Kouzan, Marian

Kouzan, Marian [Кузан, Маріян; Kuzan, Marijan], b 29 September 1925 in Isai, Turka county, Galicia, d 12 April 2005 in Framont, France. Composer and conductor. Arriving in France at the age of two, he studied violin under Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory and then turned to conducting and composing. In 1966 he organized and conducted the Alpha-Omega Orchestra of Paris; later he became music director of the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion. He specialized in conducting medieval and Renaissance music. Kouzan’s development as a composer was influenced by Ukrainian folk music and such masters as E. Varèse, A. Schoenberg, and B. Bartók. His compositions, which are written mostly in the modern idiom, include orchestral and other instrumental music, vocal music, and incidental music for films. In 1984 Kouzan's cantata L'amour de l'homme was performed in Chartres Cathedral. A monograph Mariian Kuzan by Stefaniia Pavlyshyn appeared in Lviv in 1993.

[This article was updated in 2015.]