of liturgical chants and psalm settings, both his own and others’. Isaiah was a very well-educated composer of both bilingual and purely Greek hymns. His masterpiece, Serbian Polyeleos, appears in two manuscripts, one version with a Serbian recension of the text, the other with a Greek. The existence of Greek and Slavonic settings in his works shows that Serbian services were commonly bilingual. He was also the author of the bilingual Trisagion. Many of his works are short syllabic hymns honouring the Serbian saints. Isaiah’s melodies, some syllabic and others more melismatic, demonstrate his inventiveness and ability to introdu

Isidor Bajić

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Isidor Bajić () (16 August 1878 – 15 September 1915) was a Serbian composer, teacher, and publisher. Biography He was born in Kula, Austro-Hungarian Empire. A pupil of Hans von Koessler in Budapest, he taught at the Novi Sad High School, where he founded a music school and initiated the publication of the Serbian Music Magazine and the Serbian Music Library (an occasional edition of Serbian compositions). He was also interested in the melograph. He died in Novi Sad. His most important work is a romantic national opera Knez Ivo od Semberije (Prince Ivo of Semberia), based on folklore, the subject matter being about Ivan Knežević and the First Serbian Uprising against the Turks at the beginning of the 19th century, in 1804. In addition, he wrote a large number of plays and songs, and light operas as well, a symphony Miloš Obilić (which was lost), an overture Mena, piano pieces (Serbian Rhapsody, An Album of Compositions), songs with piano (the cycle Songs of Love), choral music, and music for tamburica bands. Being romantically sentimental, melodically inventive, frequently almost identical with folk music, these works made him extremely popular within the region of his origin in his

Isidora Žebeljan

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Isidora Žebeljan (27 September 1967 – 29 September 2020) was a Serbian composer and conductor. She was a professor of composition at the Belgrade Music Academy and a Fellow of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. She won many national awards for her music, among them the Stevan Mokranjac National Music Award in 2004. Biography Isidora Žebeljan studied composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade with Vlastimir Trajković (a student of Olivier Messiaen). She was Professor of Composition at the same Faculty from 2002. Her work as a composer earned her several significant awards in her country, including the Mokranjac Award in 2004. She won the New York Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship in 2005. In 2006 she was elected to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (becoming a full member in 2012) and in 2012 she was elected to the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS). In 2014 she received a Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean Award for her achievement in art. She attracted international attention with her opera Zora D. which was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation in London. The opera, directed by David Pountney and Nicola Raab, was premiered in Amsterdam in 2

Iva Lorens

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Iva Mišović (, born on 1 July 1996), better known under the stage name Iva Lorens, is a Serbian record producer and singer-songwriter. Biography Lorens started writing songs at the age of 9. Her mother is a model, host and journalist Irena Mišović. Lorens completed music management studies in Berlin at the British Institute of Modern Music and lives between Berlin and Belgrade. She was a presenter on MTV. The song Just Because was a hit in Germany. She first published songs in English, and from 2021 in Serbian, when she released the song Svitanje, which she wrote with the Pančevo-based band Buč Kesidi. As part of the music project Tuborg Open in Los Angeles, Lorens gets the opportunity to collaborate with Jason Derulo. The song qualified for the final. Discography Albums * I Guess it’s About You (2020) * Svitanje (2023) * Svitanje (Deluxe edition) (2023) Singles Guest appearances References

