Romania on Music Theory Print

Adrian Enescu

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Adrian-Floru Enescu (31 March 1948 – 19 August 2016) was a Romanian composer of film soundtracks and contemporary music. As an individual musician, he also pioneered the local electronic scene during the 1970s and 1980s. He graduated from the Ciprian Porumbescu Music Conservatory in Bucharest, following the composition class of Aurel Stroe and in harmony. Among his list of accomplishments are music for ballet in Italy, China, and Australia, music for theater in Romania, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Australia, Canada, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Other accomplishments * In 1976, Basorelief (symphonic pop) * In 1980, Funky Synthesizer vol 1 (electronic music) * In 1983, vocal lead Stereo Group (pop music) * In 1984, Funky Synthesizer vol 2 (electronic music) * In 1988, (vocal lead, Loredana Groza (pop music)) * In 1989, (vocal lead, Loredana Groza) (pop music) * In 1999-2000, Jingle for “Arcadia Jingle Bank”, Germany * In 2000, Millennium Angel (produced by PRO TV Romania) * In 2001, Diva (vocal lead, Loredana Groza) (pop music) * In 2001, November Dreams produced by Axel Springer Company, Germany * In 2001, EarthTone records division of Sonic Images Records USA published Invisible Music ch

Adriana Hölszky

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Adriana Hölszky (born 30 June 1953) is a Romanian-born German music educator, composer and pianist who has been living in Germany since 1976. During her studies she performed as a pianist of the Trio Lipatti, together with her twin sister, violinist Monika Hölszky-Wiedemann and cellist Hertha Rosa-Herseni. In 1977 and 1978, she participated in the International Mozarteum Summer Academy, and in 1978–1984 regularly in the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. In 1980 she received a teaching position at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, and in 1983 a grant from the Arts Foundation of Baden-Württemberg. In 1986 she took first place at the Composers’ Forum of the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. In 1987 she received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture of Lower Saxony. In 1992 she took composition seminars in Tokyo and Kyoto, and at the IRCAM in Paris. Her increasing international popularity was shown by three concerts she performed in Athens, Thessaloniki and Boston in 1993. Between 1997 and 2000, Hölszky was professor of composition at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre, and since 2000 she has been professor of composition at the Moza

Alexandru Mandy

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Alexandru Mandy (; August 9, 1914 – October 10, 2005) was a Romanian Jewish composer. Career Mandy began his first major compositional debut with his Song of the Wind. He often wrote lyrics to preexisting instrumental music, but a majority of his songs consisted of completely original compositions. His soundtrack was sung by and . He was heavily inspired by Romanian artist Constantin Brâncuși. When he was 20, he first discovered Brâncuși’s work at a meeting of poet Elena Farago. Many of his pieces, such as the (), (), (), and found their way to be memorialized in Mandy’s songs. A lot of his work was also influenced by his pride in his homeland of Romania. In 1966, he composed Your Voice, a tribute to Maria Tănase. Additionally, he performed other pieces influenced by traditional Romanian culture such as Cânt pentru bradul meu (I sing for my tree) and Un grai, o vatră, un isvor (A voice, a hearth, a spring). His piece, Ierusalim, is a tribute to the victims of the Munich Olympic massacre victims. Mihai’s renditions of The endless column and Under a patch of sky won Mandy the prize of the . Personal life Mandy studied at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Bucharest for his tertiary education

Ana-Maria Avram

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Ana-Maria Avram (1961– 1 August 2017) was a Romanian composer, pianist, conductor and musicologist. Avram was the co-conductor of the Hyperion Ensemble and co-founder and artistic director of the Spectrum XXI festival, which was designed to showcase innovative Romanian music. Biography Avram was born in 1961 in Bucharest, Romania. She attended the National University of Music Bucharest from 1980 to 1985, after which she studied aesthetics at Sorbonne, Paris. She was also the co-director of Hyperion Ensemble with her husband Iancu Dumitrescu, who founded the ensemble in 1976. Musical style Avram’s music synthesized contemporary classical, improvisation, electro-acoustic- and electronic music. Her music tended to move between improvisation and notation and often used electronics to augment her sonic palette. She composed around 130 pieces, and released 25 collaborative albums with her husband. References

Anatol Vieru

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Anatol Vieru (; 8 June 1926 – 8 October 1998) was a Romanian music theoretician, pedagogue, and composer. A pupil of Aram Khachaturian, he composed seven symphonies, eight string quartets, concertos, and chamber music. He also wrote three operas: Iona (1976), Praznicul Calicilor (1981), and Telegrame, Temă și Variațiuni (1983). He was awarded the Herder Prize in 1986. Biography Vieru was born in Iași. In 1954 he married Nina Shutikova, with whom he had one son and one daughter; his son is the pianist, writer and mathematician . He was a conductor at the Bucharest National Theatre from 1947 to 1950, when he became editor of magazine. Vieru died in Bucharest at age 72. List of works Dramatic *Iona (opera, 1, after Marin Sorescu and sketches by M.C. Escher), 1972–75, concert performed in Bucharest, 31 October 1976 *Praznicul calicilor The Feast of the Beggars (op, after Mihail Sorbul), 1978–80, Berlin, 1991 *Telegrame (mini-opera, after Ion Luca Caragiale), 1983 *Temă cu Variațiuni Theme and Variations (mini-opera, after Caragiale), 1983 *Ultimele zile, ultimele ore The Last Days, the Last Hours (opera, 3, after Alexander Pushkin: Mozart and Salieri and Mikhail Bulgakov: The Last Days

Aurel Stroe

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Aurel Stroe (5 May 1932, in Bucharest – 3 October 2008, in Mannheim) was a Romanian composer, philosopher and linguist. In 2002 he was awarded the Herder Prize from the University of Vienna. Life and career From 1951 to 1956 Stroe studied piano with Maria Totino, composition with Mihail Andricu, and harmony with Marṭian Negrea at the Bucharest Conservatory. He also took summer courses at the Darmstadt Conservatory from 1966 to 1969 where he was a pupil of Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He was awarded a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service which enabled him to pursue research at the International Comparative Musicology Institute of Alain Danielou in 1972-1973. Stroe was appointed the position of reader at the Bucharest Conservatory in 1962. From 1986 to 1993 he was a professor of composition at the Mannheim Hochschule für Musik. In 2006, he was awarded the Promaetheus Prize by the Anonimul Foundation. Musical works Including electronic music. Opera * Asta nu va primi Nobel Prize (1969) - opera în three parts (Paul Sterian) * Pacea (1973) - opera în three acts (Aristophanes) * Trilogia Cetății Închise (1973-1988) opera, libretto after Aesch

Carmen Petra Basacopol

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Carmen Petra Basacopol (5 September 1926 – 15 October 2023) was a Romanian composer, pianist, musicologist and academic teacher. She taught at the National University of Music Bucharest, between 1962 and 2003, and at the Rabat Conservatoire in Morocco in the 1970s. As a musicologist, she achieved a PhD from the Sorbonne University in Paris in 1976, with a dissertation about three Romanian composers who had influenced her, George Enescu, Mihail Jora and Paul Constantinescu, composers representing essential features of Romanian music. She composed music of many genres, with a focus on chamber music, including compositions with the harp; her works have been performed internationally. Her music has been described as stylistically diversified, “defined by the freshness of inspiration, the elegance of construction and the ability to communicate directly with the listener through the simplicity of melodic and harmonic expression”. Works Petra Basacopol composed for orchestra, opera, chamber ensemble, harp, piano, voice, and ballet performance, Her Concertino for Harp, String Orchestra and Timpani together with the Harp Concerto by Paul Constantinescu, played by soloist Elena Ganţolea and

