Ljubomir Nikolić (1976, Serbia) began his music education in Tuzla by learning to play accordion. He than moved to Novi Sad where he continued his education and joined ensemble for contemporary music Ars Viva under composer Nineta Avramović. The ensemble performed his piece Little Story for flute and piano and Suite No. 1 for piano.

He studied composition with Miroslav Štatkić at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. He received the best student award after his first year of studies. In 1998 he was the first winner of the composition competition of the Josif Marinković Days in Bečej, for the solo song The Triumph of Venus. In 2009 he was the double laureate of the Serbian National Concourse (initiated by Nebojša Živković, percussionist and composer) – Second Prize for Marimbophonia for marimba, and Second Prize for The Horse for drum-set. For two years, while being president of the student’s union of the Academy of Arts, Nikolić was an active organizer of contemporary music concerts and events. He is a member of Association of Composers of Vojvodina.

The first concert devoted completely to Nikolić’s music was given at the Town Hall of Novi Sad (2008).

He graduated in the class of Rajko Maksimović with a work for symphonic orchestra The Warrior. He participated in international seminars such as South Oxford Six in 2007, and 2008, on which occasion his Symphony No. 1 and String Quartet were presented.

Works: Suite No. 2, for piano; Angel of Piece, Lakes, solo song for tenor, flute and piano; 3 Pieces for 2 pianos; Rajo, tužna rajo for choir, trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba. Prayer for soprano, piano and congas; Clarinets trio, Theme, 8 Variations and Finale, String Quartet No. 1. His project Sculptures is worth mentioning. The music of this project is for electronics and two synthesizers (two players) and it was realized in collaboration with composer Zoran Stajić and painter Vlada Rančić. In cooperation with piano duo Majrina and actress Lika Al Robei his Piano Suite No. 1 was performed in SKC in Belgrade.

String Quartet No. 2 – Foreign Body
The quartet was written in 2008. It is the result of my searching for different formal, structural, and finally, artistically individual solutions for composing. The reduction of material, postmodernist fusion of contrasting sections, ranging from quasi-aleatoric and folklore-like motives all the way to tonally conceived sections affirming particular tone color through the medium of string quartet. All this reflects the tendency to realize new solutions in a postmodern context. The formal solution for the piece evolves from the abovementioned processes, as a result of ordering seemingly incompatible sections, framing a somewhat collage-like picture. My intention was not, however, to conclude the piece in conventional terms of repetition, but to transform the initial idea into a kind of file-rouge.

The parts acquire their meaning through the performance of a “foreign body“, i.e. the element which is transferred from one instrumental part to another, aiming to adopt itself to the environment, creating with other instruments a coherent sonic picture. Still, the “foreign body“ retains its status of the foreigner who “messes things up“. The leitmotif of the“foreign body“ is given to the second violin at the beginning in the shape of a sustained tone with its own direction, while other instruments provide a somewhat chaotic music picture consisted of shorter notes. Eventually, the “foreign body“ material will occur in various shapes in different instruments and styling, while the remainig parts oppose it.