Slovenian composer nominated for German Music Authors' Prize

The prominent Belgian classical music magazine Crescendo has named an album featuring compositions by Slovenia's Vito Žuraj and Italy's Luciano Berio the recording of the year.

Žuraj is also the first Slovenian to be nominated for a German Music Authors' Prize, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

Part of the Musica Viva series, the album was released by Bavarian radio station BR Klassik in November.

It features a recording of the premiere performance of Žuraj's Automatones, a composition for a large symphony orchestra, performed by one of the world's finest orchestras - the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Simon Rattle.

The album, named Musica Viva No. 50, also features Berio's composition Coro for 40 voices and orchestra.

The Slovenian premiere of Automatones will take place in Ljubljana's Cankarjev Dom on 20 May next year. It will be performed by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Italian conductor Emilio Pomarico, the composer told the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

For this piece, Žuraj drew inspiration from Greek mythology.

He is also the first Slovenian to be nominated for the prestigious German Music Authors' Prize for 2026 in the category of musical-scenic arts. The prizes will be presented in February.

The 46-year-old received the nomination after the success of the contemporary opera Blühen, which was commissioned by the Frankfurt Opera House and premiered in 2023. Žuraj wrote the music for Blühen.

The work, which deals with transience, love and the inner struggle between the desire for eternal youth and the inevitable acceptance of ageing, was well received and declared the premiere of the year 2023 by the German magazine Opernwelt. It premiered in Slovenia this year.

Žuraj is among Slovenia's most internationally renowned composers. He is known for precisely structured works that often include spatial or scenic elements and have been performed by leading ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic and Ensemble Modern.

He studied composition in Ljubljana, Dresden and Karlsruhe and has collaborated with major experimental music centres. A recipient of the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize by the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Slovenian national Prešeren Fund Award, he has been a professor at the University of Ljubljana's Academy of Music since 2015.

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Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA