Johannes Kalitzke (born 12 February 1959) is a German composer and conductor. After studying in Cologne and at the

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

in Paris, he was chief conductor at the

Musiktheater im Revier Musiktheater im Revier (MiR) (Music Theatre in the Ruhr) is the venue for performing opera, operetta, musical theatre and ballet in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. It opened on 15 December 1959; it is listed since 1997 as a protected cultural monument. T ...

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

for several years, then led the ensemble musikFabrik and composed operas on commissions in Germany and Austria. He has been Professor of Conducting (

Contemporary Music Contemporary music is whatever music is produced at the current time. Specifically, it could refer to: Genres or audiences * Adult contemporary music * British contemporary R&B * Christian adult contemporary * Christian contemporary hit radio * Con ...

) at the Salzburg

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg ( German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteu ...

from 2015.

Early life

Born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Kalitzke trained on the piano from 1967 to 1977 with Jeanette Chéro and studied church music in Cologne from 1974 to 1976. He studied further at the Musikhochschule Köln from 1978 to 1981, studying piano with Aloys Kontarsky, conducting with Wolfgang von der Nahmer, and composition with York Höller, and later electronic music with Ulrich Humpert. He focused on electronic music at the

in Paris with Vinko Globokar in 1982–83, on a scholarship of the

Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes The German Academic Scholarship Foundation (German: , or ''Studienstiftung'' for short) is Germany's largest and most prestigious scholarship foundation. According to its statutes, it supports "the university education of young people who, on ac ...

Career

From 1984 to 1990, Kalitze was first

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

and then chief conductor at the

. From 1986, he was also the leader of the Forum für Neue Musik there, succeeding Carla Henius. From 1991, he was artistic director of the ensemble musikFabrik. Since 1996, he has taught at the

Darmstädter Ferienkurse Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...

and held master classes at several universities of music, and for Deutscher Musikrat. His first opera, ''Bericht über den Tod des Musikers Jack Tiergarten'', premiered at the

Munich Biennale The Munich Biennale () is a contemporary opera and music theatre festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is ''Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater'', literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial f ...

in 1996. On a commission from the state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, he composed his second opera, ''Molière oder die Henker der Komödianten'', which premiered in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

in 1998, as did his opera ''Inferno'' in 2004. In 2007, Kalitzke received a commission from

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...

to compose ''Die Besessenen'' after

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalism, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937, ...

, which premiered on 19 February 2010. His fifth opera, ''Pym'', based on

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

's novel ''

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'', written and published in 1838, is the only complete novel by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The novel is set between 1827 and 1828 and relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, wh ...

'', premiered in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

in May 2016. The story is told by nine male singers and by dancers, while a quartet with also female voices performs from behind the scene. ''Online Musik Magazin'' wrote that Kalitzke's score "could be a musical representation of the world of

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (; ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter from Duchy of Brabant, Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, gene ...

." Kalitzke has been a professor of conducting contemporary music at the

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

from 2015.

Awards

* 1990 of Cologne * 2003 Villa Massimo Fellowship * 2009 Member of the Academy of the Arts, Berlin * 2015 Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts

Compositions

Kalitzke's works are held by the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

: * ''Spiegelbild'' (1979) * ''De Profundis'' (1980/86) * ''Macchina d’autunno'' (1982) * ''Berceuse intégrale pour Hieronymus Bosch'' (1982/83) * ''Trio Infernal'' (1985) * ''Rotationsetüde'' (1985/86) * ''Die Hundertjahrfeier der Nacht'' (1986) * ''Jardins Paradoxaux'' (1986) * ''Das Labyrinth der Lieder'' (1987) * ''Tübingen, Jänner'' (1988) * ''Nachtschleife'' (1989) * ''Bis zum äußersten Tor'', Kafka-Komplex for solo voices, viola, piano and ''Zuspiel'' (1989–2006) * ''Salto, Trapez, Ikarus'' (1990) * ''Bericht über den Tod des Musikers Jack Tiergarten'' (1991) * ''Hände im Spiegel'' (1992/93) * ''Die Rückseite der Tage'' (1994) * ''Moliere oder die Henker der Komödianten'' (1994–97) * ''Chasse Royale'' (1995) * ''Circus Frenzy'' (1995) * ''Cruxification I'' (1997) * ''Schuberts Traum – Stilleben mit Inferno nach einem Tagebuchtext von Franz Schubert, für Stimmen und Ensemble'' (Schubert's Dream – Still life with inferno after a diary text by Franz Schubert, for voices and ensemble, 1999) * ''Six Covered Settings'' (1999/2000) * ''Vier Toteninseln'' (2002/03) * ''memoria'' (2003) * ''Inferno'', musical stage work after the play by Peter Weiss (2004) * ''Ortswechsel'' (2007) * ''Die Besessenen'', opera (2009, premiered in 2010) * ''Figuren am Horizont'', for violin solo and six instrumentalists * ''Die Weber'', music to the silent film by Friedrich Zelnik (1927) for chamber orchestra (2011/12) * ''Angels Burnout Graffiti'' for ensemble (2012) * ''Pym'' (2013/2015), opera (premiered in 2016)

References

External links

*
Werke von Johannes Kalitzke
Edition Gravis

The Living Composers Project *
Johannes Kalitzke / Born 12 February 1959

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalitzke, Johannes 20th-century German classical composers 21st-century German classical composers Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni Academic staff of Mozarteum University Salzburg Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Musicians from Cologne 1959 births Living people