Ivana Stefanovic

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Ivana Stefanović (born 14 September 1948) is a Serbian composer. Biography Ivana Stefanović was born in Belgrade. She studied violin and composition, graduating from the Faculty of Music Arts (FMA) in Belgrade. She continued her studies at the Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustics/Music IRCAM in Paris. Her compositions were first performed in 1966 and have been presented internationally. In 1968 Stefanović took a position with Radio Belgrade writing music and program leads. In 1970 she began working for Television Belgrade, preparing and maintaining cultural programs. In 1975 she was employed as a music editor, in 1985 became the first editor of the Workshops Sound Drama program, and in 1989 chief editor of Radio Belgrade. In 2000 she began teaching at the Center for Women’s Studies. From 2001–2006 she was the artistic director of the Bemus Music Festival. From 2007–2008 she served as State Secretary of Culture of Serbia. Stefanović has lived in Damascus, Ankara and currently resides in Bucharest, Romania. She has written a book titled Put za Damask (Road to Damascus), and has published professional articles on music and culture in newspapers and magazines. Works Ivana

Jasna Veličković

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Jasna Veličković (Serbian Cyrillic: Јасна Величковић) (born 1974) is a Serbian composer. Biography Jasna Veličković was born in Belgrade, 1974. She completed her Bachelors in composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade under Srdjan Hofman. She has been living and working as a composer in the Netherlands since 2001 where she completed a Masters in music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague under Louis Andriessen, Gilius van Bergeijk and Clarence Barlow with distinction. Velickovic has written and been performed by various ensembles including Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrade Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Dutch Radio Kamerorkest conducted by Péter Eötvös, Robot orchestra by Godfried Willem Raes, David Kweksilber’s Big Band, Maarten Altena Ensemble, LOOS, ‘de Ereprijs’, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Aleph, Piano Possibile, pianoduo Post & Mulder, Claron McFadden, Nada Kolundzija, Stephanie Pan, Gośka Isphording, Debora Richards as well by ensembles with specific instrumentation formed for the particular piece. Her works have been performed at festivals such as Holland Festival, Gaudeamus Music Week, Music Biennale Zagreb, Archipel Festival (Swiss), Time of Music (

Josif Marinković

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Josif Marinković (Serbian Cyrillic: Јосиф Маринковић; Vranjevo, near Novi Bečej, 15 September 1851 – Belgrade, 13 May 1931) was a Serbian composer and choral director. Like his younger contemporary Stevan St. Mokranjac, he was devoted to mainly vocal genres—lied and choral. Marinković was a romanticist with a pronounced affinity for melodic expression. He invested exceptional attention to the text declamation, which represented a rather novel quality in Serbian music at the time. Biography Marinković graduated at the Prague Organ School (1873–81) and attended specialized studies in Vienna (1886–87). He acted as choral director of the Belgrade Singing Society (1881–87), Academic Singing Society Obilić (1889–1900), as well as other choral ensembles (The Laborers’ Singing Society and Serbian-Jewish Singing Society, among others). He also taught music at the Serbian Orthodox Seminary, Teachers’ Preparatory School, and The Second Men’s Gymnasium. Marinković was inducted into the Serbian Royal Academy (today Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) in 1907. As a composer of a distinct romanticist expression, Marinković often utilized folk melodies. He composed patriotic songs for men’s choi

Kir Stefan the Serb

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Kir Stefan the Serb (Serbian Cyrillic: Кир Стефан Србин/Kir Stefan Srbin; second half of the 14th and 15th century) was a Serbian monk, protopsaltos, musicologist, choirmaster. More importantly, composers of the chants developed within the sphere of the activities of the Byzantine church in the Serbian state. Together with (but independently from) Isaiah the Serb and Nikola the Serb he followed faithfully the Byzantine musical traditions, writing in the late kalophonic style of the 14th and 15th centuries. With his distinctive compositional style, he is one of the earliest (if not the earliest) identifiable Medieval Serbian composers and also one of the founders of a new and distinctive style called Serbo-Byzantine school. Biography Several of Stefan’s original texts and copies have been preserved, which can still be found in foreign libraries today. His most famous work is a collection of church hymns — Psaltikia. The original manuscript of the Psaltikia was kept in the National Library in Belgrade, where it disappeared on 6 April 1941. In 2017, the entire National Library burned down due to a bombing. Only twelve photocopied sheets have been preserved, on which, in addition to th

