Davorin Kempf (1947, Croatia) graduated from the Academy of Music in Zagreb, with degrees in piano (1971, the class of Stjepan Radić), conducting (1972, the class of Igor Gjadrov) and composition (1973, the class of Stjepan Šulek). He continued his studies in composition at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart (1975-1976) and at the Musikhochschule Köln (1976-1977). He obtainted his master degree from the University of Iowa School of Music in 1990, and his doctoral degree from the Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften in 2006, with dissertation Symmetrie und Variation als kompositorische Prinzipien. Interdisziplinäre Aspekte (Symmetry and Variation as a Compositional Principles. Interdisciplinary Aspects).

Since 1995 he is a full-time professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, and since 1989 a lifetime member and Deputy Governor of the American Biographical Institute Research Association, Raleigh. From 1996 to 2004 he was artistic director of the Požega Organ Evenings.

His compositions have been performed at concerts and music festivals in Croatia (Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Osor, Opatija, Pula, Zadar, Rab, Hvar, Požega) and abroad (Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Bonn, Frankfurt, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Stratford, Lisbon, Iowa City, New York, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Baltimore, Tokyo, Graz, Ljubljana, Maribor, Lucerne, Brno, Bratislava, St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Belgrade, Turin, Cividale del Friuli, Ascoli Piceno, Dublin…), as well as in various radio and television broadcasts.

He has given lectures on music at the “Ruđer Bošković” Institute in Zagreb (1992, 2003), the Scientific Platform of Matrix Croatica in Zagreb (2003), the universities in Iowa City, Graz, Ljubljana and Maribor. He has also participated at several international conferences in San Francisco (1996), Dublin (2004) and Washington D.C. (2007).

Davorin Kempf received The Josip Slavenski Annual Award (1986), The Vladimir Nazor Annual Award (1986), as well as recognitions by the American Biographical Institute: Man of the Year 1990International Award of Recognition (1991), Twenty-Five Years Achievement Award (1992).

Three Views of the Osor Cathedrale, for piano
The titles of the triptych – The View from Ancient Times, The View of the Belfry, The View of the Altar (Introibo ad altare Dei) – refer to visual-acoustic and spiritual stimuli and connotations. Ranging from a largeness of historical aspect, through concentrating on the church’s exterior (the belfry from which the sound spreads in space and time), the piece ends entering the cathedral’s interior. The last view is focused in transcendental contemplation on the altar, which is architectural and spiritual center of the church. The piece was premiered by Virginio Pavarana at the Osor Musical Evenings in 2007.