Milko Lazar

Milko Lazar is a Slovenian composer, pianist, and harpsichordist who works in the fields of contemporary, classical, and jazz music. He studied classical piano, jazz piano, and saxophone at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, as well as harpsichord and Baroque music at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. His body of work includes a wide range of orchestral compositions, operas, and chamber music, along with music for film, vocal pieces, jazz, and works for contemporary choreography.

Since 2008, he has collaborated with choreographer Edward Clug. Together, they have staged 22 ballet choreographies, including Faust – The Ballet (2018) with the Zurich Ballet, Patterns in ¾ and Source with the Stuttgart Ballet, Master and Margarita (2021) at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and Coppélia (2023) at Theater Basel. As a pianist, he regularly performs in a piano duo with Bojan Gorišek.

Milko Lazar has received numerous awards in Slovenia, including the Prešeren Award in 2005, a prestigious arts prize; the Župančič Art Award in 2010, presented by the City of Ljubljana for his orchestral and chamber music; and the Ksenija Hribar Award in 2021 for his work in the field of contemporary dance.