Djuro Živković

About Djuro Živković

Djuro Živković is a Serbian composer, born in Belgrade in 1975, who has lived in Stockholm, Sweden, since 2000. He began his musical training on the violin at the age of nine in Zagreb, continuing his studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and the University of Arts in Belgrade before turning his focus from performance to composition in 1997.

Zivkovic has built a significant academic career alongside composing, teaching composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and holding a professorship in composition at the Academy of Arts at the University of Novi Sad. He is also a permanent member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. 

 His music is distinguished by original harmonic and rhythmic techniques, including his proprietary Ancient Mode and Harmonic Field concepts, which combine polyrhythms and microtones and have attracted academic study, including research at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. Zivkovic's work has received significant international recognition. His piece Le Cimetière Marin, performed with the Sonanza Ensemble, received the Swedish Grammis award in 2010, and his Ascetic Discourse won the Mokranjac Award in 2012. His greatest distinction came in 2014, when his composition On the Guarding of the Heart was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.