Iša Krejčí


Iša František Krejčí was a Czech neoclassicist composer, conductor and dramaturge.

Life

Krejčí was born in Prague. He studied history and musicology at Charles University and concurrently piano playing with Albín Šíma and composition at the Prague Conservatory with Karel Boleslav Jirák and Vítězslav Novák and conducting with Václav Talich. He worked for the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava in 1928–32, Czech Radio in 1934–45, Olomouc Opera in 1945–58, and Prague National Theatre since 1958.
As a conductor, he concentrated especially on the contemporary French repertoire and Igor Stravinsky's compositions. His reputation as a composer was established in 1925 with a Divertimento for four wind instruments. With this work, based on Classical forms, he became known as a Czech representative of neoclassicism.
He wrote the operas Antigone and An Uproar in Efes as well as four symphonies. He died in Prague.

Selected works

Stage works