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(b Stocksund, Aug 5, 1927). Swedish composer, teacher and writer on music. After studying the piano with Y. Flyckt and theory with Eppstein, he read musicology at Uppsala University, taking his doctorate in 1953 with a thesis on the ritual of the nuns of Vadstena. He studied composition with Blomdahl (1947–51), Orff, Petrassi and Deutsch. Thereafter he was a university lecturer (1965–9) and cultural attaché at the Swedish Embassy in Bonn (1970–73). Elected a member of the Swedish Royal Academy in 1964, between 1975 and 1985 he was professor of composition at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm, and its director from 1987 to 1993. As an administrator he has served as chairman of Fylkingen (1956–9), chairman of the Society of Swedish Composers (1963–9), a director, chairman and secretary of the Swedish section of the ISCM (1960–69...

(b Detroit, MI, Jan 1, 1929; d Detroit, MI, July 2010). American singer, educator, choral director, and composer. He worked tirelessly to promote and preserve the works of African American musicians through coalition building and artistic entrepreneurship by founding the Brazeal Dennard Chorale and cofounding the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s “Classical Roots” concert series in 1976. Dennard attended Highland Park Junior College (1954–56) and he received his undergraduate (1959) and master’s (1962) degrees in music education from Wayne State University. He first gained exposure to music through attending church choir rehearsals with his mother. He studied piano and voice with Dean Robert L. Nolan and later sang with the Robert Nolan Choir. His professional career began at age 17 as conductor of the Angelic Choir at Peoples Baptist Church in Detroit. From 1951 to 1953 he was responsible for the music for all chapel services while serving as a corporal in the US Army in Virginia. Beginning in ...

(b Gjirokastra, Oct 20, 1935; d Turin, Aug 2, 1997). Albanian composer, administrator and teacher. Essentially self-taught in his early years, he became the first significant Albanian composer to study exclusively in his home country, entering the newly-founded Tirana Conservatory in 1962 and studying there with Daija until 1966. He then taught counterpoint and composition at the conservatory (1966–73), subsequently serving as sub-director of its parent body, the Superior Institute of Arts (1973–7). His most significant post was as music secretary of the Union of Albanian Writers and Artists (1977–91); he later also served as artistic director of the Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Tirana (1991–2). From 1992 until his death he taught theory and composition at the Conservatory. He founded the Evenings of New Albanian Music in 1992.

As music secretary during Albania's period of cultural isolation, Ibrahimi showed himself a capable administrator, exerting a positive influence on Albania's musical life. Though obliged by his office to defend socialist realism, during his official travels abroad he tried, as much as was possible, to keep up with international musical developments, experimenting in secret with atonality (e.g. in the Cello Sonata, ...

(b Stromsburg, NE, Aug 27, 1926; d Coral Gables, FL, May 4, 2009). American choral director, teacher, composer, and writer. He earned degrees from the University of Nebraska (BME 1948, MM 1951) and University of Iowa (PhD 1957). He taught music in the public schools of Valentine, Nebraska (1948–52) and Shenandoah, Iowa (1952–5), and at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado (1957–60), and California State University, Hayward (1960–67). He was director of choral activities at the University of Miami (1967–93), where he led the UM Singers on 21 international concert tours and in numerous other performances, including appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and national conventions of professional organizations. Kjelson also conducted honor choirs in 40 states, and founded and conducted the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami (1970–2006). He was inducted into the Florida Music Educators Association Hall of Fame (...

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(b Cyprus, April 10, 1948). Israeli composer, teacher and stage director . She was born while her parents were in Cyprus en route to Israel. First taught music at the Tel-Aviv Conservatory and Telma Yalin Music High School, she graduated in 1970 from the Tel-Aviv Academy of Music, where her main study was the piano (she was a pupil of Madeleine Aufhauser); she also completed a degree in philosophy. During her period of compulsory military service, from 1970 to 1972, she was responsible for classical music at Galei-Zahal, the radio station of the Israeli Defence Forces, and wrote on music for Bahmane, the IDF’s weekly magazine. From 1973 to 1974 she studied composition with Hans Heimler in Guildford, England.

After Riseman’s return to Israel, her song cycle Eize yom yafe (‘What a Beautiful Day’) for male voice and chamber ensemble was recorded; a further cycle, Nine Haiku Songs, received its première at the Israel Festival in ...

(b Përmet, Albania, Nov 22, 1963). Albanian composer, ethnomusicologist, and administrator. After early musical training in Përmet and Korça, he studied at the Tirana Conservatory (1984–7), where his teachers included Gaqi, Kushta, Lara, Simoni, and Shupo. Between 1988 and 1991 he worked in Përmet as music director at the Naïm Frashëri Palace of Culture and as artistic director of the Elena Gjika ensemble. He was appointed to teach ethnomusicology and composition at the Tirana Conservatory (now the music faculty of the Academy of Arts) in 1991. In 1993 he founded the New Albanian Music association and in 1997 the Ton de Leeuw International Competition for New Music in Tirana. After receiving the doctorate in ethnomusicology in 1994, he undertook further composition studies with Hufschmidt at the Folkwang Hochschule, Essen (1994–5), followed by postdoctoral studies at Athens University (1996). In 1997 he was appointed director of the Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Tirana, and of the State Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances. He resigned in ...

(b Buvika, nr Trondheim, Norway, June 13, 1927). Swedish pedagogue, administrator and composer. As well as studying the piano with G. Boon and H. Leygraf and composition with Blomdahl, he completed a business course, and composing has always taken second place to his administrative work. Up until 1962 he taught the piano, including in Darmstadt (1953–5). As the energetic chairman of Fylkingen (1959–69) he established an electronic music studio for the Workers’ Educational Association and organized the congresses ‘Art and Technology’ (1966) and ‘Music and Technology’ (1970) in Stockholm. With technical assistance he invented Music Box, a programme for computer music generation, and the Music Machine no.1, which produced random, complex sound structures and gave birth to the idea of a much larger Music Machine no.2. In 1964 he was commissioned by Swedish radio to build up an advanced electronic music workshop (known from ...