CANDILLARI, Daniela

Daniela Candillari is a Serbian-born composer, conductor, and pianist whose work moves between contemporary classical music, opera, chamber music, vocal writing, jazz-influenced idioms, and interdisciplinary performance. Born in Serbia and raised in Serbia and Slovenia, she studied piano performance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, earned a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and completed a doctorate in musicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. As a composer, Candillari has written works for voice, piano, chamber ensembles, electronics, and theatrical contexts, often drawing on her wide musical background as a pianist and conductor. Her catalogue includes Fated for mezzo-soprano, piano and electronics, Extremely Close for bass trombone and piano, La casada infiel for baritone and piano, In Time of War for voice and piano, and Ženska, ki sem ji bral / The Woman I Used to Read To. Her music reflects an interest in text, dramatic expression, intimacy of sound, and the meeting point between classical, jazz, Slavic, and contemporary traditions. Alongside her creative work as a composer and arranger, Candillari has developed an international conducting career, particularly in opera and contemporary music, working with major institutions such as the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opera Philadelphia, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.