A Walk Worthwhile

Marko Ivanović was born in 1976 in Prague. He studied at the Prague Conservatory and, subsequently at the Academy of Performing Arts, composition (Prof. V. Riedlbauch) and conducting (Prof. R. Eliška, J. Bělohlávek). In 1999 he took up an internship in Utrecht with Prof. Henk Alkema. As a composer of classical music he has regularly cooperated with leading Czech ensembles (Agon Orchestra, Ansambl Moens, Berg Chamber Orchestra), and his compositions have been played at a host of concerts both in the Czech Republic and abroad (New Music Marathon - Prague, Wien Modern - Vienna, Europe Young Classic - Berlin, etc.). A number of his compositions have been recorded by Czech, German and Austrian radio stations. His Madman’s Morning Suite (2003) was included in Susanna Niedermayr and Christian Scheib’s Austrian monograph ”European Meridians“ (Saarbrücken, 2004) a about contemporary music of Eastern and Southern Europe. The production of his graduation opera The Maiden and Death won the Prize of the Director of the OPERA 2003 Festival. He is the author of numerous scenic, radio and film music compositions. He has participated in the arrangement of popular songs for a number of orchestras and vocal ensembles. Within the Department of Composition at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts he leads a seminar on scenic and film music. As a conductor, he has collaborated with various Czech and foreign orchestras: the Prague Symphony FOK Orchestra, Prague Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, B. Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra Zlín, Filharmonia Sudecka (Poland), Toyama Academy Orchestra (Japan), etc. In 2003 he became the laureate of the G. Fitelberg International Competition of Young Composers in Katowice, Poland. He is a founder and chorusmaster of Prague’s Lesser Town Chamber Chorus and also a jury member of several international choral competitions. Marko Ivanović originally collaborated with Prague’s National Theatre on a freelance basis (P. Glass - La Belle et la Bête; M. Nyman - Man and Boy: DADA; B. Britten - Curlew River). In September 2006 he began working there as an assistant conductor.