Lojze Lebič

Lebič was born on 23 August 1934 in Prevalje, in the Carinthia region of Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia). He attended the University of Ljubljana for a bachelor's degree in archaeology and the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he studied with composition with Marjan Kozina and conducting with Danilo Švara.^[1] He was the youngest member of the Pro musica viva group, a group of composers based in Ljubljana that was advocated for Slovenian modernism.^[2]

Lebič's early style was fairly traditional, but his work from after 1965 demonstrates the influence of the European avant-garde.^[3] The opening of Slovenia to foreign travel in the 1950s and 60s allowed for greater musical and cultural exchange with the rest of Yugoslavia and Europe, encouraging the development of a Slovenian avant garde. Lebič's 1965 works Meditacije za dva for viola and cello and the cantata Požgana trava are examples of his use of new melodic and vocal techniques.^[4] Later, he developed a style that balanced respect for traditional culture with cosmopolitan modernism.^[2]

• Per Archi (Za Golala) for string orchestra (2009)
• Invocation/ à Primož Ramovš (clarinet and piano), commissioned by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries
• Meditacije za dva (Meditations for Two) for viola and cello (1965, revised 1972)
• Rubato per viola for viola solo (1989)
• Hvalnica svetu (In Praise of the World) for double choir, piano four-hands and percussion (1988)

In 1967, he was awarded the Prešeren Award for conducting.^[5]