Lifetime dedicated to eight full-evening cycle: the Cosmorama octology—ballets and operas for large symphony orchestra.
"In my view, the dedicated artist seeks those inspired moments in the present that are infinite in the direction of both the past and the future."
Timelessness in art – A Serbian-language promotional film featuring composer David Zsolt Kiraly, with Hungarian subtitles (2015).
Curriculum Vitae
Introduction
David Zsolt Kiraly, born in Novi Sad in 1964 (then Yugoslavia, now Serbia) is a Hungarian composer based in Hungary since 1984. He began composing in early childhood; Radio Novi Sad first broadcast his music when he was eight, and at eleven he created his first electroacoustic work.
The first public performance of 7-year-old David Zsolt Kiraly (8mm silent film)
Cluster ensemble
At thirteen, he founded Cluster, a youth ensemble that performed his experimental compositions inspired by the contemporary avant-garde. Between 1977 and 1980, the ensemble gave regular concerts in several cities. At fourteen, Kiraly appeared at the 15th Yugoslav Music Tribune in Opatija—then one of Yugoslavia’s leading forums for contemporary music—as the youngest composer-performer in the event’s history.
Triangle – a composition by 14-year-old David Zsolt Kiraly, performed by the youth ensemble CLUSTER.
Education
He completed his secondary education at the Isidor Bajić Secondary Music School in Novi Sad, specializing in music theory. Subsequently, he pursued advanced studies in composition under the tuition of Attila Bozay at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest. In 1990, he obtained his diploma as a secondary school music theory teacher, followed by a degree in composition with distinction in 1994, awarded for his graduation work, Symphony No. 1. To further his professional development, he continued private consultations with Attila Bozay until 1999. His academic training was complemented by participation in international masterclasses, including the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, which he attended as a scholarship holder in 1984, and Zygmunt Krauze’s seminar in Grožnjan in 1988.
Excerpt from the finale of David Zsolt Kiraly's Symphony No. 1
Accomplishments
In 1993, he won third prize in the Vienna Modern Masters International Composition Competition. The resulting recording of his orchestral work was released in the United States in 1994 and distributed internationally. In 1995, composer Henry Wolking invited him to present his music at the University of Utah. The one-act version of his ballet Pinocchio was performed twice at the Lancaster Festival in 2011.
Artistic Focus
Kiraly’s oeuvre spans orchestral, choral, stage, and multimedia genres. His large-scale a cappella work, Planetae Cantemus, was scored for soloists, eight equal-voice choirs, and mixed choir. Since 2012, he has been dedicated to Cosmorama Octology, an eight-part multimedia cycle of operas and ballets. Through this monumental project, he aims to encapsulate his entire musical legacy and philosophical vision into a single, cohesive masterwork.
