Johannes Kalitzke

1974–76 - Studies church music

1978–81 - Studies at the music college in Cologne with Aloys Kontarsky (piano), Wolfgang von der Nahmer (conducting), York Höller (composition), later with Hans Ulrich Humpert (electronic music)

1982–83 - Residency at IRCAM (Paris) with Vinko Globokar with a grant by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes

1984–90 - Takes post first as Kapellmeister, then chief conductor at the Musiktheater im Revier (Gelsenkirchen)

1986 - Becomes Director of the Forum für Neue Musik (Gelsenkirchen), succeeding Carla Henius

1990 - Receives the city of Cologne’s Bernd Alois Zimmermann award

1990–91 - Composes his first opera: Bericht über den Tod des Musikers Jack Tiergarten (staged at the Munich Biennale in 1996)

since 1991 - Artistic director and conductor of musikFabrik, the ensemble of the province of Nordrhein-Westfalen, as well as guest conductor with Klangforum Wien (Vienna)

1994–97 - Composes his second opera: Molière oder die Henker der Komödianten (commissioned by the province of Schleswig-Holstein, first performed
in 1998 in Bremen)

since 1996 - Lecturer at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse and at the music college in Graz

since 1998 - Freelance conductor and composer

2000 - Scholarship of the Villa Massimo (Rome); start of his Kafka Complex with the premiere of Nachricht an Charon at the EXPO 2000 in Hannover; premiere of his string quartet Six Covered Settings by the Arditti Quartet at the Tage für Neue Kammermusik in Witten

2002–2003 - Composes Vier Toteninseln for piano, baritone and orchestra (first performed in 2004 by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin)

2004 - Composes his third opera: Inferno (commissioned by Theater Bremen, first performed in 2005)

2006 - Completes his Kafka Complex for four voices (SATB), viola, piano and live electronics

2007 - Ortswechsel with film by Edgar Reitz premiered at Donaueschingen Music Days

2009 - Member of the Berlin Academy of Arts

2010 - World premiere of his opera Die Besessenen after Witold Gombrowicz in Vienna (commissioned by Theater an der Wien); World premiere of Monumente im Halbdunkel in Stuttgart (commissioned by SWR)

2012 - World premiere of his music for the 1927 silent film Die Weber (commissioned by Theater Augsburg)

2016 - World premieres of his opera Pym after Edgar Allan Poe in Heidelberg and of his music for the 1923 silent film Schatten (commissioned by Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik and ZDF/arte)

2018 - World premiere of his music for the silent film Orlac’s Hands (commissioned by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and ZDF/arte)

2020 - Church film opera Jeanne d’Arc based on Carl Theodor Dreyer, with world premiere at the Carinthian Summer festival

2022 - World premiere of his opera Kapitän Nemos Bibliothek, after Per Olov Enquist (commissioned by the Schwetzingen Festival and Südwestrundfunk)

2023 Zeitkapsel. Totentanz for large orchestra (commissioned by musica viva of Bavarian Radio) and Epiphanimate for solo percussion and ensemble

2025 EUROPA for string quartet and sampler, based on the film by Stefan and Franciszka Themerson