Ernest Ackun
Encyclopedia
Ernest Ačkun (March 27, 1930 – September 28, 2001) was a Yugoslav
/ Slovenian
clarinetist.
, Slovenia
, which was then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
.
He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the Belgrade Academy of Music, under the tuition of professor Bruno Brun
, and pursued them at the Conservatoire superiéur de musique
in Paris
, with professor Ulysse Delécluse.
, as well as in France
, West Germany
, Austria
, Italy
and Bulgaria
, playing under the leadership of such conductor
s as Zubin Mehta
, Jean Martinon
, Charles Bruck
, Krešimir Baranović
, Oskar Danon
, Milan Horvat
, Živojin Zdravković
.
Distinguished Yugoslav composers, such as Stjepan Šulek
and Zlatan Vauda, dedicated their compositions to him. He also recorded for radio
and television
.
Ačkun was principal clarinetist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra
and Professor of Chamber Music
at the Faculty
of Music in Belgrade.
s, including the First Prize at the Competition of Yugoslav Performing Artists in Skopje
and was a prize winner in the ARD International Music Competition
(both 1954). He was also rewarded the UMUS award for the best music performance achievement in the previous concert season (1984).
He was a jury member on various competitions, including the 1987 Jeunesses Musicales
International Competition in Belgrade
, along with James Campbell
(Canada
), Walter Boeykens
(Belgium
), John McCaw (UK), Ludwig Kurkiewicz (Poland
), Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov
(U.S.S.R.), Milenko Stefanovic
(Yugoslavia
), Marko Rudzak (Yugoslavia) and Stjepan Rabuzin (Yugoslavia).
In 1992 he was a jury member on the ARD International Music Competition
in Munich
, along with Eugene Rousseau
(United States
), Eduard Brunner
(Switzerland
), Philippe Cuper
(France
), Giora Feidman
(Argentina
), Lutz Kŏhler (Germany
), Lew Mikhailow (U.S.S.R.), Charles Neidich
(U.S.A.) and Ulf Rodenhãuser (Germany).
.
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
/ Slovenian
Slovenian
The terms Slovene and Slovenian refer to anything related to Slovenes and Slovenia. Both terms have been used for a long time in English.* Slovenian cuisine* Slovene language , a South Slavic language spoken mainly in Slovenia...
clarinetist.
Early life
Ernest Ačkun was born in HrastnikHrastnik
Hrastnik is a town and a municipality in central Slovenia. Traditionally the area was part of the Lower Styria region. The entire municipality is now included in the Central Sava statistical region. Located in the valley of a minor left bank tributary of the Sava River, the area is known for its...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, which was then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
.
He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the Belgrade Academy of Music, under the tuition of professor Bruno Brun
Bruno Brun
Bruno Brun was a Yugoslavian clarinetist and professor at the Academy of Music in Belgrade.-Education:...
, and pursued them at the Conservatoire superiéur de musique
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, with professor Ulysse Delécluse.
Performance and teaching activities
Ačkun gave concerts as a soloist in nearly all great towns in YugoslaviaYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, as well as in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, West Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, playing under the leadership of such conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
s as Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
, Jean Martinon
Jean Martinon
Jean Martinon was a French conductor and composer.-Biography:Martinon was born in Lyon, where he began his education, going on to the Conservatoire de Paris to study under Albert Roussel for composition, under Charles Munch and Roger Désormière for conducting, under Vincent d'Indy for harmony,...
, Charles Bruck
Charles Bruck
Charles Bruck was a Hungarian-French conductor.Bruck was born in Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1920 Timişoara, since 1920 in Romania....
, Krešimir Baranović
Krešimir Baranovic
Krešimir Baranović was a Yugoslav composer and conductor. He was conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrade Opera, Orchestra of the Radio Belgrade and professor at the Belgrade Music Academy.-References:*Maksimović, M...
, Oskar Danon
Oskar Danon
Oskar Danon was a Bosnian Jewish composer and conductor.-Early life and education:Oskar Danon was born in 1913 in Sarajevo, then in the Austria-Hungarian Empire but now in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He studied music in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he obtained his Ph.D...
, Milan Horvat
Milan Horvat
Milan Horvat is a Croatian conductor. From 1969 until 1975, he was head of the newly created Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra...
, Živojin Zdravković
Živojin Zdravkovic
Živojin Zdravković , a Serbian conductor, served as chief conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and professor of conducting at the Music Academy in Belgrade. He was also a member and president of the Association of Musical Artists of Serbia.-References:*Ikonomova, V...