Constantin Brăiloiu

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Constantin Brăiloiu (13 August 1893 – 20 December 1958) was a Romanian composer and internationally known ethnomusicologist. He was born in Bucharest, the scion of an old boyar family from Oltenia. His father, Nicolae Brăiloiu, and his grandfather, Constantin N. Brăiloiu, were both lawyers and politicians. Constantin Brăiloiu studied in Bucharest (1901–1907), Vienna (1907–1909), Vevey and Lausanne (1909–1912), as well as Paris (1912–1914). In 1920, he founded the Societatea Compozitorilor Români (SCR, Society of Romanian Composers) along with other composers, and he served as general secretary of the organization between 1926 and 1943. In 1928, he initiated the composer’s collective Arhiva de folklore (folklore archive), which soon became one of the largest folk music archives of its time. From 1928 he and sociology professor Dimitrie Gusti visited the various regions of Romania in order to make sound recordings. In 1931, he published the article “Schița unei metode de folclor muzical” (Sketch of a method for music folklore), which became one of the foundational texts for ethnomusicology. In 1943, he became cultural consultant for the Romanian embassy in Bern. Due to the political

Cornel Țăranu

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Cornel Țăranu (; 20 June 1934 – 18 June 2023) was a Romanian classical composer, musicologist, conductor and cultural manager. A native of Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, he was always attached to this region, and contributed to cultural cooperation between Romanian and ethnic Hungarian musicians. He studied locally, at the Cluj Academy, assimilating the local avatar of neoclassicism, alongside influences from Romanian folk music—though his debut years also evidenced conformity with Socialist Realism, he was reportedly censured by the communist regime for keeping company with sidelined figures, such as the poet Lucian Blaga. A teacher at his alma mater, he furthered his studies abroad, at the Conservatoire de Paris, becoming an authority on, and posthumous disciple of, George Enescu. Braving controversy, he worked on completing unfinished scores by Enescu, including his Fifth Symphony and a musical poem, Strigoii. In parallel, he founded Cluj’s Ars Nova, a chamber orchestra dedicated to contemporary classical music and performance art. Țăranu’s main compositions focus on orchestral work; he wrote two operas, vocal music for soloists and choirs, and critically acclaimed film scores. Hi

Cornelia Tăutu

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Cornelia Tăutu (10 March 1938 – 24 March 2019) was a Romanian composer best known for film soundtracks. Biography Cornelia Tăutu was born in Odorhei, Romania in 1938. She studied both music composition and pedagogy at the National University of Music in Bucharest, and was a student of Aurel Stroe, Anatol Vieru, and Mihail Jora. She then worked at both the Dialectological Research Institute and the Institute of Ethnological as a researcher for a time before traveling to New York City in 1971 to study composition at Long Island University with Raoul Pleskov. *1983 Caruta cu mere *1983 Impossible Love *1980 Dumbrava minunata *1978 Actiunea Autobuzul *1978 Buzduganul cu trei peceti *1978 Together Again *1975 Patima External links * References

Costin Miereanu

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Costin Miereanu (27 February 1943 – 20 August 2025) was a French composer and musicologist of Romanian origin. Biography Miereanu was born in Bucharest in 1943. At the age of eleven, he enrolled in the Bucharest School of Music, where he completed six years of study in piano and chamber music. Following this, he balanced his time between a music academy and a standard secondary education. His dual studies culminated in a science baccalaureate and a degree in piano concert and teaching, after which he continued his musical journey at the Bucharest Conservatory for another six years (1960-1966), studying with Alfred Mendelsohn, Tiberiu Olah, Ștefan Niculescu, Dan Constantinescu, Myriam Marbé, Aurel Stroe, Anton Vieru, and Octavian Lazăr Cosma. He became accointed with composers Iancu Dumitrescu and Horațiu Rădulescu, and started to get immersed into avant-garde music and simultaneously begins his musicological career, writing articles for journals and magazines. Between 1967 and 1969, he was a student of Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti, and Erhard Karkoschka at the Ferienkurse für neue Musik in Darmstadt. In September 1968, Miereanu travelled to Paris to sign a contract with Édi

Dan-Alexandru Voiculescu

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Dan Voiculescu (born 20 July 1940 in Saschiz, died 29 August 2009, in Bucharest) was a Romanian composer, doctor of musicology (1983), professor of counterpoint and composition at the Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca (since 1963) and the National Music University of Bucharest (since 2000), and a member of the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists (since 1965). His musicological studies fill a niche in the Romanian bibliography; they are significant contributions towards understanding the polyphony of 20th-century classical music. His compositions are performed frequently, both in Romania and abroad. Published works Compositions * The Bald Prima Donna, comical chamber opera, after Eugène Ionesco, 1992–1993 * Cantata for baritone, choir and orchestra, 1977 * Simfonia ostinato, 1963 * Visions cosmiques, 1968 * Music for strings, 1971 * Pieces for orchestra, 1975 * Suite from Codex Caioni for strings, 1996 * Inflorescences for strings, 2001 * Works for piano solo ** Fables ** Dialogs ** Sonata ** Croquis ** Sonantes ** Spirals ** Toccata piano ** Toccata armonica ** Toccata robotica ** Toccata for a hand * Book without end — 3 volumes of piano pieces for children * Sonata brava for

Dimitrie Cuclin

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Dimitrie Cuclin (April 5 1885 – February 7, 1978) was a Romanian classical music composer, musicologist, philosopher, translator, and writer. Biography Early life Cuclin was born in the city of Galaţi, a port on the left shore of the Danube. His father was an immigrant from czarist Bessarabia, from the village of Cucleni, near the town of Izmail. He had studied music at the Theological Seminar of Izmail and at the Universities of Iaşi and Bucharest. At the time of Dimitrie’s birth he was a music teacher at the Vasile Alecsandri High School in Galați. His mother was of peasant origin, from the village of Pechea, located about 25 miles from Galați; she was a housewife. Cuclin completed his primary and secondary studies in his native city, where his father was his first music teacher. During high-school, he began to compose small musical pieces, which impressed the composer G.D. Kiriac, who thus suggested that Cuclin should go to Bucharest to study music. Studentship The young composer applied first at the Conservatory (1903), where he was rejected for being above the age limit, and then at the Royal Academy of Music (1904), where he was accepted at the section of Theory and Harmony.

Doina Rotaru

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Marilena Doinița Rotaru (known as Doina, also Nemţeanu-Rotaru; born 14 September 1951, Bucharest) is a Romanian composer best known for her orchestral and chamber works. She has won prizes from the Romanian Composers’ Union seven times, and was awarded the Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences prize in 1986. She won first prize in the GEDOK Competition in Mannheim in 1994 for her second symphony. She is a professor of harmony at the Bucharest Conservatory. Biography Marilena Doinița Rotaru was born in Bucharest and studied with Tiberiu Olah at the Bucharest Conservatory in Bucharest from 1970–1975. In 1991, she continued her studies with Theo Loevendie in Amsterdam. In 1991 she also took a position as a professor at the National University of Music, and has served several times as a guest lecturer in Darmstadt, Germany and the Gaudeamus Composers Workshop in Amsterdam. Her music has been commissioned and performed internationally in Europe, Asia and the Americas. She is a member of the Romanian Composers Union. In 1986, Rotaru published an article with Liviu Comes on the counterpoint techniques of Johann Sebastian Bach and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina in Editura Muzicala. Her m

