Miljenko Prohaska (17 September 1925 – 29 May 2014) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n composer,

music arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...

and

orchestra conductor Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties ...

. He was mainly known for founding a number of prominent Croatian orchestras and for his longtime service as the conductor of the Radio Zagreb Dance Orchestra (the present-day

Croatian Radiotelevision ''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into t ...

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

Orchestra).

Biography

Prohaska was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

and he first began learning the violin at a children's music school in Zagreb. He went on to enroll at a secondary music school where he was educated as a

contrabass Contrabass (from it, contrabbasso) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchest ...

player and graduated in 1951, before continuing his studies at the

Zagreb Music Academy The Academy of Music ( hr, Muzička akademija or MUZA) is a Croatian music school based in Zagreb. It is one of the three art academies affiliated with the University of Zagreb, along with the Academy of Dramatic Art and the Academy of Fine Arts. ...

and graduating in 1956 from the music teaching department. Since the mid-1950s until the late 1980s Prohaska was a contrabass player with the

Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Croatian: ''Zagrebačka filharmonija'') is an orchestra based in Zagreb, Croatia. It was officially founded on the 30 November 1919. History The origins of the orchestra can be found in the opera ensemble of Z ...

, the Radio Zagreb Symphony Orchestra, the Yugoslav Radio Orchestra, the Zagreb Jazz Quartet and many other

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists ...

s. He was also the director of the Zagreb Festival of Popular Music ( Zagrebfest) from 1967 to 1969. In 1989 he retired from playing and became the

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

of Radio Zagreb's Dance Orchestra. Between 1996 and 1998 he was conductor of the

Croatian Army The Croatian Army ( hr, Hrvatska kopnena vojska or HKoV) is the largest and most significant component of the Croatian Armed Forces (CAF). Role and deployment The fundamental role and purpose of the Croatian Army is to protect vital national ...

Big Band. He also conducted orchestras at five Eurovision Song Contests (twice in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, twice in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

ad once in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

), and often performed around the world, including one of his more notable appearances at the 10th

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

in 1967, when he conducted the

Don Ellis Orchestra Donald Johnson Ellis (July 25, 1934 – December 17, 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of time signatures. Later in his lif ...

rendition of his compositions. In 1966

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

included him in ''The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties'', and

Willis Conover Willis Clark Conover, Jr. (December 18, 1920 – May 17, 1996) was a jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and televisi ...

(the notable jazz broadcaster on the ''

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

'') dedicated two of his regular programs to Prohaska and his music.

Works

As a composer he is mainly known for his jazz music, but he also made a number of compositions for symphony orchestras, as well as music arrangements for popular Croatian singers such as

Josipa Lisac Josipa Lisac (; born 14 February 1950) is a Croatian pop rock singer. Biography During the 1960s, Lisac was the vocalist of the group Zlatni Akordi. Her first solo album, ''Dnevnik jedne ljubavi'' (''The Diary of a Love''), recorded in 1973, was ...

Gabi Novak Gabrijela "Gabi" Novak (; born 8 July 1936) is a Croatian pop and jazz singer. A wife of the prominent Croatian singer-songwriter Arsen Dedić, whom she married in 1973, Novak became popular in the 1960s. Biography Born in Berlin into a fami ...

and

Arsen Dedić Arsenije "Arsen" Dedić ( sr-Cyrl, Арсеније "Арсен" Дедић, ; 28 July 1938 – 17 August 2015) was a Croatian singer-songwriter. He wrote and performed chansons, as well as film music. He was also an award-winning poet, and was ...

. Some of his compositions premiered at the Carnegie Hall in

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and in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

and were performed by the

Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. For most of its history the Quartet consisted of John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy H ...

, the

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its primary concert venue is Music Hall. In addition to its symphony concerts, the orchestra gives pops concerts as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. The Cinc ...

and the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra. He also worked as a

score composer A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for a number of television and theatre plays, animated and films, ballets and choirs, and scored fifteen Croatian

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s. More recently, he has occasionally worked with the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, the

Zagreb Soloists The Zagreb Soloists ( hr, Zagrebački solisti) is a chamber orchestra founded in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1953 through the auspices of Zagreb Radiotelevision, under the artistic leadership of the Italian cellist and conductor, Antonio Janigro Anton ...

, the Croatian Radiotelevision's Symphony Orchestra and their Big Band, and many others. Prohaska was a longtime member of the

Croatian Composers' Society Croatian Composers' Society ( hr, Hrvatsko društvo skladatelja, HDS) is a professional organization of composers in Croatia. The society has more than 300 full and over 9000 associate members. The full membership is available to composers, musi ...

and had served as its president twice (1967–1968 and 1988–1990). Prohaska won numerous awards for his work, including the

Golden Arena for Best Film Music List of winners The following is a list of winners of the Golden Arena for Best Film Music at the Pula Film Festival Pula Film Festival ( hr, Pulski filmski festival) is an annual Croatian film festival, established in 1954. It is held in a Rom ...

(1968), the

Vladimir Nazor Award The Vladimir Nazor Award ( hr, Nagrada Vladimir Nazor) is a Croatian prize for arts and culture established in 1959 and awarded every year by the Ministry of Culture. Named after the writer Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), the prize is awarded to Cr ...

for Life Achievement (1988) and the

Porin Award Porin is a Croatian music award founded by Croatian Phonographic Association, Croatian Musicians Union, Croatian Radiotelevision and Croatian Composers' Society. Special awards Lifetime Achievement Award The following individuals have received Li ...

for Life Achievement (1995).

References

External links

*
Miljenko Prohaska biography
at the Croatian Musicians Union website

at Diskografija.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Prohaska, Miljenko 1925 births 2014 deaths Musicians from Zagreb Academy of Music, University of Zagreb alumni Croatian composers Croatian conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Golden Arena winners Vladimir Nazor Award winners Croatian film score composers Male film score composers Eurovision Song Contest conductors