Isidora Žebeljan

Isidora Žebeljan (Serbian pronunciation: [isidɔ̝̌ːra ʒɛ̝bɛ̝̌ʎaːn]; born 1967) is a Serbian composer, pianist and conductor.

Biography

Žebeljan was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and drew international attention with her opera Zora D. which was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation from London. It was premièred in Amsterdam in 2003, directed by David Pountney and Nicola Raab. The same production opened the 50th season of the Vienna Chamber Opera in the same year.

After the success of the opera Zora D., which had 22 performances in five European countries in just four years, Zebeljan composed The Song of a Traveller in the Night, for clarinet and string quartet as a commission of the Genesis Foundation for the opening of Bill Viola's exhibition The Passions at the National Gallery in London in 2003 (performed by the members of The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields). From the Venice Biennale she received a commission in 2004 and wrote The Horses of Saint Mark, an illumination for orchestra, premièred in Venice in the same year. The Genesis Foundation also commissioned her to write the chamber orchestra composition The Minstrel's Dance, which Zebeljan composed for The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and this music was premiered at the Wigmore Hall in London in 2005, and it was conducted by the composer herself. As a commission of the London Brass she wrote The Ghost from the Pumpkin, which was premièred in London in 2006. Than followed the commissions from the Bregenz Festival, for the opera The Marathon, which was performed during this festival in 2008, as well in Vienna and Belgrade, and the one from The International Horn Players Society, for composition for horn and string orchestra, Dance of Wooden Sticks. Commissioned by Dutch Chamber Choir, Isidora Zebeljan wrote in 2008 the composition Latum lalo, for 12 singers. As a commission from University of Kent she wrote Polomka quartet for Brodsky Quartet, which was premiered at Gulbenkian Theatre of University of Kent, Canterbury in 2009. The most recent commission for 2009 was the one from Musiktheater im Revier (Gelsenkirchen, Germany) for a new opera, titled as Simon, the Chosen. The world première of this opera was in June 2009. The artistic committee of ISCM World New Music Days selected her composition The Horses of Saint Mark in the official programme for 2009. Her composition Il Circo was the obligatory piece for the international piano competition Jeunesses Musicales in Belgrade in 2009. John Manger, Managing Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra at that time, said that Isidora Zebeljan has “a genuinely original voice and truly impressive talent. The musicians of the Academy who have worked with her cannot praise her highly enough. Her professionalism and craft are amazing, and her original talent is of the first order”.

Her compositions were performed in the United Kingdom, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Serbia and the United States as well as at many music festivals. The exclusive publisher of her music is Ricordi - Universal.

Zebeljan studied composition at the Belgrade Music Academy with Vlastimir Trajković (a student of Olivier Messiaen) and since 2002 she has held the position of Professor of Composition at the Belgrade Music Academy. She has been highly acclaimed for her music and has won several significant national awards, among them the Stevan Mokranjac National Music Award in 2004. In 2006, she was elected a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Isidora Zebeljan was granted by the Civitella Ranieri Foundation fellowship for 2005. Isidora Zebeljan is also one of the most outstanding Serbian contemporary authors of music for theatre and film. So far, she has composed the music for around 40 theatre productions in all the prominent theatres in Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro. To acknowledge her artistic achievements, Ms Zebeljan has been honored three times with the Sterija Award, the most prestigious Serbian annual prize for theatre. The Yustat Biennale of Theatre Design also awarded her four times as best composer of theatre music. She has worked on several film scores, including the orchestration of Goran Bregović's music from The Time of the Gypsies, Arizona Dream, Underground (all directed by Emir Kusturica), Queen Margot (directed by Patrice Chéreau) and The Serpent’s Kiss (directed by P. Rousselot).

Reception

Describing Žebeljan's music, David Pountney wrote:

"When I was trawling through the entries for the Genesis Opera Prizes 1, amidst an absolute welter of indistinguishable representatives of what one might call 'academic modernism', Isidora Zebeljan's music struck me immediately as something original, fresh, and above all emotionally expressive - a rare commodity, but an essential one for interesting theatrical story telling." (From the booklet for the opening of the 50th season of the Vienna Chamber Opera.)

Works

Theatre music (incidental music)

Film music scores

Orchestration for musical scores composed by Goran Bregović:

Discography

References

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