- Born:
- December 15, 1975, Belgrade, Yugoslavia [now in Serbia] (age 50)
- Awards And Honors:
- Grawemeyer Award (2014)
- Notable Works:
- “On the Guarding of the Heart”
Djuro Zivkovic
-
Who is Djuro Zivkovic?
Djuro Zivkovic, born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), on December 15, 1975, is a Serbian musician and composer celebrated for his Grawemeyer Award-winning composition, On the Guarding of the Heart.
Zivkovic's appreciation for the arts was instilled early by his parents. He began violin lessons at age nine and composed his first piece at 14, drawing inspiration from folklore and Byzantine chant. He studied violin at music academies in Novi Sad and Belgrade before dedicating himself to composition in 1997. In 2000, he moved to Stockholm to study at the Royal College of Music and later became a teacher there in 2011. His compositions have been described as consisting of harmonic fields.
Zivkovic's notable works include Éclat de larme (2005), Le Cimetière marin (2009), and Ascetic Discourse (2012).
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What kind of music does Djuro Zivkovic compose?
Djuro Zivkovic is a Serbian musician and composer known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. His compositions often incorporate elements of folklore and Byzantine chant, reflecting his early inspirations. Zivkovic's work is characterized by the use of "harmonic fields," demonstrating his concern with harmonic organization, especially after 2002.
He employs various techniques such as microtonality, polyrhythm, improvisation, special harmony-based scales, multiphonics, and heterophony, the latter being a common texture in the Serbian guslar folk tradition. His notable works include On the Guarding of the Heart, Éclat de larme, and Le Cimetière marin.
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Where is Djuro Zivkovic from?
Đuro Živković was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now in Serbia), on December 15, 1975. He began violin lessons at age nine while attending music school in Zagreb, Croatia. Inspired by folklore and Byzantine chant, Živković made his first effort at composition at age 14. He attended music academies in Novi Sad, Serbia, and later in Belgrade, specializing in the violin. In 2000, he moved to Stockholm to study at the Royal College of Music and became a teacher there in 2011. In 2014, Živković became the first Serb to win the University of Louisville’s Grawemeyer Award for his classical composition On the Guarding of the Heart.
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What are some important works by Djuro Zivkovic?
Đuro Živković is a Serbian musician and composer known for his significant contributions to contemporary classical music. His notable works include Metaphysical Sonata for violin and piano (1998), which he regards as his first mature piece, and On the Guarding of the Heart (2011), which won the Grawemeyer Award in 2014.
Other award-winning compositions by Živković are Éclat de larme (2005), Le Cimetière marin (2009), Ascetic Discourse (2012), and Unceasing Prayers (2013). Additionally, he premiered The Mystical Sacrifice in 2017, commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam. His other works include Bogoluchie (2018), Syblings from Mantua (2018), and Citadel of Love (2020).
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Has Djuro Zivkovic won any awards or prizes for his music?
Đuro Živković, a Serbian musician and composer born in 1975, has received multiple awards for his compositions. In 2014, he won the Grawemeyer Award from the University of Louisville for his classical composition On the Guarding of the Heart (2011). Other award-winning compositions include Éclat de larme (2005), Le Cimetière marin (2009), Ascetic Discourse (2012), and Unceasing Prayers (2013).
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How does Djuro Zivkovic's background influence his musical style?
Djuro Zivkovic's musical style is influenced by his diverse background and interests. Growing up in Serbia, he was exposed to folklore and Byzantine chant, which sparked his initial interest in composition at age 14. His early training on the violin and studies at music academies in Novi Sad and Belgrade provided him with a strong foundation in classical music.
Later, his move to Stockholm to study at the Royal College of Music broadened his musical horizons. Zivkovic's compositions incorporate elements such as microtonality, polyrhythm, and heterophony, the latter being a technique common in Serbian guslar folk tradition. He also draws inspiration from J.S. Bach and the Philokalia, an anthology of Orthodox Christian texts.
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Djuro Zivkovic (born December 15, 1975, Belgrade, Yugoslavia [now in Serbia]) is a Serbian musician and composer whose Grawemeyer Award-winning composition, On the Guarding of the Heart, placed him in the ranks of distinguished 20th- and 21st-century composers.
Zivkovic’s parents, neither of whom had a particular interest in music, early instilled in him an appreciation for the arts. He began taking violin lessons at age 9 while attending music school in Zagreb, Croatia, and made his first effort at composition at age 14, inspired by folklore and Byzantine chant. He continued to specialize in the violin, attending the music academies in Novi Sad, Serbia, and later in Belgrade. He began dedicated composition studies in 1997 and composed what he considered his first mature work, Metaphysical Sonata for violin and piano, in 1998.
On the recommendation of a musician friend, Zivkovic moved to Stockholm in 2000 to attend the Royal College of Music, where he pursued advanced studies in violin and composition. He accepted a position as a teacher at the Royal College in 2011. In addition to teaching and composing, Zivkovic continued to perform new music on the violin and viola. His other award-winning compositions included Éclat de larme (2005), Le Cimetière marin (2009), Ascetic Discourse (2012), and Unceasing Prayers (2013). In 2017 Zivkovic premiered The Mystical Sacrifice, a commission for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam. He also wrote such pieces as Bogoluchie (2018), Syblings from Mantua (2018), and Citadel of Love (2020).
Among his major influences Zivkovic cited the works of J.S. Bach and a written work, the Philokalia, an anthology of Orthodox Christian texts written from the 4th through the 15th century and compiled by two Greek monks in the 18th century. Music scholars characterized Zivkovic’s work as consisting of “harmonic fields,” and the composer was much concerned with harmonic organization after 2002.
The elements in his compositional toolbox included microtonality (use of intervals that are smaller than whole tones or semitones); polyrhythm (the simultaneous combination of contrasting rhythms), a technique much employed by American composer Charles Ives; improvisation; special harmony-based scales; multiphonics, in which two or more pitches are sounded simultaneously on one instrument; and heterophony, texture resulting from simultaneous performances of melodic variants of the same tune. The last technique was common in the guslar folk tradition in Serbia.
In 2014 Zivkovic became the first Serb to win the University of Louisville’s Grawemeyer Award, a $100,000 prize granted annually (since 1984), for his classical composition On the Guarding of the Heart (2011). Intended for a 14-piece chamber orchestra (including piano), the piece was commissioned by an Austrian new-music group, Klangforum Wien. In winning the Grawemeyer, Zivkovic joined a number of significant 20th- and 21st-century composers including John Adams, Gyorgy Ligeti, Harrison Birtwistle, John Corigliano, Pierre Boulez, Joan Tower, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.