Viktor Kalabis was one of the most celebrated personalities in Czech music of the second half of the 20th century. He graduated from Gymnasium of Jindrichuv Hradec in 1942. He started his studies in composition at the Prague Conservatory with Emil Hlobil (1945-1948), and then continued at the Academy of Arts and Music with Jaroslav Ridky (1948-1952). He also studied musicology and psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at Charles University (graduating in 1952 and achieving the title of PhD, which was awarded to him after the fall of the communist government in 1991). In the period of 1953 to 1972 Kalabis worked as Music Director and Editor at the Czechoslovak Radio in Prague, and since 1972 had devoted himself solely to composition.

His work is distinctive due to a strong sense of inner logic, musical order, artistic proportion, management of expressive means and mastery of instrumentation. A unique sonic world arises from the strong creative resources found in his compositions. The persuasiveness of his music, his diverse background and wide range of musical experience, including conducting, all contribute to a rich catalogue of works communicating on both artististic and personal levels. Many of his compositions have been commissioned - the Concerto for Orchestra (Czech Philharmonic), his 4th symphony (Staatskapelle Dresden), "Canticum Canticorum" (Gächinger Kantorei) and 2nd Violin Concerto (Josef Suk). The "Piano Concerto No. 1" and "Harpsichord Concerto" he composed for his wife Zuzana Ruzickova and "Five Romantic Songs of Love" for Terezie Csajbokova and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra. A series of compositions were created for international competitions, includíng Prague Spring ("Tempting" for flute, "Rondo Drammatico" for cello), Carl Czerny International Competition ("Allegro Impetuoso"), Brno International Festival ("Invocations for French horn"). Kalabis's works have been performed worldwide by notable orchestras and prominent conductors such as Lovro von Matacic, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Jiri Kout, Zdenek Macal, Karel Ancerl, Vaclav Neumann, Manuel Rosenthal, Jaroslav Vogel, Herbert Blomstedt and many others.

Kalabis was also renowned for his organizational activities in the field of music, he was the co-founder of the international music competition "Concertino Praga", president of the Bohuslav Martinu Foundation from 1990 to 2003, and the initiator of the B. Martinu Institute. Many of his works were honored with awards and prizes - in 1969 he received the State Prize and the Prize of the Czechoslovak Music Critics for his composition "Concerto for Large Orchestra", and the music video "Alice in Wonderland", produced by Czech TV, was awarded the Parents' Choice Award in the USA.