Background
Lorenc Antoni (Serbian Cyrillic: Лоренц Антони) was born 23 September 1909 in Üsküp (now Skopje), in the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Republic of Macedonia).
composer conductor ethnomusicologist
Lorenc Antoni (Serbian Cyrillic: Лоренц Антони) was born 23 September 1909 in Üsküp (now Skopje), in the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Republic of Macedonia).
He studied music privately in Skopje and Belgrade.
Three years later, the region with which we would be associated for the rest of his life came to be first part of Kingdom of Serbia and later Yugoslavia. He was raised as a Catholic in the Albanian Catholic community of Skopje, and is the cousin of Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa). Since a child, he was active in various musical ensembles of the Albanians.
After completing his education at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, he relocated to Uroševac.
In 1941 Antoni began teaching music in Uroševac, Prizren, and Pristina. In 1948 Antoni established in Prizren one of the Josip Slavenski music schools of former Yugoslavia for beginners and intermediate music performers.
He led and conducted the choir of the school. He also conducted the artists of the cultural "Agimi" society and the Symphony Orchestra of the city of Prizren.
In the study of folklore, Antoni wrote a seven-volume work on Albanian folk music from Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and South Morava.
He also composed around 200 musical compositions, mainly vocal pieces. There is a music school named after Antoni in Prizren. The School of music “Lorenc Antoni” has six classes, 52 students, and 21 teachers.
Antoni died on 21 October 1991 in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia.