Franjo Krežma

Franjo Krežma (4 September 1862 – 15 June 1881),[1] also known as Franz Krezma in German-speaking countries, was a Croatian violinist and composer.

Krežma performed his first public concert on the 10.8.1870 in Sisak,[2] at the very young age of 8, playing his violin with his three years older sister Anka (later Krežma-Barbot) backing him on the piano.

[1] On 1 July 1879, at the age of 16, he became the concert master at Benjamin Bilse's Bilse'sche Kapelle, the orchestra which would in the following years become Berlin Philharmonic.

[1] Highly respected and admired by famous musicians like Giuseppe Verdi, Henry Vieuxtemps, Franz Liszt with whom he once played both as a violinist and a composer, Franjo Krežma's surviving work, after a fire at his parents' home destroyed some of his it, along with his priceless violin,[2] numbers one symphony, three overtures, several marches and dances for the orchestra, some works for a string quartet and some pieces for the violin.

[1] Today, he is remembered in the name of an elementary school and through an international festival for young string instrument players in his native Osijek.