Ladislav Burlas
Slovakian composer and musicologist Ladislav Burlas was born in Trnava on 3 April 1927. He studied conducting at Bratislava Conservatory, composition with Alexander Moyzes, first at Bratislava Conservatory and later at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, and musicology at Comenius University, also in Bratislava.
As a musicologist, he concentrated on Slovakian music history - particularly the twentieth century, but also wrote about older Slovak music history, music theory and the twentieth century founders of contemporary Slovak music, writing more than a-hundred-and-fifty books and articles.
He arranged folk songs, wrote music for documentaries and composed choral music, educational works and also music in other genres.
He was director of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (1964-74) and dean of the faculty of performing arts at the Banská Bystrica Academy of Arts (2001-2005).
Ladislav Burlas died in Bratislava on 11 February 2024, aged ninety-six.