Established in 1945, the Society of Slovenian Composers (DSS) is a voluntary professional association of composers and musicologists. Currently consisting of 114 members, the Society seeks to foster the creation of new Slovenian music, and promotes Slovenian composers. It thus channels its activities into publishing scores and music recordings, organising concerts of contemporary Slovenian music and cooperating with some of the most prominent European record companies.
Edicije DSS (DSS Editions), the Society’s publishing section, is the only Slovenian record label systematically focusing on releasing Slovenian music works and making them publicly accessible as audio recordings. At least five CD releases featuring original music are released annually in the Ars Slovenica series. All publications are listed in the Katalog glasbenih del Edicij DSS (Catalogue of DSS Editions Music Works), which is available in printed and electronic form. The Society has been publishing works by its members since 1954. Since 1971, it has provided legal protection on the composers’ behalf and represented the interests of members whose works receive public performance. In this regard, a prominent DSS Editions publication is worth mentioning: the musical score of, and a piano extract from, an expressionist opera by composer Marij Kogoj, Črne maske (Black Masks), revised by Uroš Lajovic, which allowed for the opera’s landmark premier rendition marking the opening of the European Capital of Culture (EPK).
Before the Society of Slovenian Composers came into existence, performances and publications of works by Slovenian composers were the domain of cultural institutions and music magazines, including the Glasbena matica Music Society (1872–1945), Novi akordi (New Chords, 1901–14), Pevec (The Singer, 1921–38), Zbori (The Choirs, 1925–34) and Nova muzika (New Music, 1928). At the beginning of the nineteen-thirties, several composers, including Slavko Osterc, joined the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) and started working systematically on promoting and legally protecting Slovenian composers. The establishment of the Society of Slovenian Composers opened up new opportunities for Slovenian composers. The Society began by organising public performances of new works, widening its field of activity in 1954 by incorporating the Edicije DSS record label and establishing contacts with other European publishing houses.
Since 1991, DSS has existed as an independent society, also incorporating Slovenian composers based abroad. Under its wing, individual sections focus on different music genres, ranging from the Section for Religious Music (1999), the Young Composers’ Club (2000), the Section for Jazz and Popular Music (2001), the Section for Choral Music (2001), the Section for Music in Education (2002) and the Section for Electro-acoustic Music (2002).
DSS is dedicated to promoting concert performances through the DSS Concert Atelier, the Night of Slovenian Composers, and Festival Unicum, a biennial festival of contemporary classical music organised by the Slovenian section of the International Society of Contemporary Music ISCM.
The Society’s prime mission is to foster the creation of new Slovenian works, seeking to maintain quality and affirm the reputation of Slovenian music at home and abroad. Each year, subsidised by the national Ministry of Culture, DSS commissions several new works from its members.
Since 1994, the Society has bestowed the annual Kozina Award, recognising outstanding achievements in composition or a complete music opus.
