EBERST Anton (Vršac, 27 April 1920 – Novi Sad, 19 February 2005) was a clarinetist, pedagogue, music writer and organizer of musical events in Novi Sad. In 1938 he completed Military Music School in Vršac. Until the Second World War he was engaged as a cello player in the Symphony Orchestra, and as a clarinet player in the Representative Wind Orchestra of the Royal Guard in Belgrade. From 1941 to 1945 he served also as the conductor of a reception orchestra.
He was one of the pioneering members of the Vojvodina National Theatre Orchestra (1946), as well as of the Opera Orchestra of the Serbian National Theatre. He remained engaged in the Serbian National Theatre until 1960, alternating between a full-time and a part-time position. During this time he was also active not only as a member of the Novi Sad Philharmonic Orchestra, but also as its Secretary, Vice President and, eventually, President. His engagements as an orchestral musician include performances with the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, and the Radio Novi Sad Orchestra.
He founded the wind department (1946) at Isidor Bajić School of Music, where he taught and served as the Department Chair for the following 25 years. During this same period, he also graduated from the Teaching Department of the Isidor Bajic School of Music (1948) before pursuing his education under the tutelage of Professor Bruno at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade Brun, from which he graduated in 1953, passing the Teaching Exam in 1954.
In 1958 he was offered and accepted the role of Principle Music Programme Editor at Radio Novi Sad. He also became a Director of Artistic Production at the same radio station, and remained at these positions until his retirement in 1983. In addition, he served as a selector for the Festival of Music Artists of Yugoslavia, Music Days in Budva and Saint Stefan, and the Music Days Festival in Herceg Novi. He was the Director of Novi Sad Music Festivities NOMUS and managed the International Danubian Folk Music Festival. He was a lecturer at the Seminar of Music Pedagogues of Serbia.
He was the founder of the Novi Sad Chamber Ensemble (1953), the Radio Novi Sad Dance Orchestra (1959), the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra (1969), the Yugoslav Festival of Popular Music Kantautori (1970), the International Danubian Folk Music Festival Oj Dunave, Dunave plavi (1970), the Chamber Choir of Novi sad (1971), and NOMUS (1975). He initiated and organized the recording of the LP series Gallery of Music Artists in Voyvodina (classical music) and Voyvodina in Songs and Dances (Serbian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian, and Ruthenian songs and dances), the LP album Remembering the first music shows, at the occassion of the 30th annniversary of Radio Novi Sad, and other representative recordings. For many years, he was President of the Novi Sad Union of Music Teachers, the Voyvodina Union of Music Artists, the Association of Music Artists of Yugoslavia, and was twice elected to perform the duties of President for the Yugoslav Union of Music Associations Coordination Board.
28 books and textbooks had been published under his name, and he also wrote a significant number of articles and papers on music history subjects. He is the author of Voyvodina Music Review (1971), Vršac Music Review (1975), and Novi Sad Music Review (1994). His textbooks were written primarily for clarinet and other wind instruments. The textbooks Wind Instruments’ Lessons (1964) and Elementary School for Clarinet (1976) were published in Germany, while Clarinet and Clarinetists (1963) was published in Poland. He was the recepient of prestigious prizes and awards such as the Vukova Prize (1974), the Voyvodina Liberation Prize (1978), the Cultural Spark Award (1973), the Novi Sad October Award (1970 and 2002), and the Special Recognition Award of the city of Vršac (2004). He was also honored by the Second Degree Vuk Karadžić Medal (2004).