Memli Kelmendi

Memli Kelmendi was born in 1986 in Peja, Kosovo. He completed postgraduate studies in conducting (vocal and instrumental) in Pristina and studied composition, music production and sound engineering in North Macedonia. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies in choral conducting at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

Kelmendi’s choral works include Agnus Dei, Ater Umbra, Silentium Est Pax, Pax, Renuo and Dies Lunae. His composition Ater Umbra (2017) has been published in France and recorded by EVOC Ensemble for the label Les Choristes Aux Milles Couleurs. Silentium Est Pax was recorded by Sottovoce Ensemble at Les Musicales de Redon, France. His mixed choral work With a Flower – With a Flower, commissioned by the European Youth Music Festival in Neerpelt, has been widely performed internationally.

In addition to his choral catalogue, Kelmendi is active as a film composer. He composed the music and designed the sound for Samir Karahoda’s film In Between, presented at the Berlinale Film Festival (2019), and for Displaced, selected among ten short films competing for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His work spans feature films, short films, theatre and documentary.

Kelmendi serves as permanent conductor of the Siparantum Choir, one of Kosovo’s leading ensembles. He has conducted in major venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, Basilica di San Marco in Venice, Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp, Hrvatski Glazbeni Zavod in Zagreb and Ljubljana Cathedral. In 2023 he conducted Ater Umbra at the Berlin Philharmonie with a combined choir of over 150 singers. He previously founded and conducted the PEJA City Choir.

As an educator, he teaches at the Halit Kasapolli High School of Music in Peja and at AAB University in Pristina, where he lectures in film and theatre music, orchestration and choral conducting. He also completed specialised training in composition, music theory and piano tuning for blind students at the Jana Deyla Conservatory in Prague.

His distinctions include awards at the World Choir Games (2021), Lisbon Sings (2022) and the European Music Festival for Young People (Belgium), as well as national recognition for his contribution to culture in Kosovo. He represents Kosovo on the World Choir Council (INTERKULTUR) and serves as National Ambassador of Kosovo to the International Federation of Choral Conductors (ICCF).