Dora Cojocaru

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Dora Cojocaru (born 20 August 1963 in Baia Mare) is a Romanian composer. Cojocaru studied at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca and obtained diplomas in composition, pedagogy and piano there in 1986. After studying with Johannes Fritsch at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, she was awarded a master’s degree in composition. In 1997, she obtained a Ph.D. in musicology with a thesis on György Ligeti. After publication in 1999, the work was awarded the prize of the Romanian Composers’ Union. From 1990 to 2002, Cojocaru taught at the Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca, and from 1993 to 1995 she worked for the Westdeutscher Rundfunk. She has been living in Montreal since 2002 and teaches at different music institutions. Work *Structuri for orchestra, 1985 *Luci, soare, luci, cantata for choir and orchestra, 1986 *Bocet pentru Manole, cantata for vocal soloists and chamber ensemble, 1987 *Cantos ll for mezzo-soprano and clarinet, 1991 *Vitalitate! for string orchestra, 1991 *Poarta Soarelui for flute and percussion, 1992 *A3 for clarinet, piano and percussion, 1992 (CD: Hungaroton, Budapest, 1998) *Trills, string trio, 1992 *String Quartet No. 1, 1994 *Riga Crypto si Lapona Enigel, Cham

Doru Popovici

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Ionel Doru Popovici (February 17, 1932 – March 5, 2019) was a Romanian composer, musicologist, writer and musical concerts manager. Biography Ionel Doru Popovici was born in Reșița, Romania, a city close to the border of what was formerly Yugoslavia, now Serbia. His father was Ioan Popovici, a surgeon who was assassinated in 1959 in the Gherla political prison, accused of being an “Enemy of the Romanian State” because he helped write the Hungarian Counter-Revolution. His mother, Eugenia Popa, was the daughter of an Orthodox priest. Popovici graduated from the Constantin Diaconovici Loga High School in Timișoara in 1950 and in the same year decided to pursue a musical career. He moved to Bucharest where he was admitted to the Ciprian Porumbescu Music Conservatory from which he graduated in 1955 with a degree in composition. Popovici studied under Mihail Andricu, Mihail Jora, Paul Constantinescu in harmony, Martian Negrea in counterpoint, Theodor Rogalski in instrumentation, and Zeno Vancea in music history. In 1966, Popovici married Alina Musat, a music teacher, musicologist, and author of Ottorino Respighi, (Ed. Muzicala, 1972). Starting in 1968 Popovici made regular trips to Darms

Dov Seltzer

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Dov “Dubi” Seltzer (; born 1931) is a Romanian-born Israeli composer and conductor. Early life and education Seltzer was born in Iași, Romania, and raised in Bucharest, where he began studying music at an early age. He received instruction in music theory and harmony from Alfred Mendelsohn and Mihail Jora. At the age of 15, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. A musical comedy he had composed prior to his emigration continued to be performed for two years by a professional youth theater in Bucharest. He completed his secondary education while living in Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek. On the recommendation of pianist Frank Pelleg, he was awarded a scholarship to pursue further musical studies at conservatories in Haifa and Tel Aviv-Jaffa. At 18, Seltzer joined the Israel Defense Forces, where he became one of the founders and the first official composer of the Lehakat HaNahal military ensemble. His work with the ensemble and subsequent compositions became part of the core repertoire of Israeli music. He also performed as an accordionist and arranger for the Israeli musical group Oranim Zabar, and was married to its lead singer, Geula Gill. During his military service, Seltzer received a sp

Dumitru Georgescu Kiriac

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Dumitru Georgescu Kiriac (18 March 1866 – 8 January 1928) was a Romanian composer, conductor, and ethnomusicologist. He was particularly known for his sacred choral works and art songs which were based on the Romanian Orthodox tradition and Romanian folklore. Kiriac was born in Bucharest and began his musical studies at the Bucharest Conservatory (now the National University of Music) with Gheorghe Brătianu (1847–1905) and Eduard Wachmann (1836–1908). From 1892 to 1899 he studied in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and with Charles-Marie Widor and Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatory. It was during this time that he began collecting Romanian children’s folk songs. On his return to Bucharest in 1900 he became a professor at the Bucharest Conservatory. The following year he founded the Romanian choral society, Carmen. Kiriac died in his native city at the age of 61. He was considered one of the founders of modern Romanian music. Festivalul Internaţional de Muzică Corală “D.G. Kiriac”, an international festival of sacred choral music held annually in the city of Pitești, is named in his honour as is the city’s male voice choir. References Further reading *

Eduard Caudella

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Eduard Caudella (22 May (or 3 June) 1841 – 15 April 1924) was a Romanian opera composer, also a violin virtuoso, conductor, teacher and critic. He studied with Henri Vieuxtemps, and taught at the Iași Conservatory. Operas *Harţă Răzeşul (1872) *Hatmanul Baltag (1884) *Beizadea Epaminonda (1885) *Fata răzeşului (1885) *Petru Rareş (1889) Selected other works *Violin Concerto No. 1 (1915) *Dochia, orchestral ballad *Souvenirs of the Carpathians (Amintiri din Carpati) References External links * * Eduard Caudella and the Romanian lyrical theatre

Elena Asachi

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Elena Asachi, née Teyber; also known as Hélène and Eleonora (30 October 1789 – 9 May 1877) was a Romanian pianist, singer, translator and composer of Austrian birth. She was the daughter of Austrian composer Anton Teyber and niece of concertmaster Franz Teyber. She studied music under her father as a child in Dresden. Later she studied in Vienna under opera singer Domenico Donzelli. She became a professor at Iași Conservatory where she was known as a pianist and composer from 1827 to 1863. She married Gheorghe Asachi, with whom she collaborated on songs and theatrical works. Together with her husband she promoted the creation of the first music institute in the Principality of Moldavia, the Philharmonic-Drama Conservatory. Life Elena Asachi was born Elena Teyber, on 30 October 1789 in Vienna. She was the daughter of Austrian composer Anton Teyber and the niece of concertmaster Franz Teyber. Asachi was a pianist, singer, translator and composer. She studied music under her father as a child in Dresden, including theory, solfege, harmony and counterpoint. After completing her studies, she became a professor at Iași Conservatory where she was known as a pianist and composer from 1827

Esmeralda Athanasiu-Gardeev

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Esmeralda Athanasiu-Gardeev (also Esméralda Athanassiou-Gardéev, 1834–1917) was a Romanian pianist and composer. She studied piano and composition in Paris with Julius Schulhoff and composition in St. Petersburg with Anton Rubinstein. She married a Russian general, who introduced her to European aristocracy. Athanasiu-Gardeev taught singing, lute and piano, and her compositions are influenced by Romanian folklore. She published a large number of salon compositions, often with French titles, and dedicated to members of the aristrocracy. Life Athanasiu-Gardeev was born in Galaţi, Moldavia, in 1834. Scott describes some of Athanasiu-Gardeev’s piano compositions as technically extremely difficult, and also says “her Rumänisches Charakterstück contains examples of rich romantic harmony, such as half-diminished sevenths and dominant ninths, and there is a Lisztian cadenza… but despite her composition lessons, there are plenty of examples of amateurish technique.” Works Many of Athanasiu-Gardeev’s compositions were based on Romanian folklore. She published a large number of salon compositions, often with French titles, and dedicated to members of the aristrocracy. Selected works include