Kornelije Stanković

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Kornelije Stanković (, ; 23 August 1831 – 16 April 1865) was a Serbian composer, melographer, conductor, pianist and musical writer. He is notable for his four volumes of harmonized Serbian melodies, which were published in Vienna between 1858 and 1863 and are one of the most important foundations for later Serbian music. Biography He was born in a bourgeois Serbian family in Tabán, a part of Buda inhabited mostly by Serbs. After the death of his parents he lived with his elder sister in Аrad, where he went to primary school and attended two years of gymnasium. He studied harmony and counterpoint, as well as the basic piano lessons, Fertile musical life in Vienna and instructions from Sechter marked the most significant, but also the only part of Stanković’s schooling. He was not able to go for musical specialization to Russia with his incurable disease, tuberculosis. He died early, in his thirty-fourth, on 4/16 April 1865 in Buda. He was buried in the Serbian cemetery in Taban. After moving this cemetery, his funeral remains were conveyed to the cemetery in Buda. In 1940, Musical society “Stanković” initiated their moving to the Alley of the Greats in Novo groblje in Belgrade. Cre

Ludmila Frajt

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Ludmila Frajt (31 December 1919 – 14 March 1999) was a Yugoslav and Serbian composer. She wrote choral, orchestral and chamber works, music for films and radio-dramas, electro-acoustic works, as well as music for children. She has won numerous awards for her music for children. Biography Ludmila (Lida) Frajt was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia into a family of musicians. Her father Jovan (Jan) Frajt, born in 1882 in Plzeň (nowadays in the Czech Republic), settled in Serbia in 1903. He worked as a violinist, organist, conductor, composer and music publisher. He founded a publishing house Edition Frajt in Belgrade. After his death in 1938, his son Stevan Frajt, also a musician, continued to run this family business. Ludmila Frajt received her first music lessons at home; then she attended the Belgrade Music School, where one of her teachers was Josip Slavenski. In 1938 she enrolled to study composition at the newly founded Belgrade Music Academy (nowadays Faculty of Music), with Miloje Milojević. Her studies were interrupted by the World War II. After the country was liberated, she resumed her study. However, her professor Milojević died in 1946, and therefore she graduated with Josip S

Marina Tucaković

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Marina Tucaković (; 4 November 1953 – 19 September 2021) was a Serbian lyricist and songwriter. Born and raised in Belgrade, Tucaković first started writing songs at the age of 19. After the success of “Dodirni mi kolena” (“Touch my knees”) by the Yugoslav rock group Zana and vocalist Zana Nimani, she continued working with numerous Yugoslav musical acts. Before transitioning to folk music, she collaborated with various Yugoslav pop, rock, and new wave acts, including Oliver Mandić, Zana, Slađana Milošević, and Oliver Dragojević. In the 2000s and 2010s, she continued to write for many folk artists from Serbia and collaborated with numerous pop and folk musicians from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia, such as Ceca Ražnatović, Džej Ramadanovski, Toše Proeski, Severina, Magazin, Jelena Karleuša, Lepa Brena, Neda Ukraden, Selma Bajrami, Dino Merlin, Mišo Kovač, Massimo Savić, Aca Lukas, Ana Nikolić, Doris Dragović, Maja Odžaklijevska, Zdravko Čolić and many others. Many of the songs she wrote are considered some of the greatest hits of all time in the Balkans. She was also widely regarded as one of the most influential and respected Serbian lyricists. Throughout her

