Zivkovic-Ilijas-M

ILIJAS (1996) is a rhapsodic composition, titled after a small town in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia. It has a clear associations with folk tunes of that picturesque Balkan area, as well as mixed rhythms and tonal scales whose roots could be found even further East. In the introduction of the piece, Zivkovic calls for a very unusual marimba technique that produces sounds that remind us of a Franz Liszt grand piano sound.The middle part, however, uses typical marimbistic patterns, masterly composed in a number of various odd meters with melody in the octaves played by the right hand.The varied repetition of the opening part leads for a moment in a major keys, but after that short "light of hope" the music goes back to the melancholic mood and ends tranquillo, morendo...

Number of Players: 1
Level of Difficulty: Grade 5
Instrumentation:

Player I: Marimba 5 Oct.

Hailed by the critics as one of the most unique and expressive artists in the field today, a composing virtuoso Zivkovic is recognized as one of the worlds top marimba and percussion soloists. He embodies a very rare tradition: the tradition the composer and virtuoso in one person, which was common in the 19th century among famous concert artists. 

Zivkovic completed his master's degrees in composition, music theory and percussion in Mannheim and Stuttgart, Germany. He tours extensively throughout Europe, and performs frequently in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Latin America, Russia and Scandinavian countries. As a soloist, mostly with his own Marimba concertos, Zivkovic played among other with Stuttgart Philharmonic, Munich Symphonic, Bochum Phiharmonic, Austrian Chamber Symphony, Hannover Radio Symphony, Bielefeld Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Costa Rica, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (Finland) Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.