Milan Kymlicka
15 May 1936 – 9 October 2008
Milan Kymlicka was a Czechoslovakian and Canadian arranger, composer and conductor. He was best known for his composition of film and television scores, including those for the animated television series Rupert and Babar and the live-action television series Lassie and Little Men.
He received numerous awards for his work, including a Genie Award in 1996 for his work on Margaret’s Museum. Born in Louny, Kymlicka earned degrees from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and the Prague Conservatory. At the latter institution he was a pupil of Emil Hlobil. He began his work as a composer in his native country and by 1967 he had produced 20 film scores, a ballet, a cello concerto, several works for solo piano, and a number of string quartets. After Prague Spring in 1968 Kymlicka emigrated to Canada where he settled in Toronto.
By the early 1970s he was one of the leading studio arranger/conductors at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1974, Kymlicka became a naturalized Canadian citizen. He remained busy as a composer, arranger, and conductor for film, television, and radio up until his death in Toronto in 2008. Among his last released works was also “Závoj tkaný touhami” (originally by Tanita Tikaram), arranged for the album Ohrožený druh (2008).