Sandor Kallos

Aleksandr Ernéstovich Kallos, known as Sandor Kallos, was born in Chemortsi, in present-day Ukraine, on 23 October 1935. A composer trained in the Soviet tradition, he also won distinction as a violin and lute performer, two strands of activity that strongly shaped his written output.

He graduated in 1961 from the Lviv Conservatory, where he studied composition and theory with Adam Soltis. He then continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory, with Yuri Shaporin in composition and Sergei Skrebkov in theory, completing this training in 1964. Meanwhile, from 1954 to 1963, he played the violin in symphony and opera orchestras. From 1971 he also devoted himself to the lute and, from 1975, to conducting. From that same year he has been a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. He belongs to the Association of Contemporary Music and the Moscow Composers' Union.

His long dedication to the lute was no accident. The central idea of his work is a contemporary reading of medieval philosophy and musical style. From this comes his inclination towards monodic instrumental writing, as in the orchestral work Elegiya and in Posidelki (Village Gatherings) for ensemble, and his preference for multi-movement sonatas in the Baroque manner for solo instrument and for small ensembles, among them the trio sonatas and the sonata for horn, viola, double bass and harpsichord. The same interest feeds his cantatas on Greek and medieval texts, as well as his songs setting poems by Villon, Ronsard and other Renaissance poets, performed on period instruments.

Among his titles are the operas Milaya Dzhakomina and Mono, the ballet Makbet and several symphonies. His legacy lies in the revival of an ancient language reinterpreted through contemporary sensibility.