Ilja Zeljenka, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Ilja Zeljenka

Slovak music educator and composer

Date of Birth: 21-Dec-1932

Place of Birth: Bratislava, Bratislava Region, Slovakia

Date of Death: 13-Jul-2007

Profession: composer, pedagogue, film score composer

Nationality: Slovakia

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Ilja Zeljenka (21 December 1932 – 13 July 2007) was a Slovak composer. Born in Bratislava, Zeljenka studied music with Jan Cikker from 1951-1956.
During the 1970s his more experimental idiom was suppressed by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, and he produced music based on folk music and neoromantic styles.
His very large output includes three operas (including Bátorycka (1994), based on the story of Elizabeth Báthory and Posledné dni Velkej Moravy [The Last Days of Greater Moravia] (1996)), film music, piano works (including two pieces for piano and bongos), fourteen string quartets, nine symphonies, theatre music and electronic music.
Among his vocal compositions is the cantata Oswiecim (1959), about the Auschwitz concentration camp.