Eusebius Mandyczewski

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Eusebius Mandyczewski (, ; 18 August 1857, in Molodiia – 13 August 1929, in Vienna) was a Romanian musicologist, composer, conductor, and teacher. He was an author of numerous musical works and is highly regarded within Austrian, Romanian and Ukrainian music circles. Personal life Eusebius Mandyczewski was born in the village of Bahrynivka (Ukrainian: Багринівка; Romanian: Bahrinești) (then Austria-Hungary; now Ukraine, Hlyboka Raion) on 18 August 1857. His father was a priest and his mother, Veronica, born Popovici, was the sister of Eusebiu Popovici, erudite professor of history at the University of Cernauti and the father of the Bucovinian poet Gheorghe Popovici (known under the pen name of T. Robeanu). His origin according to the father has Slavic affiliations; according to his mother the origin is Romanian. Eusebius had two brothers (Georgiy and Prof. Kostiantyn) and one sister (Kateryna). Kostiantyn was a secondary school teacher, member of the regional School Council and later Head of the Chernivtsi Library. Kateryna Mandychevs’ka was a school teacher. Georgiy was also a composer of choral music. He finished his secondary studies at the upper school of Chernivtsi and simulta

Felicia Donceanu

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Felicia Donceanu (28 January 1931 – 21 January 2022) was a Romanian painter, sculptor, pianist and composer. She composed works that were performed internationally, and was particularly noted for her harp compositions and choral works. Donceanu was awarded the Romanian Academy George Enescu Prize in 1984. Life and career Donceanu was born in Bacău on 28 January 1931. Donceanu died in Drăgoești on 21 January 2022, at the age of 90. Honors and awards * Honorable mention, International Composition Competition in Mannheim, 1961 * Romanian Union of Composers’ prize in 1984, 1984?, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1996, and 1997 * Order of Cultural Merit, 1981 * Romanian Academy George Enescu prize, 1984 Works Donceanu composed for stage plays and instrumental ensemble, but focused mostly on chamber works. Her music is influenced by Romanian folk music, sometimes featuring traditional folk instruments. Selected works include: * Arie de Concert (1973) for baritone and orchestra * Măiastra (1973) for soprano, chorus, and string orchestra * Picolicomando (1984) for tenor, children’s chorus, organ, violin, and percussion * Yolanda (1993) for soprano and orchestra * Rugăciunea Domnească (1992) for voice, st

Filip Lazăr (musician)

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Filip Lazăr (6 May 1894 – 3 November 1936) was an avant-garde Romanian composer and pianist. Life and career Lazăr was born in Craiova, Romania and died in Paris, France. At the Bucharest Conservatory (1907–1912) he studied piano with Emilia Saegiu, theory with Dumitru Georgescu Kiriac and with Alfonso Castaldi he studied harmony, counterpoint and composition. He studied for two years with Castaldi at the Leipzig Conservatory before touring as a pianist, playing much new music. From 1928 he was in France and Switzerland. He ventured from a Romanian nationalistic style into serialism and neo-classicism. From 1925, important publishers in Paris (Durand, Salabert, Max Eschig and Heugel) and Vienna (Universal Edition) began printing the works of Lazăr and other Romanian composers such as Mihail Jora, Marcel Mihalovici and George Enescu. In 1920 Lazăr was a founder-member of the Society of Romanian Composers. In 1932, along with Mihalovici, he was among the founders of the Triton society of contemporary music in Paris (1932–1939), and a member of its active committee. Theatre music *1918 – La bouteille de Panurge, ballet, libretto by André Cœuroy *1928 – Les Images de Béatrice, op. 18,

Florica Racovitză-Flondor

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Florica Racovitză-Flondor (also Racoviță; 13 November 1897 - 7 February 1983) was a Romanian composer and pianist who composed vocal and instrumental works, including at least five operettas. Some of her works were inspired by Romanian folklore. Racovitză-Flondor was born in Rogojești, in Austria-Hungary’s Duchy of Bukovina. to Maria Ciuntu and Tudor Flondor. Her father was a politician, composer and conductor. She married Brigadier General Aurel Racovitză in 1924 Later, she studied composition in Bucharest. Her teachers included Mihail Jora, Eusebius Mandyczewski, Joseph Marx, Emil Sauer, and Richard Stöhr. Racovitză-Flondor belonged to the American Society of Composer, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). Her compositions were published by Editions Musicales and included: Operettas *Lita the Fish Eater *Santa Claus *Peasant Wedding (libretto by Vasile Alecsandri) *Pentecost *Remnant Organ *Chorale *Prelude Piano *Burlesque *Caprice *Dance *From Children’s Life (Suite) *Fugues in f minor and G Major *Improvisation *Noveletta *Prelude and Fugue in c minor *Sonata in f minor *Song Without Words *Source in the Woods *Three Intermezzi *Three Preludes *Three Romanian Dances *Three Studies

Francis Chagrin

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Francis Chagrin (born Alexander Paucker, 15 November 1905 – 10 November 1972), was a composer of film scores and popular orchestral music, as well as a conductor. He was also the “organizer and chief moving spirit” who founded the Society for the Promotion of New Music. By playing in nightclubs and cafes and writing popular songs, he funded himself for two years, from 1933, at the Ecole Normale, where his teachers included Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger, and settled in England in 1936. Ralph Vaughan Williams agreed to be its president, with Arthur Bliss the committee’s vice-president. In his obituary of Chagrin, fellow composer Benjamin Frankel said that through the Society Chagrin “gave many composers (not only the young ones) their first opportunity of a hearing: he had travelled abroad as our representative, had battled with publishers and spoken passionately on the question of performing rights. He had, in fact, become the first person to whom we turned when composer’s problems arose”. In 1951 Chagrin formed his own chamber group, the Francis Chagrin Ensemble which performed and broadcast regularly over the next two decades, including many first performances. His sons are the a

George Enescu

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George Enescu (; 19 August 1881 – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, teacher and statesman. He is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history. Biography Enescu was born in Romania, in the village of Liveni (later renamed “George Enescu” in his honor), then in Dorohoi County, today Botoșani County. His father was Costache Enescu, a landholder, and his mother was Maria Enescu (née Cosmovici), the daughter of an Orthodox priest. Their eighth child, he was born after all the previous siblings had died in infancy. His father later separated from Maria Enescu and had another son with Maria Ferdinand-Suschi: the painter Dumitru Bâșcu. A child prodigy, Enescu began experimenting with composing at an early age. Several, mostly very short, pieces survive, all for violin and piano. The earliest work of significant length bears the title Pămînt românesc (“Romanian Land”), and is inscribed “opus for piano and violin by George Enescu, Romanian composer, aged five years and a quarter”. Shortly thereafter, his father presented him to the professor and composer Eduard Caudella. On 5 October 1888, at the age of se

George Stephănescu

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George Stephănescu (13 December 1843 – 25 April 1925) was a Romanian composer, one of the main figures in Romanian national opera. Stephănescu was born and died in Bucharest. He graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Music. In 1877, Stephănescu was appointed conductor of the National Theater orchestra and Singing teacher at the Academy. While teaching the opera singers at the Academy, he aimed to gradually develop the National Theater’s musical repertoire from vaudevilles to musical comedies and finally to opera. In 1885, he founded the first opera company in the Kingdom of Romania. It disbanded in 1902 when the government cut its financial support. Stephănescu is noted for having used works by many poets as librettos or texts for his compositions — among them, the locals Vasile Alecsandri, Mihai Eminescu, Traian Demetrescu, Alexandru Vlahuţă and the foreigners Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset. His son was the writer Eugeniu Ștefănescu-Est. Works *Symphony in A Major (1869) *Peste Dunăre (opera, 1880) *Sânziana şi Pepelea (opera, 1880) *National Overture (1882) *Scaiul bărbaţilor (opera, 1885) *Cometa (opera, 1900) *Petra (opera, 1902) References External links * Profile at Cimec.

