Lazar Đorđević was completed his elementary and secondary music education in Kragujevac. At the age of 17 he enrolled in the of composition with Zoran Erić at the Faculty of Music, where he completed his BA, MA and Doctor of Arts degrees (doctoral project entitled Pandora – double concerto for viola, cello and orchestra). He is currently an assistant professor at the same Faculty.
He attended master classes abroad, with Peter Ablinger (Austria), Vinko Globokar (France/Slovenia), Stephen McNeff (Great Britain), Sydney Corbett (USA/Germany), Johannes Kretz (Austria), Yann Robin (France), Annelies Van Parys (Belgium), and others.
His works have been presented by the renowned soloists and important ensembles including the RTS Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble for new music Construction Site, Camerata Academica, Ensemble Metamorphosis, Belgrade Trio, TAJJ String Quartet, and others. Lazar Đorđević’s pieces have been performed in Serbia and abroad (Austria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Lithuania, Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, etc.) at festivals and events such as the isaFestival, International Rostrum of Composers, Balkan Youth Academy, Sarajevo Sonic Studio, International Review of Composers, Rossifest, OKTOH, Eufonija, KoMA, FESTUM, Dani Vojina Komadine, U čast Predraga Miloševića, and others.
Lazar Đorđević has received several important awards and accolades including First prize of the competition “New Serbian music for accordion” (2016), two Rossifest awards (2018, 2021), Đurđevdan Award of the City of Kragujevac in the field of arts for best work performed in 2021, and many more. His piece D-Madness for viola and 15 strings represented Serbia at the 67th International Rostrum of Composers (IRC) in 2021. His piece Sounds of the Balkans for symphony orchestra (2023) was awarded at the Composers competition of the Western Balkans Youth Orchestra and premiered within the orchestra’s international tour. He is a member of the Composers Association of Serbia (since 2015) and Sokoj (since 2017).
About the piece
Reminiscence for symphony orchestra was my first experience in writing music for large orchestra. My years long interest and love for the orchestra sound of the 20th and 21st century works, but also those of earlier epocs, inspired me to write my first work for orchestra. By using contemporary orchestra writing I wanted to create a wide palette of different sonic situations, moods and contrasts which complement each other in building a harmonious and exciting music whole. By combining different registers, using certain extended techniques and less typical orchestral combinations, asd well as dynamics and rhythm as important music components, I tried to find my own expression in the orchestra medium which was, at the time, still new to me. The title of the piece – the memory – refers to a motive which I heard for the first time as a member of the Academic Chamber Choir Liceum from Kragujevac in Minta Aleksinački’s work Bajalice. This short rhythmic-melodic movement emerges from the fog during the piece, and some of its characteristisc become building blocs for the music flow. The piece received the award of the “Stevan Hristić” Fund (2015) and it was selected by the RTS Symphony Orchestra within their open call for composers in 2017.