Çesk Zadeja

Çesk Zadeja was born in 1927 and had his first musical training in the Franciscan choral tradition of his city, singing under the composer Martin Gjoka; the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia took him in the early 1940s, and he completed composition at the Moscow Conservatory in 1956 with Mikhail Chulaki and Semyon Bogatyrev. His Symphony No. 1, written that year, is generally counted the first Albanian symphony. Back in Tirana he became the first artistic director of the State Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances, helped bring the country's conservatory into being, taught at what became the Academy of Arts and directed the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet. His works include ballets, a piano concerto, chamber and vocal music and film scores. He also trained composers at the Academy of Arts. He died in 1997; the state honour Nderi i Kombit was conferred on him posthumously in 2020. His death came in Rome on 15 August 1997, and in Albania he is spoken of as the father of the country's music.