Vito Žuraj
composer
© Tone Stojko
Blühen is the Slovenian composer Vito Žuraj’s second opera. World premieres of his works, which embrace all kinds of genres and formations, were performed by leading orchestras around the world including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, SWR Vokalensemble / Symphonieorchester, Klangforum Wien, the Ensemble intercontemporain and the RIAS Kammerchor, conducted by people including Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Matthias Pintscher, François-Xavier Roth and Simone Young. He enjoys a close relationship with the Ensemble Modern, who have given first performances of many of his works and dedicated a portrait concert to him in the Elb Philharmonie, which is followed by a »Happy New Ears« concert in Frankfurt on January 24, also in the Bockenheimer Depot. Recordings of his works have been released by labels including Neos; the latest a portrait album Alavò. Prizes won by Vito Žuraj have included the Berlin Philharmonic‘s Claudio Abbado Composition Prize, the Stuttgart Composition Prize and Slovenia’s Prešeren-Förderpreis. He was a member of the Deutsch Akademie Villa Massimo in Rome, the Berlin Academy of Arts, the ZKM in Karlsruhe and Villa Concordia in Bamberg, and was voted a fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation for 2023. He spent time teaching at the University for Music in Karlsruhe and has been working as a professor for composition and music theory at the University of Ljubljana’s Music Academy since 2015. Vito Žuraj studied composition with Marko Mihevc in Ljubljana, Lothar Voigtländer in Dresden and Wolfgang Rihm in Karlsruhe, where he gained his masters under the guidance of Thomas A. Troge. He gained invaluable experience in experimental studios at the SWR and IRCAM.