Based in Ljubljana, conductor Steven Loy has earned a reputation for exacting and engaging performances. A committed advocate for new music, he is the founder and artistic director of the Ljubljana-based ensemble Neofonía, with whom he has given first performances in Slovenia of many important works from the late 20th and early 21st centuries, most notably on the Predihano new music series presented by Cankarjev dom from 2010-2018. He works regularly with the Slovenian Philharmonic and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra in both contemporary and more traditional orchestral repertoire, as well as with smaller groups such as the Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra, the Slovenian Percussion Project SToP, ensemble MD7 (with whom he has given over 70 world premieres) and Slowind. With the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra he initiated and conducted the first concert of the Discovery26 concert series presenting contemporary orchestral music at Radio Slovenia in 2018.
He has appeared as a guest conductor with many new music ensembles including Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Experimental of the SWR Experimental Studio Freiburg, the New Music Orchestra in Katowice and the ensemble Neuverband in Basel. He has also guest conducted symphony orchestras in Romania and Hungary. After a number of well-received concerts with the Slovenian Philharmonic String Chamber Orchestra, including at the Zagreb Biennale in 2019, he became their artistic director in 2020.
A dedicated educator, he is co-coordinator of the New Music Studio at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, where he conducts the new music ensemble and teaches contemporary music performance practice in addition to a course on advanced rhythm techniques and coaching chamber music. He holds degrees both in conducting (École Normale du Musique de Paris, Georgia State University) and composition (University of the Arts Philadelphia, Academy of Music Ljubljana) and has actively participated in masterclasses with many well-known conductors including Péter Eötvös, Helmuth Rilling, Jorma Panula, Lothar Zagrosek (Accademia Chigiana Siena), Jean-Marc Burfin, Zoltán Peskó and Yuri Simonov.