Milan Mihajlović

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Milan Mihajlović (; born 3 July 1945 in Belgrade) is a Serbian composer, music pedagogue and conductor. Biography Mihajlović was born in a musical family: his father, Konstantin, studied composition and conducting at the Belgrade Music Academy, and with his brother Nedeljko, founded an ensemble for light music and toured Europe and the Middle East. Mihajlović graduated in composition (Stanojlo Rajičić, 1970), and conducting (Živojin Zdravković, 1969) at the Belgrade Music Academy where he also acquired his M.A. degree (1978). For a short time he attended master courses in Cologne and Salzburg. From 1975 to 2010, Mihajlović worked at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, teaching at the Department of Music Theory and, from 1997, at the Department of Composition and Orchestration. He also taught composition at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. He was the Secretary and Head of the Department of Music Theory, and, from 2002 to 2009, the Dean of the Belgrade Faculty of Music. He is one of the founders of the Ensemble for Contemporary Music, as well as the contemporary music festival – the International Review of Composers (1992). He was the director of the IRC festival from 1992 to 2002, and

Milenko Paunović

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Milenko Paunović (November 29, 1889 in Újszentiván – October 1, 1924 in Belgrade) was a Serbian composer and writer, the author of the first Serbian musical drama. Biography Paunović was educated in the Serbian Grammar School in Novi Sad (1900–1908) where he attended his first violin classes. As a final year violin student, he learned at the Conservatory in Prague in 1909. He studied composition with Max Reger at the Conservatory in Leipzig (1909–1911) and simultaneously attended Hugo Riemann’s lectures at the University in the same town. He was a choir leader in Ruma and Novi Sad (1913) and in the Academic Singing Society Obilić in Belgrade (1923), a teacher of music in the Male Teaching College in Jagodina (1914; 1918–1920) and a professor of the Musical School Stanković (1921–1922). As a soldier at the Thessalonica front line, he was an active participant in Serbian art in refuge. From 1921 he was a conductor in the Orchestra of the Royal Guard and an officer of the Ministry of the Military where he was successful in improving the material status of army musicians. Paunović received a Medal of St. Sava of the 4th Order, a Medal of the Romanian Crown of the 5th Degree and the Alb

Miloje Milojević

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Miloje Milojević (Serbian Cyrillic: Милоје Милојевић; 27 October 1884 in Belgrade – 16 June 1946 in Belgrade) was a Serbian composer, musicologist, music critic, folklorist, music pedagogue, and music promoter. Biography The father of Miloje Milojević, Dimitrije, an apparel merchant, was born in the village of Dedina near the town of Kruševac. His last name was in fact Đorđević, but according to the custom at the time, he adopted a surname based on his father’s first name. Dimitrije Milojević was rather musically gifted, being self-taught in playing the flute. The mother of Miloje Milojević, Angelina, was born in Belgrade, in the Matić clerk’s family. She was also musically gifted and took private piano lessons. Miloje Milojević had a sister Vladislava, and brothers Vojislav, Vladislav, Branko, Milorad, and Borivoje, a renowned biologist. Miloje Milojević began private violin lessons at the age of five, with Karlo Mertl, an orchestra member of the National Theatre in Belgrade. His first piano teacher was his mother, Angelina. His father’s sudden death turned the family life upside-down. The changed financial situation made his mother, now a widow, move to Novi Sad where life was mo

Predrag Milošević (composer)

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Predrag Milošević (Serbian Cyrillic: Предраг Милошевић; February 4, 1904 in Knjaževac – January 4, 1988 in Belgrade) was a composer, conductor, pianist, pedagogue, and music writer. As one of those musicians from Serbia who completed their university education in Prague, upon his return, Milošević significantly contributed to the foundation of music professionalism in his country. Biography Predrag Milošević was born in 1904 in Knjaževac. He began his music education at the Music School in Belgrade, and between 1922 and 1924 continued in Munich, and at the Prague State Conservatory. In Prague, he graduated in composition in 1926 with Professor Jaroslav Křička, in piano in 1928 with J. Prohaska, and conducting in 1931 with M. Doležil and P. Dědeček. Milošević supplemented his education at the Master school, where in 1930 he completed composition studies in the class of J. Suk and in 1931 a conducting seminar with N. Malko. Even as a student Milošević was a well known conductor of Prague’s choirs. In 1932 he became the leader of the First Belgrade Singing Society, with which he won the first-place prize at the choral competition in Budapest in 1937. Upon his return to Belgrade in 193

