Predrag Milosevic

Predrag Milošević (Serbian Cyrillic: Предраг Милошевић; February 4, 1904 in Knjaževac – January 4, 1988 in Belgrade) was a composer, conductor, pianist, pedagogue, and music writer. As one of those musicians from Serbia who completed their university education in Prague, upon his return, Milošević significantly contributed to the foundation of music professionalism in his country. Predrag Milošević was born in 1904 in Knjaževac. He began his music education at the Music School in Belgrade, and between 1922 and 1924 continued in Munich, and at the Prague State Conservatory. In Prague, he graduated in composition in 1926 with Professor Jaroslav Křička, in piano in 1928 with J. Prohaska, and conducting in 1931 with M. Doležil and P. Dědeček. Milošević supplemented his education at the Master school, where in 1930 he completed composition studies in the class of J. Suk and in 1931 a conducting seminar with N. Malko. Even as a student Milošević was a well known conductor of Prague's choirs. In 1932 he became the leader of the First Belgrade Singing Society, with which he won the first-place prize at the choral competition in Budapest in 1937. Upon his return to Belgrade in 1932 he was a conductor of the Belgrade Opera House and a piano teacher at the Music School in which he would serve as director from 1946 to 1948.

He became a docent for theory subjects at the Music Academy (today Faculty of Music, University of Arts, in Belgrade [FMU]), and a full professor of composition and conducting. Milošević was the Dean of the Faculty of Music from 1960 to 1967. His students included composer Darinka Simic-Mitrovic. His overall engagement in the music life of Belgrade and Serbia was also fulfilled by his position of the Head of the Radio Belgrade Second Program music section (1950–51), director and conductor of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad (1955–57), and president of the Association of Music Artists of Serbia (1951–53) and Composers' Association of Serbia (1958–60). Milošević was also active as a music writer (in journals The Sound (Zvuk) and The Music herald (Muzički glasnik in Serbian)) and as a translator – with Mihailo Vukdragović he co-translated K B. Jirak's The Study of musical forms, as well as numerous opera and operetta librettos and songs. Predrag Milošević is recipient of the Yugoslav Order of Labour with the Red Flag, and a music school in his birth town, Knjaževac is named after him.