.
Distinguished Yugoslav composers, such as Stjepan Šulek
Stjepan Šulek
Stjepan Šulek was a Croatian composer and conductor.- Biography :Born in Zagreb in 1914, Šulek began his music study very early by learning piano, violin, and composition. In 1936 he received his diploma from the Zagreb Academy of Music. Until 1952 Šulek was an active soloist who gave numerous...
and Zlatan Vauda, dedicated their compositions to him. He also recorded for radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
Ačkun was principal clarinetist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra
Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra
The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra in Serbia, regularly considered as one of the finest in the country. Its home base is in Belgrade.- History :...
and Professor of Chamber Music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
at the Faculty
Faculty (university)
A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas...
of Music in Belgrade.
Awards and honors
He won several important prizePrize
A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...
s, including the First Prize at the Competition of Yugoslav Performing Artists in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
and was a prize winner in the ARD International Music Competition
ARD International Music Competition
The ARD International Music Competition is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is held once a year in Munich.-History:...
(both 1954). He was also rewarded the UMUS award for the best music performance achievement in the previous concert season (1984).
He was a jury member on various competitions, including the 1987 Jeunesses Musicales
Jeunesses Musicales
Jeunesses Musicales International is the largest youth music NGO in the world, created in Brussels, Belgium in 1945 with the mission to "enable young people to develop through music across all boundaries"...
International Competition in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, along with James Campbell
James Campbell (clarinetist)
James Campbell is a Canadian/American clarinetist. James Campbell has followed his muse to five television specials, more than 40 recordings, over 30 works commissioned, a Juno Award , a Roy Thomson Hall Award, Canada's Artist of the Year and the Order of Canada...
(Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), Walter Boeykens
Walter Boeykens
Knight Walter Boeykens January 6, 1938 Bornem, Belgium is a Belgian conductor and a world renowned clarinetist. Boeykens has an impressive discography including several critically acclaimed performances that are testimony to his status as one of the most notable clarinetists of the 20th century...
(Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
), John McCaw (UK), Ludwig Kurkiewicz (Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov
Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Ovchinnikov is a Soviet and Russian composer. He has composed for various ensembles, including works for chamber, solo instruments and the symphony orchestra. He began composing at age 9 and entered the Moscow Conservatory at 15. Later he studied with Tikhon Khrennikov...
(U.S.S.R.), Milenko Stefanovic
Milenko Stefanovic
Milenko Stefanović is the most famous Serbian and Yugoslav clarinetist: a prizewinner in the international competitions in Moscow, Munich, Geneva and Prague, soloist who has achieved significant international career, long-time principal clarinetist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and...
(Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
), Marko Rudzak (Yugoslavia) and Stjepan Rabuzin (Yugoslavia).
In 1992 he was a jury member on the ARD International Music Competition
ARD International Music Competition
The ARD International Music Competition is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is held once a year in Munich.-History:...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, along with Eugene Rousseau
Eugene Rousseau (saxophonist)
Eugene Rousseau is an American classical saxophonist. He plays mainly the alto and soprano saxophones....
(United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
), Eduard Brunner
Eduard Brunner
Eduard Brunner is a classical clarinetist. He began his musical education in Basel , where he was born, continuing his studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Louis Cahuzac...
(Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
), Philippe Cuper
Philippe Cuper
Philippe Cuper is a French clarinetist, born in Lille on April 25, 1957.He is considered to be one of the best representatives of the current French clarinet school.- Studies :...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), Giora Feidman
Giora Feidman
Giora Feidman is an Argentinian-born Israeli clarinetist who specializes in klezmer music.-Biography:Giora Feidman was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his Bessarabian Jewish parents immigrated to escape persecution. Feidman comes from a family of klezmer musicians...
(Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
), Lutz Kŏhler (Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Lew Mikhailow (U.S.S.R.), Charles Neidich
Charles Neidich
Charles Neidich is an American classical clarinetist, composer, and conductor.-Early career:A native New Yorker of Russian and Greek descent, Charles Neidich began his clarinet studies with his father, Irving Neidich, at the age of eight, and continued them with the renowned teacher Leon Russianoff...
(U.S.A.) and Ulf Rodenhãuser (Germany).
Affiliations
Ačkun was a member and president of the Association of Musical Artists of SerbiaAssociation of Musical Artists of Serbia
The Association of Musical Artists of Serbia is an association which gathers together musicians from Serbia who dedicated themselves to performing actively classical music....
.