Mogens Winkel Holm

Mogens Winkel Holm (1 October 1936 – 31 October 1999) was a Danish composer.

Holm was born in Copenhagen; his father was the architect Tyge Holm.

He studied orchestration with Jørgen Jersild at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and oboe with Mogens Steen Andreassen, then for some years was assistant oboist with the Royal Danish Orchestra and worked in the music department at Danmarks Radio.

In collaboration with, among others, his brother the dancer and choreographer Eske Holm, he originated a long series of ballets, both at the Royal Danish Theater and on Danish and Swedish television between 1964 and 1984.

His music has been described as dramatic and often very gestural.

Paradoxically enough, it is experienced as a record of improvisation.

At the same time, it is constructed on a framework, in a pre-established format.

"The framework protects me from being completely absorbed by the material, but it also protects the material from being absorbed by me," the composer himself said.

But he also said: "You see with your ears, you hear with your eyes. A spring day, a vision, a sound: A lark singing high in the dazzling sky, a dot. Hold on! If you look away for just a moment, you will never find it again."

From 1965 to 1971, he was also the music reviewer for Politiken and Ekstra Bladet.

He also held a number of posts in music organisations, including president of Det Unge Tonekunstnerselskab (The Society of Young Musicians) and for almost 20 years, of Dansk Komponist Forening (the Danish Composers' Association).

In 1999 he was elected to membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Holm was a prolific composer in a wide range of genres, but ballet was his speciality.