Milko Kelemen (30 March 1924 – 8 March 2018) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n composer.

Life

Milko Kelemen was born in Slatina,

(then

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

). He studied under Stjepan Šulek in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, under

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Wolfgang Fortner Wolfgang Fortner (12 October 1907 – 5 September 1987) was a German composer, academic composition teacher and conductor. Life and career Fortner was born in Leipzig. From his parents, who were both singers, Fortner very early on had intense ...

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

amongst others. Kelemen founded the

Music Biennale Zagreb Music Biennale Zagreb (, MBZ) is an international festival of contemporary classical music, contemporary music in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian Composers' Society. The wikt:biennale, Biennale, founded by Milko Kelemen and held every s ...

, an international

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 ...

festival and served as its

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

from 1961 to 1979. He also worked at the Electronic

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

Studio in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and was invited to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

in Residence. Kelemen was a recipient of many

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

, most notably the

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

, the prize of the

ISCM The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the ...

, the Great Yugoslav State Prize, and the French order

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

. Kelemen taught composition at many prestigious schools and universities, including Zagreb University, Academy of Music, Croatia (1955-58), The Robert Schumann Institute in Düsseldorf, Germany (1970-72), Stuttgart Academy of Music, Germany (1973-89), Yale University, USA (1975-77), and Montreal University, Canada (1977-78). Since 1973, he lived in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where he died. His works are published by

Hans Sikorski Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski is an international music publishing company in Berlin, formerly headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. As of June 2019, Sikorski is a part of Concord. The music publishing firm of Hans Sikorski was founded in ...

Music Publishers.

Selected works

*''Koncertantne improvizacije'' for strings (1955) *''Three Dances'' for viola and string orchestra (1958) *''Études contrapuntiques'' for Wind Quintet (1959) *''Composé'' for two pianos and orchestral groups (1967) *''Der Belagerungszustant'', opera, after Camus (1969-70) *''Splintery'' for String Quartet (1977) *''Apocalyptica - opéra bestial'', multimedia ballet-opera, after Arrabal (1979) *''Phantasmen'' for viola and orchestra (1985) *''Requiem for Sarajevo'' for six cellos, narrator, and bass drum (1994) *''Archetypon II – Für Anton'' for large orchestra (1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelemen, Milko 1924 births 2018 deaths Academy of Music, University of Zagreb alumni Croatian composers Croatian expatriates in Germany Vladimir Nazor Award winners Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen People from Slatina, Croatia