Nenad Firšt (born November 6, 1964, in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

), is a Slovene

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist.http://www.nenadfirst.com/biografija.htm Nenad Firšt received a high school musical education at the Zagreb High School of Music before moving to Ljubljana to study at the Ljubljana Academy of Music under Dane Škerl (composition) and Rok Klopčič (violin). He completed his study of chamber music and composition at home in Slovenia, in Hungary, and in France. In 1982, he joined the Croatian Sebastian string quartet, from Zagreb, with which he toured nationally and internationally until 1992. In 1988, he moved to live in Celje,

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, where he is the artistic director and conductor of the Celje String Orchestra. He is also the director of the Celje Institute for Cultural Performances. Between 1993 and 1998, he was President of the

Musical Youth Musical Youth are a British-Jamaican reggae band formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England. They are best remembered for their 1982 single " Pass the Dutchie", which was a number 1 in multiple charts around the world. Their other hits include "Yout ...

organisation and he has been artistic director of Musical Youth's International Music Camp at

Dolenjske Toplice Dolenjske Toplice (; german: Töplitz''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 164.) is a settlement near Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia an ...

since 1996. He has received various awards and recognitions, including the Prešeren Award of the Ljubljana Academy of Music in Ljubljana (for the composition of his 3rd String Quartet) and the Prešeren Award of the Municipality of Celje. On 7 February 2009, Nenad Firšt was one of the two Prešeren Foundation Award laureates from the field of music, recognised for artistic achievements in the previous two years including his "Concertino for flute, saxophone and orchestra", "Concerto for two saxophones and string instruments", "In the very moment of pause", for chamber ensemble, "Magic Mountain", for symphony orchestra, "Letters" for violin and chamber orchestra, and "Odeon", for chamber orchestra". (The prestigious awards are named in honour of Slovenia's national poet,

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

). His work for chamber orchestra "Odeon" was performed by the KOS DSS Chamber Orchestra on a tour of Germany in 2008 as part of the cultural programme celebrating Slovenia's Presidency of the EU. In the programme notes for the 2009 Prešeren Prizes ceremony, Firšt's fellow composer Crt Sojar Voglar wrote that "His highly individual leanings towards the avant garde are perceptible in all of his works which, without being unduly experimental, demonstrate an incredible originality that emerges from a synthesis of his devotion to formal proportions and an expressive mix of thoughtful intimacy and pronounced playfulness, combined with a distinctive melodic voice and harmonic penetration that is always on the edge or just beyond the edge of the traditions of older music. His instrumentation, always in the service of expression, often explores interesting and unfamiliar sound colours — sometimes thick and full, other times randomly dispersed and mysterious."

Selected works

Much of Firšt's music is published by Društvo Slovenskih Skladateljev. * ''Love Song'' for 2 Violas (1988) * ''SSSSS'', Variations for Viola and Double Bass (1991) * ''Tres Faciunt Collegium'' for Clarinet, Viola and Piano (2001)

References

External links

Nenad Firšt official website

Društvo Slovenskih Skladateljev
{{DEFAULTSORT:First, Nenad 1964 births Living people Musicians from Zagreb Slovenian classical composers Slovenian male musicians Slovenian classical violinists Male classical composers