Nikša Gligo - Biography#

Nikša Gligo was born in Split on 6 April 1946. He graduated from the Natko Nodilo Classical Grammar School in his hometown in 1964, and from the Josip Hatze Middle Music School. In 1969 he graduated in comparative literature and English language and literature at the Faculty of Philosophy of Zagreb University. In the same year he became head of the Music Salon of the Zagreb University’s Student Centre, a post he held until 1986. After graduating in musicology in 1973 at the Faculty of Philosophy of Ljubljana University, he held various posts at the Music Biennale Zagreb, an international festival of contemporary music. At the same time he started his study trips abroad: he went to the Musicology Department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Cologne University (1972/1973) on a DAAD scholarship, then to Salzburg to the Seminar in American Studies: American 20th Century Music (1976) and for a one-month study trip in the United States (1979) on the invitation of the State Department. From 1975 to 1977 he was programme secretary, and from 1977 to 1979 art director of the Music Biennale Zagreb, an international festival of contemporary music.

In 1981 he completed his master’s degree in musicology at the Music Academy of Zagreb University. Three years later he defended his doctoral dissertation in musicology at the Faculty of Philosophy of Ljubljana University.

A DAAD research scholarship enabled his stay in West Berlin in 1983/1984, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awarded him a scholarship for the academic years 1985/1986 and 1993/1994 in Freiburg i. B., where he was also visiting professor at the Musicological Seminar of the Albert Ludwig University.

In 2006 he became a full member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU), and since 2010 he has been member of the HAZU Presidency.

Especially outstanding is his work connected with semiotic research: from 1994 he was member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS/AIS), from 1994 to 1996 he was vice-president of the Semiotics Section of the Croatian Association of Social and Humanistic Sciences, from 1996 to 1999 he was member of the Central Board of the Croatian Semiotic Society.