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Photo: Gerald Geerink

Kirsten Milenko (b. 1993) is an Australian composer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Working closely with movement, her music embodies a constant synergy between sound and motion to capture perceptions of space. She works with vocal, instrumental and electronic media to compose music that echoes environmental phenomena and expressions of the human form.

In August 2017, she moved to Denmark to study as a visiting student at the Royal Danish Academy of Music where she since continued her studies with Niels Rosing-Schow and Simon Løffler, graduating from the Master's program in June 2020. During her Bachelor's degree, she was awarded the 2015 Ignaz Friedman Memorial Prize by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she studied under Liza Lim, Natasha Anderson and Rosalind Page.

Premieres of Milenko's work have been given throughout Australia and Europe. Her music has received performances by ensembles and orchestras including: Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Esbjerg Ensemble, E-Mex Ensemble, Scandinavian Guitar Duo, Ensemblage, Judgement of Paris Quartet, Adelaide Wind Orchestra, Sydney Conservatorium of Music Wind Symphony, Modest Orchestra. She has performed her own work as a pianist at venues such as: Staatsoper Hamburg - Opera Stabile, Associació Cultural Sa Taronja; and conductor at Verbrugghen Hall and the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

In addition to her tertiary studies, she has attended composition and conducting masterclasses such as: Dartington International Summer School Advanced Composition with Sir Harrison Birtwistle (UK 2019), International Masterclass for Orchestral Conductors with Professor Johannes Wildner and the Berlin Sinfonietta (Germany 2019), Hatched Academy, Ensemble Offspring (Australia 2018), Dartington International Summer School (UK 2018), NORD+MIX Workshop (Lithuania 2018), Conductor's Workshop with Jessica Cottis and the Royal Philharmonic Society (UK 2017), Synthetis International Summer School for Composition (Poland 2016).

Milenko has received the Roche Young Commission 2021, awarded by Wolfgang Rihm, Artistic Director of Lucerne Festival. Her debut album 'Caeli' releases in February 2020. Her debut opera/ballet 'Dalloway' premieres March 2020 in Copenhagen for Pulsar Festival.

Awards: Ignaz Friedman Memorial Prize (2015), John Amis Award, Dartington International Summer School (2018).

Kirsten Milenko — current to January 2020