Boris Kovac is one of a handful of modern composers and performers from the region of Hungary, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia whose names reached Western Europe and America. Strongly influenced by folk music from that region (a fascination he shares with István Mártha and Ernö Király), minimalism, Bela Bartok, and the philosophy of Bela Hamvas (also influential on Hungarian composer Tibor Szemzö), Kovac's music takes multiple forms. His production can be split in three categories: the deeply spiritual cycles he writes for his ensemble Ritual Nova; more formal contemporary chamber mu...