Mustafa Krantja
Mustafa Krantja (10 April 1921 – 4 January 2002) was an Albanian classical music conductor and composer. He has written about 20 major works. Krantja was awarded the People's Artist award in 1956 and the Dvorak Medal in 1975. Early life and career. After graduating from the Academy of Arts in Prague in 1950, Krantja returned to Albania and in 1951 founded the Symphony Orchestra at the National Theater of Opera and Ballet. The following decade, in 1964, he founded the Conservatory of Arts which later would become the Higher Institute of Arts, today known as the University  of Arts. He was one of the initiators in the establishment of the conducting branch in the institute. Krantja's repertoire is quite extensive, featuring more than thirty premieres of operas and ballets performed at home and abroad. The first opera he directed was "Rusalka" by Russian composer Dargomyzhsky, whose success encouraged him to dedicate himself to the beautiful and difficult path of art. The added success of the opera "The Bartered Bride" by the czech composer Smetana was also noteworthy, which he conducted with the symphony orchestras of Russia, Romania and the Czech Republic. Krantja conducted the first Albanian  operas "Mrika" (1959) and "Skënderbeu" (1968), as well as the first Albanian ballet "Halili and Hajria" (1963) and many other Albanian orchestral works.