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Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2026. Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes: preplet stanovskega in nacionalnega | Composers’ Societies Past and Present: Combining the Professional and the National
Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-555-9.319-331
© 2026 Jernej Weiss

The Slavko Osterc Ensemble (1961–1981): The Principal
Promoter of the Creativity of the Society of Slovene
Composers Abroad

Jernej Weiss
Univerza v Ljubljani / Univerza v Mariboru
University of Ljubljana / University of Maribor

The 1960s saw the formation throughout Europe of numerous groups spe-
cialising in the performance of “New Music”. Among the first such ensem-
bles anywhere in the world was the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble led by
the American composer Lukas Foss. Other notable ensembles included the
British group AMM, founded in 1965, the Rome-based group Musica Elet-
tronica Viva (from 1966), the Vienna-based Ensemble “die reihe”, found-
ed in 1958 and led by Friedrich Cerha, the Cluj-based Romanian group Ars
nova, founded in 1968, the Bratislava-based Hudba dneška, which was ac-
tive from 1963 and also performed in Ljubljana etc. They consisted of musi-
cians who were particularly drawn to the performance of New Music. Un-
like classical ensembles, these groups were able to adapt their instrumental
line-ups as required, and were particularly receptive to experimentation of
every kind. Given the wide variety of performance requirements in a pe-
riod that rejected genre conventions, groups of this kind were among the
principal promoters of the creation of new musical works and played a sig-
nificant part in shaping aesthetic changes.
In Slovenia they included both the Collegium musicum society, found-
ed in 1957 by Pavel Šivic under the aegis of the Academy of Music Compos-
ers’ Club, and, unquestionably, the Slavko Osterc Ensemble. This was found-
ed in 1961 by members of the composers’ group Pro musica viva as a vehicle
for the performance of their own works. The promoter, conductor and spir-
itus agens of the Ensemble was Ivo Petrić, who had studied composition

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