Sanja Ilić

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Aleksandar “Sanja” Ilić (; 27 March 1951 – 7 March 2021) was a Serbian and Yugoslav musician and composer. Ilić started composing as a teenager. In 1971 he formed the rock band San, which disbanded in 1975, after the band’s vocalist Predrag Jovičić died in concert from an electric shock. After San split up, Ilić continued his career as a composer, authoring several hit songs for Yugoslav pop and rock artists. He collaborated with composer and keyboardist Sloba Marković on the electronic music album Delta Project and with actor and lyricist Irfan Mensur on the album Plava ptica. In 2000, Ilić formed the ethnic music ensemble Balkanika, with which he recorded five albums and had numerous performances across the world. During his career, Ilić wrote music for theatre, film, television shows and various performers. He died in 2021 in Belgrade. He was the brother of rock musician and composer Dragoljub Ilić and husband of actress Zlata Petković. Life and career Early life and career Ilić was born on 27 March 1951 in Belgrade. Ilić’s father, Miodrag “Beli” Ilić was a well-known composer. Sanja Ilić composed his first song when he was 12. At the age of 16, he composed the song “Baj baj baj

Slobodan Trkulja

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Slobodan Trkulja (, ; born 29 May 1977) is a Serbian multi-instrumentalist, composer and singer in traditional and Byzantium style. Trkulja is one of the first artists who composed, performed, and popularized Balkan Traditional Music with a modern approach in arrangements. He is the founder of the Modern Balkan Tradition music genre, although he is most famous for his collaboration with Metropole Orchestra from Netherlands in 2008. Aside from playing 13 instruments, Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad called him “one of the most beautiful male voices of the Balkan.” He had no formal music training until 1997, but attended a public high school in Sremski Karlovci. Slobodan moved to Netherlands in 1997, and returned to Serbia in 2008, where he has been since. He represented Serbia at the Intervision 2025 with the song “Tri ružice” finishing in 14th place with 236 points. Biography Early life Trkulja was born in Odžaci on 29 May 1977. At the age of 10 he taught himself to play the clarinet. After clarinet, Slobodan learned to play dozen more instruments in the next eight years. At the age of 14, he started playing in the professional folk ensemble Kolo in Belgrade. In less than a year he was

Srđan Ćuković

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Srđan Ćuković (born 31 March 1952) is a Serbian poet and composer. Early days Ćuković was born to a Serbian father, university professor Dr. Milan Ćuković, and to Branislava Ćuković. His grandfather’s surname was Ćuk, but in 1922 the grandfather changed it to Ćuković. He was introduced to accordion after injuring his arm in a car accident at age eight. His unwillingness to learn notes led his music teacher to suggest guitar to his parents. He got his first guitar in 1962, when his father bought him his first Beatles single. He was beginning to write poetry and learn English, mostly to sing songs by favorites such as the Beatles, the Hollies, Bob Dylan, Donovan, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys. He often jokes saying that he learned English by listening to the Beatles and Radio Luxembourg. As a secondary school student he was introduced to journalist, chess grandmaster and radio DJ Nikola Karaklajić, who sought out young musicians and had good knowledge of English and access to many recordings. Ćuković started as a songwriter and performer for the play The Punks, performed by the Dadov Youth Theatre from Belgrade, directed by Radomir Putnik and managed by Mihailo To

