Dejan Despić (1930, Serbia), composer, writer on music, theorist, and peda-gogue. Despić studied composition with Marko Tajčević and conducting with Mihailo Vukdragović at the Academy of Music in Belgrade, where he graduat-ed from both departments in 1955. He taught music theory subjects at Mokranjac School of Music (1955–1965) and then at the Academy of Music in Belgrade (1965–1995). He was admitted to the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences as a corresponding member in 1985 and made a full member in 1994. He is the author of over 170 works in most diverse genres, with a special pen-chant for concertante genres and chamber sound. Despić has won many awards and prizes, including that of the International Review of Composers, several awards from the Composers’ Association of Serbia, JRT, Radio Belgrade, SOKOJ, and the 2005 Mokranjac Award for his piece Diptih (Diptych), Op. 166, for English horn and chamber orches-tra.
Works by Despić have been performed at every music festival in Serbia, as well as in various musical centres of Europe and the United States.
Concerto for Trumpet and String Orchestra, Op. 168
The piece was written in 2003-2004 in two versions: for symphony orchestra and string orchestra. It was premièred on 12 May 2018. The soloist was Mladen Đorđević and the Symphony Orchestra of the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation was conducted by Bojan Suđić. This year’s Reviewwill see the première of the version for trumpet and string orchestra.
The work features the classical division in three movements, performed without a break. It is a typical piece ofconcertante music, full of motion and virtuosity