Slovenian composer Avgust Ipavec, who lives and works in Vienna, has been awarded an Austrian state decoration, according to Henrik Neubauer, the head of the Slovenian Chamber Music Theatre.
Primarily an author of programme music, Ipavec is best known for his choir and oratory pieces and vocal-instrumental music. Born in Gorizia in 1940, Ipavec finished theology studies in Ljubljana in 1966, and was ordained priest in Log pri Vipavi the same year. In 1969 he enrolled at the Music Academy in Ljubljana, graduating in 1974. He has lived in Vienna since 1975, where he continued his education at the Vienna College of Music and Fine Arts. He is currently serving as priest in the Otto-Wagner Hospital. Ipavec is the author of numerous ballet suites, oratorios, ballades, cantatas, masses for choirs, soprano and orchestra, and Christmas pastorals. Ipavec received the Golden Order of Merit on 4 December at the office of the Austrian chancellor, Neubauer said on Tuesday.