Stanislav Binički

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Stanislav Binički (, ; 27 July 1872 – 15 February 1942) was a Serbian composer, conductor, and pedagogue. A student of German composer Josef Rheinberger, he became the first director of the Opera Sector of the National Theatre in Belgrade in 1889 and began working with the Belgrade Military Orchestra a decade later. He composed the first Serbian opera, At Dawn (), in 1903. In 1911, Binički established the second Serbian Music School. He joined the Serbian Army following the outbreak of World War I and composed one of his most famous works, March on the Drina, following the Serbian victory at the Battle of Cer. He retired as head of the Opera Sector of the National Theatre in 1920 and died in Belgrade in 1942. He is considered one of the leading Serbian composers of the Generation of the 1870s. Life and career Stanislav Binički was born on 27 July 1872 in the village of Jasika, near Kruševac, Principality of Serbia. He studied in Belgrade and Munich with German composer Josef Rheinberger. Binički became the first director of the Opera Sector of the National Theatre in Belgrade in 1889. In 1899, he began collaborating with the Belgrade Military Orchestra. He enriched the orchestra’s

Stevan Hristić

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Stevan Hristić (; 19 June 1885 – 21 August 1958) was a Serbian composer, conductor, pedagogue, and music writer. A prominent representative of the late romanticist style in Serbian music of the first half of the 20th century. Biography Hristić started his music education at the Serbian Music School in Belgrade (established by St. Mokranjac) and continued his studies in Leipzig (1904–08) where he received instruction in composition from S. Krehl and R. Hofmann, and in conducting from A. Nikisch. Following a brief period of teaching at the Serbian Music School, he spent time in Rome, Moscow, and Paris (1910–12). Upon his return to Belgrade before the start of the World War I, Hristić began his conducting career at the National Theatre and resumed pedagogical activities at the Serbian Music School as well as at the Seminary. Between the two World Wars he contributed to the development of Belgrade musical life as: a founder and the first principal conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic (1923–34), conductor at the Belgrade Opera House (director 1925–35), and one of the founders and first professors of the Belgrade Music Academy (composition professor 1937–50 and president 1943–44). He w

Stevan Mokranjac

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Stevan Stojanović (, ; 9 January 1856 – 28 September 1914), known as Stevan Mokranjac (, ) was a Serbian composer and music educator. Born in Negotin in 1856, Mokranjac studied music at the University of Belgrade, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Sapienza University of Rome and Leipzig University while in his twenties. Later, he became the conductor of the Belgrade Choir Society and founder of the Serbian School of Music and the first Serbian string quartet, in which he played the cello. He left Belgrade at the beginning of World War I and moved to Skopje, where he died on 28 September 1914. Often called the “father of Serbian music” and the “most important figure of Serbian musical romanticism”, Mokranjac is well-regarded and much revered in Serbia. Following his death, the Serbian Music School was renamed the Mokranjac Music School in his honour. He has been featured on the country’s paper currency and that of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1964, the Mokranjac family home in Negotin was restored and turned into a museum and musical centre. Celebrations of Mokranjac’s life, known as “Mokranjac days”, have occurred annually in the town since 1965. In 1981, a larg

Svetozar Saša Kovačević

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Svetozar Saša Kovačević (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Саша Ковачевић; 3 January 1950 – 18 September 2022) was a Serbian composer, music pedagogue and church organist. He was one of Serbia’s best-known contemporary composers. Biography Svetozar Saša Kovačević was born in Zabalj and studied music at the Isidor Bajić Music School in Novi Sad. He studied composition with Victor Safranek, Nikola Petina, Rudolf Bruchi and Vasilij Mokranjac. During his studies, he began performing as a pianist, deciding at the same time to practise organ music as a soloist or a member of ensembles performing works of spiritual music in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia. He attended seminars for organ building and trimming in Grožnjan (Croatia) in 1973 with prof. Patrick Colon (Belgium) and at the Chamber Music Seminar in Amsterdam and Utrecht at the invitation of the Dutch Government in 1974. Kovačević taught accordion at the Davorin Jenko music school in Belgrade. After retiring from all professions he retired as a full professor at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Department of Musical Arts, Departments of Composition and Musicology for the subject: Playing and reading orchestral scores. Since 2005 was liste

Vladimir Krakov

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Vladimir Krakov (born 17 June 1970 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia) is a pen-name of Serbian writer and rock musician Vladimir Marković. Music Krakov formed Presing along with Zoran Radovic at the age of 20, and very soon became appreciated for his specific manner of guitar playing and harmony treatment, being influenced to some extent by works and way of thinking of such authors as Glenn Branca, Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. Krakov released three albums with Presing, one with Tornado Ptice and one with Xanax. He also contributed as an author with Menson Benson Sextet, Kanda, Kodža i Nebojša and as an author of applied music for movies and television. Literature In his first book “In a Train to Disneyland” (U vozu za Diznilend, SKC, Belgrade 1994), along with short stories, Krakov also published his essay on theory of poetry “Return of Poetry to Singing”, in which he claimed that poetry which exists only in written form reminds of a “once powerful tribe which now scrapes in reservation”. He advocated the singing as a natural incarnation of poetry, which should reemerge as more appreciated model, while “pencil” poetry should remain what musical notation is to music. Having for a long time fav

Vlado Milošević

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Vlado Milošević (; 1901–1990) was a Bosnian composer and ethnomusicologist from Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina. His hometown of Banja Luka holds an annual musical festival named after the composer. He attended elementary school and gimnazija in Banja Luka. He studied history and geography in Belgrade, then in Zagreb, and finished his music (pedagogy) studies. He taught in Banja Luka and Niš, and subsequently worked at the Museum of Bosanska Krajina, and conducted the Serbian Singing Society (SPD) “Jedinstvo” (“Unity”) choir. Milošević’s last years were spent in one of the villas in today’s King Petar I Karađorđević Street, Banja Luka, which holds Milošević’s memorial room. References External links * Profile, riznicasrpska.net * The Digitized Legacy of academician Vlado Milošević * Gimnazija, Banja Luka website

Vlastimir Peričić

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Vlastimir Peričić (7 December 1927 in Vršac – 1 March 2000 in Belgrade) was a Serbian composer and one of the most important theoreticians of Serbian music, well-known musicologist and the author of extremely valuable university textbooks, as well as a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences. Biography Vlastimir Peričić was the son of Juraj and Jelica Peričić, maiden name Nikolajević . Attended elementary school in Zemun from 1934 to 1938, grammar school in Zemun from 1938 to 1941 and in Belgrade from 1941 to 1946. Enrolled high school of music at the Belgrade Academy in 1941, the Music Academy in 1945, graduated from the Department of Composition at the Music Academy of Belgrade (the class of professor Stanojlo Rajičić) in 1951. In the period from 1945 to 1947 worked as an intern in the Natural History Museum in Belgrade, from 1948 to 1951 as a part-time lecturer of solfeggio and basic music theory at the Music School Josif Marinković in Belgrade, from 1951 to 1955 as a professor of theoretical subjects in the Secondary School of Music at the Academy of Music (now the School of Music Slavenski ). Vlastimir Peričić spent the school year 1955—1956 training a

Zoran Hristić

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zoran Hristić (; 30 July 1938–12 November 2019) was a Serbian composer. He had a freelance artist status for a long time. At the initiative of Dušan Radović in 1979, he was nominated an editor, director and founder of the Concert Studio B. from 1982 to 1989, he was the chief music editor of Radio Belgrade, and then moved on RTVB, later RTS where he was editor in chief of the editorial board of Music programme until 1995. He received the prestigious Stevan Hristić Award for the best thesis Titles for the chorus and orchestra. Hristić’s work includes solo and chamber works, vocal and instrumental works, ballets, radiophonic works, music for theater, film and television. His compositions have been performed by prominent national and international performers. “I have never accepted that it is important to write music just for oneself and I think one is deceived by the artist who says he does not care about communication and influence. Art means to influence”. Awards *Stevan Hristić Award (1963) for a thesis Titles for the choir and orchestra *Yugoslav Broadcasting Award for Chamber Music (1967) for piano trio 4 for E *Golden Arena (1967), for the music in the film Hasanaginica *Golden