Guitar music by 20th-century Serbian composers offers a rich blend of traditional Balkan folk elements and contemporary classical music trends. During this period, Serbian composers began to explore the guitar, an instrument not deeply rooted in the region’s classical tradition but well-suited to expressing the nuances of Serbian musical identity.

Vlastimir Trajković (1947–2017) studied with Olivier Messiaen and was the first Serbian composer – from the early 70s – to structurally apply elements of minimalism to what was a primarily impressionistic harmonic idiom in his music. His 10 Preludes for guitar is a work of refined melodies and subtle harmonies containing the composer’s musical reminiscences of Serbian, Brazilian and Spanish traditional music, as well as jazz.

Isidora Žebeljan (1967–2020) possesses a musical originality that is the product of an exceptionally authentic capability to organically fuse musical elements from various spheres of influence (from old Balkan folk traditions to rock and pop music) into new, as yet unknown sonic contexts. Her 3 Pieces for guitar are tender and filigreed, like a children’s guide through a world of fairy tales, with delicious echoes of the Balkan and Mediterranean. The Intimate Letter from Judean Desert, with its lonely, distant and almost endless melody, was written as chorale for any combination of instruments or voices.

Dušan Radić (1929-2010) studied with both Milhaud and Messiaen and created an authentic integration of musical elements from folk and popular music, together with modal chant and jazz. His joyful Vignettes are derived from his earlier choral music, reusing some old, funny, almost childish folk tunes.

Veljko Nenadić (b.1998) is the recipient of multiple international awards. He studied composition as a child prodigy with Isidora Žebeljan and writes music characterised by powerful energy, surprise, humour and emotional delicacy. His Festa na lua (Portuguese for ‘Party on the Moon’) pays homage to Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal and the generations of musicians who created post-bossa nova Brazilian jazz.

Dragana Jovanović (b.1963) composes in an eclectic, postmodern idiom, often with baroque motoric rhythms and virtuosic display. Pushc Y Me (‘Let me go’) is her arrangement for double bass and guitar of an old traditional song from North Macedonia. Her composition Pure Energy evokes the energy in tenderness, slightly coloured by elements of blues.

Dušan Bogdanović (b.1955 has developed a personal style combining classical music, folk musical traditions, Byzantine chants and jazz. For his Preamble and Ricercare for violin and guitar he opted for the musical ambiance of the early baroque and renaissance music for lute, with its delicate modal harmonies.

Vuk Kulenović (1946–2017) combines Balkan folk musical elements with minimalism, as well as the Byzantine modes which he also placed into the minimalistic musical context. His energetic, moving music uses the Balkans’ aksak (irregular, additive) rhythms combined with repetition. Toccatina is a virtuosic miniature with a motoric and restless musical flow.

Miloš Raičković (b.1956) studied with Olivier Messiaen and at the City University of New York. Minimalism had a crucial influence on him, and he became one of the style’s foremost Serbian representatives. He uses postmodern idioms to combine repetition with elements of classicism. His Without You is written as a reminiscence of Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor, D940.

Miloš Petrović (1952–2010) wrote mostly piano music, chamber music and multimedia works, often using ancient Byzantine music for inspiration and composing in a pseudo-Baroque idiom. This is beautifully combined with folk music traditions from the Balkans and Spain in his Averröes Dances, named for the 12th-century Andalusian polymath.

Miroslav Tadić (b.1959) fuses musical materials and influences from baroque music, Indian classical music, flamenco, various other folk music traditions, jazz, blues and rock. Macedonian Girl is his arrangement of a very popular North Macedonian traditional song.