Gică Petrescu

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Gică Petrescu (; 2 April 1915 – 18 June 2006) was a prolific Romanian folk music composer and performer. Born in Bucharest, he made his debut at age 18 by joining a student band, having just graduated from the Gheorghe Șincai High School in his native city. His official debut was made by performing for radio audiences in 1937. Between 1937 and 1939, he carried on singing with the Radu Ghindă and Dinu Șerbănescu orchestras at the Sinaia Casino in the Carpathian Mountains. Some music critics have compared his talent and public appeal to the likes of Frank Sinatra or Maurice Chevalier. His showmanship and charm were able to attract audiences of all ages, while his music influences combine folk with classical orchestra arrangements. He holds the record for the number of most original (composed and performed) songs (over 1,500), in an amazingly varied discography, many of which became national hits and which were covered again and again by other Romanian artists. Some of those hits are: *Căsuța noastră (Our Little House) *București, București (Bucharest, Bucharest) *Dă-i cu șprițul pân’ la ziuă (Drink Spritz Until Daylight) *Du-mă acasă, măi tramvai (Take Me Home, Tram) *Uite-așa aș vre

György Kurtág

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György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. Kurtág was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993. For decades, Kurtág and his wife Márta gave recitals on one piano of selections from his ten-volume collection Játékok and his Bach transcriptions. Life and career György Kurtág was born on 19 February 1926 in Lugoj, Romania, to Jewish Hungarian parents. He spoke Hungarian, Romanian, and German early. From the age of 14, he took piano lessons from Magda Kardos and studied composition with Max Eisikovits in Timișoara. He moved to Budapest in 1946 and became a Hungarian citizen in 1948. There, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he met his wife, Márta Kinsker, as well as composer György Ligeti, who became a close friend. His piano teacher at the academy was Pál Kadosa. He studied composition with Sándor Veress and Ferenc Farkas, chamber music with Leó Weiner, and theory with Lajos Bárdos, and graduated in piano and chamber music in 1951. He married Márta in 1947 and their son was born in 1954. He received his deg

Iancu Dumitrescu

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Iancu Dumitrescu (born 15 July 1944) is a Romanian avant-garde composer. Life and works Dumitrescu was born in Sibiu, Romania. He received a master’s degree in composition in Bucharest, where his teachers included Alfred Mendelsohn. Later, he studied conducting and philosophy with Sergiu Celibidache, who led Dumitrescu to engage with the philosophy of Edmund Husserl and apply the principles of phenomenology to music. He began composing his mature works in the early 1970s. In 1976 he founded the Hyperion Ensemble, which he describes as “a multimedia group dedicated to experimental music”. Several of Dumitrescu’s early works for solo contrabass were recorded by the noted avant-garde bassist Fernando Grillo. Dumitrescu has composed a large body of works for acoustic instruments and ensembles as well as works combining acoustic and electronic sounds and works composed entirely using tape or computer. In its emphasis on long tones that undergo transformations of timbre, Dumitrescu’s music can be loosely grouped with that of Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi and with the spectral music of fellow Romanian Horațiu Rădulescu and the French composers of the spectral school. Dumitrescu describ

Ion Nonna Otescu

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Ion Nonna Otescu (15 December 1888 – 25 March 1940) was a Romanian composer and head of the Bucharest Conservatory (now the National University of Music) from 1918 until 1940. He was born in Bucharest and died there at the age of 51, having played an influential role in the musical life of his native country. Life and career Otescu was born in Bucharest and studied at the Conservatory there from 1903 to 1907 under Dumitru Georgescu-Kiriac and Alfonso Castaldi (1874–1942). He then went to Paris where he stayed until 1911 studying at the Schola Cantorum de Paris with Vincent d’Indy and at the Paris Conservatory with Charles-Marie Widor. He began teaching at the Bucharest Conservatory in 1913, and in 1918 he became its head, a position he held until his death in 1940. Otescu played an active role in the musical life of Romania and was instrumental in the founding of the (the precursor of the Romanian National Opera), the Romanian Composers Society, and the music journal Muzika. In 1913 he won the George Enescu Prize and in 1928 the Romanian National Prize for composition. His works were predominantly dramatic in nature: operas, ballets, and symphonic poems. However, he also composed a

Ion Vidu

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Ion Vidu ( – 7 February 1931), was a Romanian composer and choral conductor. Under his influence the small town of Lugoj, which up until that time had not that much in the way of artistic institutions, became a well-known center of choral music in Romania. Vidu was born in Mânerău, Arad County, Austrian Empire, where he initially studied music at the Arad Conservatory (1880–1881) and later at Caransebeș in the Banat region just south of Arad (1885). From 1890 to 1891 he attended the Conservatory of Music and Declamation in Iași (in the historical region of Moldavia, very near the northeastern border of modern Romania), studying harmony and choral conducting with Gavriil Musicescu. He subsequently moved back to Banat, obtaining a post in Lugoj (midway between Caransebeș and Timișoara), where he stayed for the rest of his life. Almost all of his compositions are for chorus. In 1922 he organized the Banat Choral and Brass Band Society, which at one time included more than 10,000 peasant singers. Like his friends and fellow composers Gavriil Musicescu, Béla Bartók, and Dumitru Kiriac-Georgescu, he was an avid collector of folk music. Vidu based most of his music on Romanian folk tunes,

Irina Hasnaș

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Irina Olga Hasnaș (born 15 July 1954) is a Romanian composer. Life and career She was born in Bucharest, Romania, and studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Academy of Music with Ștefan Niculescu, Aurel Stroe, , and . She continued her studies with composer , and in 2000 received a doctorate in music from the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca. After completing her studies, Hasnaș worked as a composer and an editor for Romanian National Radio. Her works have been performed internationally. Works Selected works include: *Concerto for Orchestra (1978) *Evocation, lyric poem for chamber orchestra (1980) *Symphony I, for orchestra (1990) *Metamorphose, for chamber and vocal ensemble (1978) *Melismas, for piano (1979) *Voices of Mioritza, for wind quintet (1980) *Polychomie, for chamber ensemble and tape (1982) *Evolutio I, for clarinet and string quartet (1983) *Evolutio II, for trio – oboe, cello, and piano (1985) *Evolutio III, for string quartet (1988) *Monodie, for solo bassoon (1989) *Games, for solo cello (1993) *Inner Voices, for wind quintet (1994) *Endless Column, for solo flute (1996) *The Musical Box, for trio – clarinet, piano, and violin (2000) *The Rooster, Th

Irina Odagescu

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Irina Odăgescu-Țuțuianu (23 May 1937) is a Romanian music educator and composer. She was a professor at the Bucharest Conservatory, and won the Romanian Composers’ Union Prize and in 2001 the Romanian Academy’s George Enescu Prize. She was also awarded the Italian prize the Viotti-Valesia Prize, and the ‘Ciudad Ibague’ Silver Medal from Columbia, and the IGNM prize at the World Days of Music in Graz. Biography Irina Odăgescu was born on 23 May 1937 in Bucharest, and studied at the Bucharest Music Conservatoire, graduating in 1963. She studied with Alfred Mendelsohn (composition), Tudor Ciortea (musical form), Paul Constantinescu (harmony), Ioan Chirescu (theory) and Alexandru Pascanu (harmony). She also took summer courses with Miriam Marbe on counterpoint, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. After completing her studies, she spent a year as editor of Editions Musicales de Bucharest, and from 1965 to 1967 was a teacher at Art School N0. 5 in Bucharest. From 1967 she was a professor at the Bucharest Conservatoire. Odăgescu’s works have been performed internationally in Europe, Asia, and the United States, and she has lectured at international conferences held a

