Davorin Kempf
From Unearthing The Music
Davorin Kempf (b. 1947 in Virje, Croatia) is a Croatian composer.
Biography
Davorin Kempf graduated from the Academy of Music in Zagreb, with degrees in piano (1971, studying under Stjepan Radić), conducting (1972, studying under Igor Gjadrov) and composition (1973, studying under Stjepan Šulek). He continued his studies in composition at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart (1975-1976) and at the Musikhochschule Köln (1976-1977). He obtained his master degree from the University of Iowa School of Music in 1990, and his doctoral degree from the Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften in 2006, with the dissertation Symmetrie und Variation als kompositorische Prinzipien. Interdisziplinäre Aspekte (Symmetry and Variation as a Compositional Principles. Interdisciplinary Aspects).
Since 1995 he is a full-time professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, and since 1989 a lifetime member and Deputy Governor of the American Biographical Institute Research Association, Raleigh. From 1996 to 2004 he was artistic director of the Požega Organ Evenings.
His compositions have been performed at concerts and music festivals in Croatia (Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Osor, Opatija, Pula, Zadar, Rab, Hvar, Požega) and abroad (Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Bonn, Frankfurt, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Stratford, Lisbon, Iowa City, New York, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Baltimore, Tokyo, Graz, Ljubljana, Maribor, Lucerne, Brno, Bratislava, St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Belgrade, Turin, Cividale del Friuli, Ascoli Piceno, Dublin…), as well as in various radio and television broadcasts.
He has given lectures on music at the “Ruđer Bošković” Institute in Zagreb (1992, 2003), the Scientific Platform of Matrix Croatica in Zagreb (2003), the universities in Iowa City, Graz, Ljubljana and Maribor. He has also participated at several international conferences in San Francisco (1996), Dublin (2004) and Washington D.C. (2007).
Awards
Davorin Kempf received The Josip Slavenski Annual Award (1986), The Vladimir Nazor Annual Award (1986), as well as recognitions by the American Biographical Institute: Man of the Year 1990, International Award of Recognition (1991), Twenty-Five Years Achievement Award (1992).
Selected Discography
Cantus – Croatian Society of Composers
- Davorin Kempf, I Piano Music, II Chamber Music, Zagreb 2011; The Zvjezdice Girl´s Choir – 20 Years, Conductor Zdravko Šljivac
- D. Kempf: The Four Seasons (1996) for female choir, CD, Zagreb 2005; Ljerka Očić, organ, Croatian Organ Music, CD 2,
- D. Kempf: Fantasy (1991) for organ, Zagreb 2009, CD 4
- D. Kempf: Fresco (1990) for organ and large orchestra, Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, conductor Takao Ukigaya, Zagreb 2010.
Labor Records
- CD Music of Tribute, Vol. 7, Haydn, Javor Bračić, piano, D. Kempf: Sonatina (Hommage a J. Haydn) for piano (1970), New York, USA, 2011.
- Chamber Choir Ivan Filipović, Zagreb, conductor Goran Jerković, Premiere performances of Croatian contemporary choral music at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Musica Nova, KZIF, DVD-003, CD-003, D. Kempf: Holy (2011) for mixed choir, 2013.
Croatia Records:
- A double CD, U potrazi za novim zvukom: 1956-1984, antology of electroacoustic music by Croatian composers, CD B, D. Kempf: Interferences (1977) for organ and electronics, Zsigmond Szathmary, Organ of Zagreb Cathedral, 2016; Sebastian String Quartet, CD Quartetto, D. Kempf: Contrapunctus primus (1985) for string quartet, 2017.