GOBEC (Dimitrij Radovan) Mitja

GOBEC (Dimitrij Radovan) Mitja (26 May 1938, Celje – 26 July 2026, Ptuj), music pedagogue, music editor, and choir conductor.

Mitja Gobec was born in Celje to composer and conductor Radovan Gobec and Sonja (née Elschbacher), a family connected with the ownership of the Laško Brewery. During World War II, the family lived in Jurklošter. Due to his father’s involvement in the National Liberation Struggle (NOB), Mitja and his mother moved in 1944 to occupied Ljubljana. After the war, he lived and worked in Ljubljana, and from 1997 onward he lived in Ptuj, where he started a new family.In his prolific career, he worked as a radio sound engineer, music specialist, editor of musical publications, editor of choral sheet music collections, and choir conductor.

After completing secondary technical school (electrotechnics), he began studying music at the Secondary Music School in Ljubljana. He graduated from the Pedagogical Academy in Ljubljana in the field of music pedagogy with choral conducting. In 1957 he became actively involved in choir conducting. He led the mixed choirs J. Štefan, Metalka, Kolinska, and Tine Rožanc (all from Ljubljana), the Men’s Choir Lipa and the Valvasor Octet from Litija, and later the ŽoPZ DPD Svoboda Ptuj and the MePZ DU I. Rudolf na Bregu/Ptuj. He also mentored numerous choir conductors and choirs. As a conductor, he excelled in performances of choral novelties, stylistically cohesive concert programmes, and with his warm, human approach to his singers.

He edited choral editions, first professionally and later as a freelance collaborator with various publishers. He edited more than 160 choral sheet music publications. He also served as a professional adjudicator at regional choir reviews across Slovenia.

He was employed at the Union of Cultural Societies of Slovenia and the Public Fund of the Republic of Slovenia for Cultural Activities. He was a member of the leadership of the national competition Naša pesem and the International Choir Competition Maribor 2000.

For his work he received several awards: the Gallus Charter (recognition from the Union of Cultural Organisations of Slovenia), the Oil Lamp (recognition from the Municipality of Ptuj for culture), the Golden Medal of the Union of Cultural Societies of Slovenia with recognition and the Golden Plaque of the JSKD (2026).

Less significant is his poetic and compositional output, which does not exceed ten works and was mostly created out of the needs of the choirs he conducted and for the youth choir of Ljudski vrt Primary School (School Hymn and Pesmica za špas).

His journalistic activity is exceptionally extensive, encompassing articles and discussions on choral conducting, reports, reviews of songbooks, and discography. He published in the magazines and newspapers Naši zbori, Grlica, Glasbena mladina, Glasba v šoli, Glasna, Delo, Večer, Tednik, and Štajerski tednik. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his conducting career (2007), he self-published a CD with recordings of the choirs he had led.

He devoted a great deal of time to compiling catalogues of choral compositions in Slovenian periodicals and lists of poets and their works that have been set to music. He also owned the largest private choral sheet music library in Slovenia. He provided professional assistance and sheet music to Slovenian choir conductors. A particular specialty of his was ensuring the correct and legally regulated performance of the Slovenian national anthem.

At the ASTRUM Music Publications, he released two original compositions: “TV reklame” (text: Mitja Gobec, 2005 / music: Tadeja Vulc, 2021) and “Pesmica za špas” (text and melody: Mitja Gobec / piano accompaniment: Jakob Jež), as well as two composers’ catalogues: Radovan Gobec (1909–1995): Catalogue of Musical Works (2009) and Jakob Jež: Catalogue of Musical Works – on the Composer’s 90th Birthday (2018).