Liana Alexandra

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Liana Alexandra Șaptefrati (born Liana Moraru; 27 May 1947 – 10 January 2011) was a Romanian composer, pianist, and music educator. Biography Alexandra was born in Bucharest, Romania, on 27 May 1947. From 1965 to 1971, she studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory (now the National University of Music Bucharest) under Tudor Ciortea and Tiberiu Olah and took composition courses in 1974, 1978, 1980 and 1984 in Darmstadt, Germany. Iuliana Porcos described her work as “characterized by a clarity of orchestration and particularly by an evolving repetitive structure which induces a feeling of plenary meditation. Her composing style is defined by simplicity, accessibility and clarity, in accord with the 20th century composers’ wish to approach consonance (a new type of consonance), minimalism and archetype.” Her music was associated with the “New Simplicity” movement by revewers of the 1980 Darmstadt Festival, who praised her Incantations II derived “in an original manner from elements of Rumanian folk music”. Alexandra married the Romanian cellist and composer Şerban Nichifor in 1978. They performed together as Duo Intermedia from 1990 and were co-directors of the Nuova Musica Cons

Liviu Marinescu

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Liviu Marinescu (born February 12, 1970, in Bucharest) is a Romanian composer of orchestral and chamber music. He teaches at California State University, Northridge. Early life He studied music composition at the National University of Music Bucharest with Adrian Iorgulescu, and Cleveland State University with Edwin London. In 2000 he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at University of Maryland, where he worked with Lawrence Moss. Career His music has been recorded and released by Capstone Records, Centaur Records, Navona Records and has been performed by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Orchestra 2001, Bohuslav Martinu Symphony, as well as the National Chamber Radio Orchestra and the Bucharest Music Academy Symphony in Romania. In 2002 he was awarded a prize and commission by the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University. In 1994 began working as a professor. Marinescu taught at Concordia College, West Chester University, University of Maryland and Cleveland State University, and lectured at universities across Europe, including Trondheim Conservatory in Norway, Palacky University in the Czech Republic and the National University of Music in Bucharest. Compositions External l

Maia Ciobanu

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Maia Ciobanu (born 5 May 1952) is a Romanian composer and music educator. She is also the author of books, studies and papers on music. Early years Maia Ciobanu was born in Bucharest and studied at the Conservatory Ciprian Porumbescu. She studied composition with Dan Constantinescu and Myriam Marbe and piano with Aurora Ienei, and also studied with Ștefan Niculescu, Mircea Chiriac, Liviu Comes, and Aurel Stroe. In 1980 she attended the Darmstadt summer courses, and studied composition with Brian Ferneyhough, Gérard Grisey, Wolfgang Rihm, Hans Peter Haller, Włodzimierz Kotoński, and Tristan Murail. In 1995, she studied at the Swedish Academy of Music in Gothenburg. Career Since 1992 Ciobanu has been musical director of the Group for Alternative Contemporary Music. In 1993 she became a professor at the Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film, and has taught courses on contemporary Romanian music at music academies in Gothenburg (1995) and Cologne (1996), at the Pedagogical College of Rorschach (1997), and the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland (2000). Ciobanu won Honorable Mention at the “International Composition Contest – Mannheim GEDOK” in Germany (1981), the Romani

Mansi Barberis

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Mansi (Clemensa) Barberis (March 12, 1899 – October 11, 1986) was a Romanian violinist, music educator, conductor, and composer. Life Clemensa Barberis was born in Iași, the daughter of Giuseppe Barberis and Marguerita Cazaban. She began to improvise on the piano at an early age. When an aunt transcribed one of the pieces, composer George Enescu recommended that Barberis take theory lessons. She studied with Italian professors in Iași and later studied violin, voice, and composition at the George Enescu Conservatory. Barberis graduated from the Conservatory in 1922. She married surgeon Gheorghe Plăcințeanu, taking the surname Barberis-Plăcințeanu, and had a daughter, which she left with her parents so she could continue her studies in Berlin. She returned to Romania after a year and took professional employment, but later continued her studies in Paris during three sessions, studying voice, conducting, opera, composition and orchestration. In 1936 she also studied voice briefly in Vienna with Max Reger. Her opera were performed at the Romanian National Opera, Bucharest and by the Opera Company of Iași. Her music was also recorded and broadcast on Romanian Television (RTV). She was

Marcel Mihalovici

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Marcel Mihalovici (Bucharest, 22 October 1898 – Paris, 12 August 1985) was a French composer born in Romania. He was discovered by George Enescu in Bucharest. He moved to Paris in 1919 (at age 21) to study under Vincent d’Indy. His works include his Sonata number 1 for violin and piano (1920), Mélusine opera (1920, libretto by Yvan Goll), his 1st string quartet (1923), 2nd string quartet (1931), Sonata number 2 for violin and piano (1941), Sonata for violin and cello (1944), Phèdre Opera (1949), Étude in two parts for piano and instrumental ensemble (1951) and Esercizio per archi (1960). Many of his piano works were first performed by his wife, the concert pianist Monique Haas. Mihalovici was the original composer for the music of Samuel Beckett’s radio play Cascando (1962). His Fifth Symphony features a soprano singing a setting of a Beckett poem, and he used Krapp’s Last Tape as the basis for a small opera, Krapp, ou, La dernière bande. His memories of their friendship are recounted in the collected work Beckett at Sixty A Festschrift by John Calder, Calder and Boyars (1967). A strong proponent of neoclassicism, during his career Mihalovici embraced a variety of contemporary styl

Maria Chefaliady-Taban

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Maria Chefaliady-Taban (4 November 186311 June 1932) was a Romanian pianist, music educator and composer. She composed romantic-style works with folk elements, typified by her choral composition Hora carturarului Urechia (Scholar Urechia’s Ring Dance). She performed Bach, Schumann, Beethoven and Greig as a concert pianist, and taught singing. Students of Chefaliady-Taban include Mircea Stefanescu. Life Chefaliady-Taban was born in Iaşi and studied at the Iaşi Conservatory, studying piano with Anetta Boscoff and theory and solfege with Enrico Mezetti. Chefaliady-Taban was offered a scholarship to stay another year in Vienna, but was homesick for Romania. On her return to Bucharest she married Vasile Taban, a cashier at the Ministry of Finance, but the couple divorced after five years. After completing her studies, Chefaliady-Taban performed as a concert pianist, debuting on 11 November 1880, and performing works by Bach, Schumann, Beethoven and Greig. Works Chefaliady-Taban’s style has been called romantic, and she incorporated folk-lore into her compositions. She composed choral works and songs. Selected works include: *Hora carturarului Urechia (Scholar Urechia’s Ring Dance) chora

Marius Constant

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Marius Constant (7 February 192515 May 2004) was a Romanian-born French composer and conductor. Although known in the classical world primarily for his ballet scores, his most widely known music was the iconic guitar theme for The Twilight Zone American television series. Career Constant was born in Bucharest, Romania, and studied piano and composition at the Bucharest Conservatory, receiving the George Enescu Award in 1944. In 1946, he moved to Paris, studying at the Conservatoire de Paris with Olivier Messiaen, Tony Aubin, Arthur Honegger and Nadia Boulanger. His compositions earned several prizes, including the Prix Italia in 1952 for his composition Le joueur de flûte. From 1950 on, he was increasingly involved with electronic music and joined Pierre Schaeffer’s Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète. From 1956 to 1966, Constant conducted at the Ballets de Paris, then directed by Roland Petit. To this period belong the numerous ballet scores for Petit and Maurice Béjart, namely: Haut-voltage (1956), Contrepointe (1958), Cyrano de Bergerac (1959), Éloge de la folie (1966) and Paradis perdu (1967). For the 1957 Aix-en-Provence Festival, he wrote a piano concerto, but won wider r

