Marjan Kozina

Marjan Kozina (4 June 1907 – 19 June 1966) was a Slovene composer. He is considered one of the most important Slovene composers of the 20th century. His best known works include a symphony, composed in stages through the late 1940s; the opera Equinox, completed in 1943; two ballets from the early 1950s, and the music for the film On Our Own Land (Na svoji zemlji), which he later arranged into a suite for orchestra.

Life Kozina was born to a musical family in Novo Mesto, then part of Austria-Hungary. In Ljubljana, Kozina began studying philosophy and mathematics and in the same time also piano and violin, but later completely turned to the study of music. He graduated from composition in Vienna in 1930, and completed the studies of conducting and composition also in Prague. After his return from Prague he worked for a short time (1932–34) at Ljubljana and Maribor Opera, and then worked at Maribor Music Society . From 1940 until 1943 and from 1945 until 1947, he worked as a music teacher at the Academy of Music in Belgrade. In World War II, his house was bombed in an air raid and his wife imprisoned by the Gestapo. In September 1943, after the capitulation of Italy, he joined the Slovene Partisans. After the liberation, in 1948, he became the first manager of the Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra, and held the post until 1951, when he became a professor at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. In 1953, he was elected a regular member of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts. Since 1970, a street in Novo Mesto has been named Marjan Kozina Street . In 2007, a production studio from Novo Mesto shot a documentary about Kozina, and a symposium on the composer was held in Novo Mesto. The musical school in Novo Mesto is named after Kozina. In 1971, a bronze bust of the composer, created by Zdenko Kalin, was unveiled in Novo Mesto. On 13 January 2008, the centenary of the Slovene Philharmonics, the great hall of the Philharmonics building in Ljubljana was named after Kozina.