LOVRO von MATACIC (Susak, February 14, 1899 - Zagreb, January 4, 1985), the Croatian Conductor and Composer, belongs to the élite of the European and world music of the 20th century.

Having been formed as a person and as an artist at the crossroads of traditions and cultures, he managed - in an amazing way - to assimilate and synthesize their differences, building them in the foundations of the expressive and cognitive richness of his accordance with music.

He studied music at the Vienna Conservatoire (I. Herbst, O. Nedbal). His career started with the Opera Houses in Cologne, Osijek, Ljubljana and Zagreb, reaching its peak after the World War II. He was a permanent guest conductor at the Operas in Munich and Wienna; then he became the chief conductor of the Staatskapele and Opera in Dresden, and at the Opera in East Berlin (1956-58).

He was Director of the Opera in Frankfurt (1961-66); honorary chief conductor of the N.H.K. - Symphony Orchestra of the Japanes Radio and TV (since 1965); honorary and lifelong chief conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Zagreb (since 1970), and honorary conductor of the Orchestre Nationale de Monte Carlo (1974-1979). At the same time, he is a permanent conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestras in Berlin, Wienna, London, Prague, and numerous Orchestras in U.S.A.; he is a conductor and director at the Opera di Roma, La Scala in Milan, Opera in Bayreuth, and many other Opera Houses.

And although his work as a composer is not great by quantity, it is rich in expression. For his famous interpretations (especially of Bruckner and Wagner, and major works of the Slavic repertoire) he was awarded the Bruckner Medal of the International Bruckner Association, along with the Bruckner Ring of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the Janacek and Smetana Medals of the Czechoslovak Government; the Cross of the 1st Order for Arts and Sciences from the President of the Republic of Austria; the Hans von Büllow Medal from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and many other awards.

The extraordinary power of Matacic's interpetations stems from a blend of the monumentality of form, and full expressivity of the phrase, as well as from a suggestive experience of the completeness of the work under whose firmly conceptualized arch pulsates a spontaneous life of luxurious details.