Matei Socor

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Matei Socor (September 15, 1908 – May 30, 1980) was a Romanian composer and communist activist. Biography Born in Iași, his father was the noted journalist Emanoil Socor, He completed high school in his native city, followed by the Bucharest Conservatory from 1927 to 1929 and the Leipzig Conservatory from 1930 to 1933. In 1929-1930 and 1934-1939, Socor was a collaborator at the Bucharest Folklore Institute. From 1933, he was active as a conductor, both domestically and abroad. He composed music in almost every genre, including choral, vocal symphonic, symphonic, chamber and opera. In 1945, following the establishment of a communist-dominated government, he was placed in key posts as a propagandist. From 1945 to 1952, he headed Romanian Radio. From 1949 to 1954, he was president of the Romanian Composers’ Union, In his post, Socor laid down the ideological parameters for artistic music under the new communist dictatorship and became the ruling party’s key representative in its relations with the musical community. Echoing familiar rhetoric of the day, he claimed that western music was undergoing a “full-blown process of decadence”, that Paul Hindemith was promoting mysticism while O

Maya Badian

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Maya Badian (born 18 April 1945 in Bucharest) is a Romanian-born Canadian composer, musicologist, and professor. Biography Badian began to compose at five years of age, and later attended the Bucharest National University of Music in Bucharest, where she studied with Tiberiu Olah, Aurel Stroe, Zeno Vancea and Tudor Ciortea, graduating with a master’s degree in Composition in 1968. She continued her studies in orchestral conducting in Weimar, Germany during 1972. Since 1970, Badian has been a member of the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists. She was music director at the Radiophonic Theatre Department of the Romanian Broadcasting Corporation from 1968 to 1972 and a music professor at the George Enescu School of Music in Bucharest between 1973 and 1985. Emigrating with her family to Canada in 1987, she settled in Montreal. In 1990 she took Canadian citizenship, and moved to Ottawa, Ontario, in 1995. Badian is now a professor of theoretical studies, examiner, proof reader, and exam maker for the Canadian Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations and also a member of the Canadian League of Composers, and an Associate member with the Canadian Music Centre. In 1992, after two y

Mihai Brediceanu

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Mihai Brediceanu (14 June 1920 – 4 March 2005) was a Romanian composer, conductor, and musicologist. Biography He was born in Brașov, the son of composer Tiberiu Brediceanu and grandson of Coriolan Brediceanu. He studied the piano at the Brașov Conservatory, and music theory, composition and conducting at the National University of Music Bucharest. His teachers were Mihail Jora, , Florica Musicescu, Silvia Șerbescu, and Ionel Perlea. He also pursued graduate courses in law and mathematics at the University of Bucharest. From 1959 to 1966, Brediceanu was director general of the Romanian National Opera, Bucharest, from 1969 to 1971 musical director of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in New York, and by 1975 a professor at Syracuse University. Between 1978 and 1980, he was director general of Opera in Istanbul and between 1982 and 1990, director general of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1991, he was appointed the new director general of the National Opera, Bucharest. In addition to numerous pieces of music for the theatre, Brediceanu composed a symphony, four symphonic dances, a suite for chamber orchestra, choral works, chamber music, and songs. In 2001 he was awarded t

Mihail Andricu

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Mihail Andricu (22 December 1894, Bucharest – 4 February 1974, Bucharest ) was a Romanian composer, violinist, and pianist. He studied with Alfonso Castaldi, Robert Klenck and Dumitru Kiriac. Andricu graduated from the National University of Music Bucharest (1903 to 1912), after which he studied with Gabriel Fauré (1913–1914) and Vincent d’Indy in Paris (1919–1922). From 1926 to 1948 he was a professor of chamber music and from 1948 to 1959 he was a professor of composition. Andricu was expelled from the composers’ union in 1959 and his mention was prohibited. Highly prolific, Andricu composed eleven symphonies, thirteen sinfoniettas, and three chamber symphonies. Specific pieces include a symphonic suite: Cinderella. Honors *Enescu Prize for composition (Op. 1) in 1923 *Enescu Prize for composition (Op. 2) in 1924 *Robert Cremer Prize in 1931 *Anhauch Prize in 1932 *Romanian Academy Award in 1949 References

Myriam Marbé

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Myriam Marbé (9 April 1931 in Bucharest – 25 December 1997 in Bucharest) was a Romanian composer and pianist. She won a number of prizes, including the GEDOK at Mannheim in 1961, 1966 and 1970, six first prizes from the Composers’ Union of Romania, the Bernier Prize and the Romanian Academy Prize. Life Marbe received her first piano lessons from her mother, Angela Marbe, who was a piano teacher. Her father Max Marbe was a bacteriologist. From 1953 to 1965, she was a film director at the Casa de filme in Bucharest. She taught counterpoint and composition at the Bucharest Conservatory from 1954 to 1988, where her refusal to join the Romanian Communist Party prevented her from reaching the rank of Professor. Works *Nunta Zamfirei, ballet, 1954 *Sonata for viola and piano, 1955 *In Memoriam, lyrical piece for oboe, 2 horns, piano, celesta, drum set, and string orchestra, 1959 *Chorsuite, choral suite on texts by and Paul Aristide, 1959 *Sonata (Prologo – Aria – Epilogo) for 2 violas, 1966 *Le Temps Inévitable, 1968–71 *Serenata – Eine kleine Sonnenmusik, 1974 *La parabol du grenier for an interpreter on piano, harpsichord, celesta, and optional glockenspiel and tubular bells, 1975–76 *

Nicolae Bretan

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Nicolae Bretan (; 25 March 1887 – 1 December 1968) In 1916, he received a degree in law at the University of Cluj. In addition to composing, Bretan held various positions as baritone singer, actor, stage director, and director-general. He made his professional debut as a singer in 1913 in Bratislava, continuing to roles in Oradea and at the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, where he served as first baritone from 1922 to 1940. Over his career he performed works by Verdi, Gounod, Bizet, Puccini, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Delibes, and Rossini. Bretan also worked as a translator of libretti, translating his own Luceafărul into Hungarian and Golem into Romanian and German. In 1915 Bretan married pianist Nora Osvát. Together they had two children: (baritone) and Judit (actor and educator). In 1944, Osvát’s family, who were Jewish, were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and murdered. Refusing to become a member of the Romanian Communist Party in 1948, he was not favoured by the Romanian communist regime, who treated the composer as a “non-person”. Biographer Hartmut Gagelmann attributes Bretan’s lack of wider recognition to censorship by the Communist Party of Romania, though this claim

Nicu Alifantis

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Nicu Alifantis (born May 31, 1954) is a Romanian Folk singer, songwriter, stage actor and poet. With an over fifty-year musical career, Alifantis is best known for his discography created with fellow band “Alifantis & Zan” and for his collaborations with other folk bands such as “Pasărea Colibri”. Biography Nicu Alifantis was born on May 31, 1954, in Brăila to Greek-Macedonian parents. His mother, Evdocsia, was Aromanian, and his father, Menelaus, was Greek. Alifantis studied music privately and made his stage debut in 1973. He was employed in 1975 at the “Maria Filotti” Theater in Brăila and became quite well-known and loved by the public, so that in 1976 the record label Electrecord published his first record material, Cântec de noapte, with four tracks. In the same year, he enrolled in ATM. After the army, he became a member of the Cenacle Flacăra, led by the poet Adrian Păunescu, and participated in most of the “artistic events”, his songs appearing on the compilations Folk 1 and Folk 2 published by Electrecord in 1977 and 1978, respectively. In 1983, at the appearance of the triple LP that marked 10 years of activity of the cenacle, Alifantis is the best represented singer-son

