- Miljenko Prohaska
-
Miljenko Prohaska Born 17 September 1925
Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia
(present-day Croatia)Occupations Composer, music arranger, orchestra conductor Years active 1950s–present Miljenko Prohaska (born 17 September 1925 in Zagreb) is a notable Croatian composer, music arranger and orchestra conductor.
His is mainly known for founding a number of prominent Croatian orchestras and for his longtime service as the conductor of the Radio Zagreb Dance Orchestra (present-day Croatian Radiotelevision Big Band Orchestra).[1]
Prohaska first began learning the violin at a children's music school in Zagreb. He went on to enrol at a secondary music school where he was educated as a contrabass player and graduated in 1951, before continuing his studies at the Zagreb Music Academy and graduating in 1956 from the music teaching department. Since the mid-1950s until the late 1980s Prohaska was a contrabass player with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Zagreb Symphony Orchestra, the Yugoslav Radio Orchestra, the Zagreb Jazz Quartet and many other musical ensembles.[1] He was also the director of the Zagreb Festival of Popular Music (Zagrebfest) from 1967 to 1969.
In 1989 he retired from playing and became the conductor of Radio Zagreb's Dance Orchestra. Between 1996 and 1998 he was conductor of the Croatian Army Big Band. Prohaska also conducted orchestras at five Eurovision Song Contests (twice in London, twice in Dublin ad once in Madrid),[1] and often performed around the world, including one of his more notable appearances at the 10th Monterey Jazz Festival in 1967, when he conducted the Don Ellis Orchestra rendition of his compositions.[1] In 1966 Leonard Feather included him in The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties, and Willis Conover (the notable jazz broadcaster on the Voice of America) dedicated two of his regular programs to Prohaska and his music.[1]
As a composer he is mainly known for his jazz music, but he also made a number of compositions for symphony orchestras, as well as music arrangements for popular Croatian singers such as Josipa Lisac, Gabi Novak and Arsen Dedić.[2] Some of his compositions premiered at the Carnegie Hall in New York City and in Paris and were performed by the Modern Jazz Quartet, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra.[1] He also worked as a score composer for a number of television and theatre plays, animated and films, ballets and choirs, and scored fifteen Croatian feature films. More recently, Prohaska occasionally works with the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, the Zagreb Soloists, the Croatian Radiotelevision's Symphony Orchestra and their Big Band, and many others.
He is a longtime member of the Croatian Composers' Society and had served as its president twice (1967–1968 and 1988–1990).[1] Prohaska won numerous awards for his work, including the Golden Arena for Best Film Music (1968),[3] the Vladimir Nazor Award for Life Achievement (1988) and the Porin Award for Life Achievement (1995).[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Miljenko Prohaska" (in Croatian). Croatian Musicians Union. http://nagrada-status.hgu.hr/index.php?opt=news&act=mlist&id=8&lang=HR. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
- ^ "Miljenko Prohaska diskografija" (in Croatian). Diskografija.com. http://www.diskografija.com/umjetnik/miljenko-prohaska.htm. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
- ^ "15. Festival igranog filma u Puli" (in Croatian). Pula Film Festival. http://www.pulafilmfestival.hr/hr/index.php?p=detail&article=232. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
External links
- Miljenko Prohaska at the Internet Movie Database
- Miljenko Prohaska biography at the Croatian Musicians Union website (Croatian)
- Miljenko Prohaska discography at Diskografija.com (Croatian)
Porin Lifetime Achievement Award Nikša Bareza (2008) · Drago Britvić (2006) · Emil Cossetto (2004) · Croatia Records (2007) · Arsen Dedić (1999) · Dubravko Detoni (2007) · Mato Došen (2010) · Dino Dvornik (2009) · Pero Gotovac (2000) · Milan Horvat (2005) · Đelo Jusić (2007) · Alfi Kabiljo (2004) · Nikica Kalogjera (2001) · Stipica Kalogjera (2010) · Milko Kelemen (1998) · Tereza Kesovija (2009) · Anđelko Klobučar (2002) · Vladimir Krpan (2001) · Ljubo Kuntarić (2009) · Kvartet 4M (1995) · National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia LADO (2002) · Anton Marti (1994) · Branko Mihaljević (2005) · Miroslav Miletić (2009) · Drago Mlinarec (2005) · Tomislav Neralić (2006) · Gabi Novak (2006) · Đorđe Novković (1996) · Boško Petrović (2003) · Julije Njikoš (2010) · Ruža Pospiš Baldani (2003) · Božo Potočnik (2005) · Miljenko Prohaska (1995) · Ivo Robić (1997) · Zdenko Runjić (1998) · Siniša Škarica (2002) · Ljubo Stipišić (2006) · Zvonko Špišić (2008) · Nenad Turkalj (2004) · Dunja Vejzović (1999) · Dražen Vrdoljak (2003) · Vice Vukov (2000) · Zagrebački kvartet (2000) · Zagrebački solisti (1994)
Golden Arena for Best Film Music Yugoslav competition
(1955–1990) Bojan Adamič (1955) · Marjan Kozina (1956) · Borivoje Simić / Bojan Adamič (1957) · Bojan Adamič (1958) · Marijan Lipovšek (1959) · Branimir Sakač (1960) · N/A (1961) · Marjan Vodopivec (1962) · Dušan Radić (1963) · Alojz Srebotnjak (1964) · Tomica Simović (1965) · N/A (1966) · Zoran Hristić (1967) · Miljenko Prohaska (1968) · Zoran Hristić (1969) · Vojislav Kostić (1970) · Jože Privšek (1971) · Kornelije Kovač (1972) · Tomislav Zografski (1973) · Alojz Srebotnjak (1974) · Uroš Kek (1975) · Alfi Kabiljo (1976) · Borislav Tamindžić (1977) · Zoran Simjanović (1978) · Buldožer (1979) · Kornelije Kovač (1980) · Alfi Kabiljo (1981) · Bashkim Shehu (1982) · Zoran Simjanović (1983) · Brane Živković (1984) · Živan Cvitković (1985) · Ljupčo Konstantinov (1986) · Janez Gregorc (1987) · Gjon Gjevlekaj (1988) · Arsen Dedić (1989) · Goran Bregović (1990)
Croatian competition
(1992–present) Davor Rocco (1992) · Igor Kuljerić (1993) · N/A (1994) · Zrinko Tutić (1995) · Davor Rocco (1996) · Arsen Dedić (1997) · Zrinko Tutić (1998) · Đelo Jusić (1999) · Mate Matišić (2000) · Davor Rocco (2001) · Dalibor Pavičić (2002) · Mate Matišić (2003) · Igor Kuljerić (2004) · Darko Hajsek (2005) · Tamara Obrovac (2006) · Andrija Milić (2007) · Mate Matišić (2008) · Srđan Gulić (2009) · Alfi Kabiljo & Alan Bjelinski (2010)
Categories:- 1925 births
- Living people
- People from Zagreb
- Academy of Music, University of Zagreb alumni
- Croatian composers
- Croatian conductors (music)
- Golden Arena winners
- Vladimir Nazor Award winners
- Croatian film score composers
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
