The young Macedonian composers are educated at the Faculty of Music in Skopje, guided by the professors Goce Kolarovski (1959) and Toma Manchev (1950). The group that we will refer to as young Macedonian composers, comprised of students of the above mentioned two professors, counts the following students: Valentina Velkovska (1976), Soni Petrovski (1977), Darja Andovska (1979), Goce Gavrilovski (1978), Nikolche Micevski, Dragan Stojkovski, Damjan Temkov and Boris Svetiev.

           These young artists have been educated in the spirit of the 20th century music, and their five-year music education has been greatly influenced by the composers who have marked this century (Messiaen, Shostakovich, Schoenberg, etc.). Therefore, these young composers are guided by techniques and ideas typical for global contemporary music styles: dodecaphony, serial techniques, aleatorics.
Unlike the preceding generations of composers, whose works clearly exhibit preference of tradition and folklore (in terms of using characteristic rhythms and tunes), this generation is above all oriented towards a complex art of music and its symbiotic coexistence with other forms of art. In terms of music, they employ atonality, serial techniques, aleatorics, the minimalist approach, the search for new timbers and technical opportunities of the instruments, within the realm of the existing forms, or creation within individual free forms.
 The compositions from their early period mostly consist of student works, which do not necessarily have to shape their future style of composition. Darja Andovska, Soni Petrovski and Valentina Velkovska are known for their maturity of composition and their large opus, whereas the other young composers begin their opus with experimental works that attempt to overcome basic formal and instrumental difficulties. Unlike the preceding generations of Macedonian composers, the young composers, even as students, are given the chance to promote their compositions during the prominent manifestation Days of Macedonian Music, where the audience can enjoy an evening dedicated to their work. Thus, great productivity is stimulated on behalf of the students in the department of composition, who frequently create works that are connected to their program of study.

       Darja Andovska (1978) completed her music education in 2002 at the Department of Composition, and studied with professor Goce Kolarovski. Her works cover various segments of music expression in terms of form, instruments, and approach. She seeks for inspiration in complex philosophical, mathematical and esthetic categories. She creates a music language based on non-music elements. Thus, she expresses her fascination with Japanese haiku poetry in the composition for chamber orchestra “Six Haiku Poems.” In “Cosmogony,” a composition for symphony orchestra, she employs Fibonacci’s progression, demanding directed movements from the musicians. Her works exceed fixed musical dimensions and become a fusion of a complex creation process. Andovska writes the texts of her compositions that include singers (“Prayer” for high voice and piano), thus supporting her viewpoint on “Gesamtkunstwerk,” studied from the aspect of complete control of the author. Andovska’s compositions encompass forms for solo instruments and chamber ensembles of a usually unconventional arrangement (“Quintessence” for flute, marimba, violoncello and viola).

Darja Andovska

           Her last composition, named “Odyssey Balkanika 2002,” was inspired by the political situation in Macedonia, and performed at the Dresden Days of Contemporary Music. It is a composition based on Pascal’s Pyramid with the numbers 2, 0, 1, and begins with a gun-shot and the uttered words “There was war on the Balkans.” This composition exhibits the need of the author to express everyday reality through music.
 

         Soni Petrovski (1977) completed his studies at the Faculty of Music and studied with professor Goce Kolarovski. This composer believes that the composition isn’t completed when the composer places the final note on the score, rather the act of creation continues with the artist’s interpretation. Soni Petrovski, in many senses, leaves his compositions “open,” enabling the audience and interpreters to devise their own experience of the work. He achieves freedom of expression in different ways. In his composition for solo violin “Bric-a-Brac,” certain places contain a model upon which the interpreters feel free to achieve their own freedom of expression by means of improvisation. Petrovski employs this method in other compositions: in “Honey and Blood,” the conductor individually decides where and when he performs certain part of the composition, and in the “Concert Piece for Piano” the choice of the theme, i.e. the basic constituting theme was written by Marija Vrshkova, the pianist who played the piece on its premiere performance.
 In terms of the elements of expression, Petrovski uses limited aleatorics, and experiments with instrumentation. The restrained use of folklore is accomplished through the processing of the works according to some Macedonian dances (“Teshkoto”) or through reminiscences of folklore (sounds of instruments or ways of singing). Petrovski’s opus covers several works for chamber ensembles, solo instruments and chamber orchestra, and one piece for symphony orchestra.
 Petrovski’s liberal music language proves him popular among the interpreters, mostly because of the rare freedom rendered through the interpretation of his pieces, as well as the chance to exhibit one’s own interpretation possibilities.
 

         Valentina Velkovska (1976) is the only student of professor Toma Manchev in this generation. Her opus includes several pieces, that except for the “Five Pieces for Piano,” dominantly comprise of works written for mixed choir, solo songs for voice and accompaniment, and six works for different chamber ensembles.  She is obviously interested in the link between music and lyrics. Velkovska frequently exhibits her interest in the Macedonian orthodox chant. “Troparion” and “Kondak,” compositions for mixed choir adapted from the Liturgy in Orthodox Chant Traditions, are good examples of Velkovska’s significant use of church music tradition within her creative opus.
 

           The opus Goce Gavrilovski (1978) comprises of heterogeneous works. He defines his individual music language through works that cover various compositional techniques, from tonality to aleatorics. For instance, in “Insects and Birds” Gavrilovski achieves music rendering of natural sounds through the different colors of the instruments as well as various interpretation techniques. He also employs adaptation of themes of different peoples’ cultures. For instance, in the eight humorous variations he exploits the song “Oh, Susanna.” This symbol of American country music has been altered through a specific chamber ensemble and many percussion instruments.

          At last we will mention Damjan Temkov, a third year student studying with professor Goce Kolarovski. His opus is mainly comprised of exam materials: “17 Bagatelles” for solo flute, solo piano, and piano and flute; the cycle of songs “Dream” for soprano and piano.
 Still searching for his mode of compositional expression, Temkov begins from tonality but also experiments in the realms of dodecaphony and aleatorics. He uses the minimalist expression in the composition “Perpetum Mobile” for piano, which is based upon two chords processed in five phases.

           A special role in the development of this generation has the ensemble “Alea.” This ensemble was formed by Soni Petrovski, and consists of young musicians. In the previous years, “Alea” has triumphed in its attempt to raise awareness of contemporary music among Macedonian audiences, bringing contemporary music closer to both the audience and the interpreters.

         We have to take into consideration that this generation is still under the process of formation. Nevertheless, it has succeeded in gaining the attention of the music public, mostly because of the refreshment in the ideas present in the concepts of some of its representatives