Kander, John (EN)

Kander John, *18 March 1927 Kansas City, American composer. He studied music at Columbia University in New York. In the years 1953–62 he was a répétiteur, conductor, and arranger in musical theatres. Since 1962 he has composed musicals, film and television music, as well as songs (including for B. Streisand and L. Minnelli). In 1966 his musical Cabaret achieved great success on Broadway; later popularized in its film version (1972, dir. B. Fosse), it became one of the most famous works of this genre in the world. Among Kander’s later works, the musicals Zorba, Chicago, The Rink, and Kiss of the Spider Woman enjoyed success. He was repeatedly awarded the Grammy Award: Cabaret (1968), Liza With A Z (1973), as well as the Tony Award: Cabaret (1967), Woman of the Year (1981), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993). In the years 1962–2004 he formed a creative duo with lyricist Fred Ebb, known as Kander–Ebb.

Kander departed from the comic-revue model of the musical. He draws on non-trivial texts and seeks to highlight their dramatic layer. He takes care of the realism of stage situations: he uses librettos thematically connected with music (Cabaret, Zorba), abandons static showpiece scenes of revue provenance, and individualizes musical treatments according to the requirements of the text (in Zorba he stylized traditional Greek music, in Cabaret – the music of satirical theatres of the 1930s). In his musicals, influences of European musical theatre are visible, especially the works of K. Weill.