Nicu Covaci

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Nicolae “Nicu” Covaci (19 April 1947 – 2 August 2024) was a Romanian guitarist, painter, and music composer. He is best known as the leader and founding member of rock and cult band Phoenix, for which he was the lead vocalist and guitar player, with more than 60 years of activity. Biography Nicolae Covaci was born in Timișoara, on 19 April 1947. His mother Tamara came originally from Bessarabia while his father Grigore came from Banat, close to the Serbian border. He took up playing guitar at the age of 15 and in 1962 he, together with Florin “Moni” Bordeianu, founded a band called Sfinții (The Saints). Covaci died in Timișoara on 2 August 2024, at the age of 77. 1960s * 1962: Nicolae Covaci founds the student band “Sfinții” (The Saints) in Timișoara. The band wins the second prize at the Bucharest Student Festival. From the very beginning the band is criticized for having a western European influence. * 1963: The band’s recordings of their own compositions first receive radio air play. * 1965: The Saints are banned. The authorities accuse the band of spreading religious propaganda, and the band is forced to change its name. PHOENIX is born. Under their new name, the band plays thr

Octave (musician)

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Octavian Teodorescu (born 29 January 1963), known professionally as Octave, is a Romanian musician, composer, songwriter and producer from Bucharest, Romania. He is a pioneer of electronic music and the use of computers and synthesizers in music in Romania, with a science fiction touch. He also plays guitars, keyboards and programmable instruments. His first mainstream success was the 1992 album The Secret of Pyramids, followed by At The Gates of Love in 1993 and Sweet Freedom in 1994. The whole work (102 minutes) appeared unified on a double CD (the first of this kind in Romania) in 1995. History Early life, influences, first contact with rock He was attracted as child to all kind of instruments and music generally. His parents noticed that, but did not encourage him along this line. When he was 16 he attended his first rock concert: Suzi Quatro 1979 Live in Bucharest. The impact was tremendous for Octave like teenager and this kind of artistic achievement – Rock – will become the landmark of his future artistic career. The effect was one year later augmented by his 1979 encounter with The Last Waltz, the movie of Martin Scorsese. The film presented as a farewell concert of “The B

Philip Herschkowitz

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Philip Herschkowitz (; Russian: Филипп Гершкович, Filipp Gershkovich) (7 September 1906 – 5 January 1989) was a Romanian-born composer and music theorist, pupil of Alban Berg and Anton Webern, who spent 47 years, from 1940 to 1987, in the Soviet Union. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Iaşi, he graduated from the conservatory in the city in 1927 and entered the Music Academy in Vienna, Austria, where he studied with Joseph Marx. Then he studied privately with Berg (1928–1931), and with Webern (1934–1939). He left Nazi German-occupied Austria and arrived in the Soviet Union in 1940, settling first in Chernovtsy, which he left on 22 June 1941 at the beginning of the German invasion, and then moving to Tashkent (in the Uzbek SSR) where he lived until 1944. He settled in Moscow in 1946, where we began to teach privately, exerting a major influence on several generations of Russian musicians, including leading figures of the so-called “Underground division”. Among these were the composers Andrei Volkonsky, Edison Denisov, Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Nikolai Karetnikov, Boris Tishchenko, Valentin Silvestrov, Leonid Hrabovsky, Vyacheslav Artyomov, Vladimir Dashkevich, Alexande

Roman Vlad

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Roman Vlad (29 December 1919 – 21 September 2013) was a Romanian-born Italian composer, pianist, and musicologist. Biography Born in Cernăuți, Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), he studied with Titus Tarnawski and Liviu Russu in Romania earning a piano diploma. He moved to Rome in 1938 to study at the University of Rome and later the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He eventually became an Italian citizen in 1951. Vlad’s early career was as a performer and composer; he won the Enescu Prize in 1942 for his Sinfonietta, and the Silver Ribbon Award for his film music. He was the artistic director of Accademia Filarmonica Romana from 1955 to 1958 and again from 1966 to 1969. As well, he was the president of the Italian Society for Contemporary Music in 1960 and musical consultant for the third RAI national radio and television network. He was later a member of the Directory Council of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia and artistic consultant for the Ravenna Festival and the Spoleto Festival. Vlad was an eclectic composer whose works range from symphonies to operas to chamber music to “The Japanese Seasons, 24 Haiku.” He was a noted composer of film music, including

Rudolf Wagner-Régeny

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Rudolf Wagner-Régeny (28 August 1903, Szászrégen, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Reghin, Romania) – 18 September 1969, Berlin) was a composer, conductor, and pianist. Born in Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, since 1920 Romania, he became a German citizen in 1930, and then East German after 1945. From 1919 to 1920 he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1920 he enrolled at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik as a student of Rudolf Krasselt and Siegfried Ochs for conducting, and for orchestration of Emil von Řezníček, and with Friedrich Koch and Franz Schreker for musical composition, graduating in 1923. He served as choirsmaster at the Volksoper Berlin from 1923 to 1925. In 1927 joined Laban’s dance company where he conducted productions for three years. Wagner-Régeny first gained notice as a composer with his theatre pieces for Essen. In 1929 he met the designer Caspar Neher, who wrote the texts for Wagner-Régeny’s best-known operas. In 1930 Wagner-Régeny became a naturalized German citizen, and married, his wife being half-Jewish. Between 1930 and 1945 he worked as a freelance composer and teacher, and with the rise of the Nazis was promoted by a fa

Șerban Nichifor

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Șerban Nichifor (born 25 August 1954) is a Romanian composer, cellist and music educator. Biography Șerban Nichifor was born on 25 August 1954 to Ermil Nichifor (1916–1997) and Livia Nichifor, née Balint (1922–2017) in Bucharest, Romania. Both his parents were physicians. His father was also a musician and conductor of the Orchestra of Physicians in Bucharest. Nichifor studied at the National University of Music Bucharest from 1973 to 1977 and took composition courses in 1978, 1980 and 1984 in Darmstadt, Germany. In 1994, he received a Ph.D. in Musicology from National University of Music and from 1990 to 1994, also studied at the Theology Faculty of the University of Bucharest. In 2015, he was awarded a PhD summa cum laude in conducting, and wrote a thesis SHOAH – The Holocaust Reflected in My Musical Creation. He has composed many works dedicated to the victims of The Holocaust. According to musicologist Octavian Cosma, Nichifor’s eclectic style is based on neoromanticism but has included elements of jazz (in his Third and Fourth Symphonies) and the use of tape recordings as in his opera Domnişoara Cristina. In the 1990s, he “developed a simplified style employing themes reminisc

Sickotoy

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Alexandru (Alex) Cotoi, known professionally as Sickotoy (stylised in all capitals) is a Romanian sound producer, composer, and DJ. He is widely known for his work with many singers such as Delia, Inna, Irina Rimes and Alexandra Stan; collaborates with the Global Records label. Under the pseudonym Sickotoy, he released the commercially successful songs “Addicted” and “You Don’t Love Me” in 2019 with Minelli and Roxen, respectively, which reached the top three on the Romanian Airplay 100 chart. Early life and career Cotoi wrote his first songs in 2003. In October 2007, he formed the music group Sonichouse with Radu Dumitriu, Răzvan Gorcinski, and Victor Bourosu, having met while being part of and performing alongside Morandi. During his time as a member of Sonichouse, Cotoi adopted the nickname of Kotto. Sonichouse released their only album, titled Supersonic, on 16 April 2011. The group stopped releasing music once Bourosu chose to pursue a solo career. In 2022, he was a jury member on One True Singer, a music competition that was produced by HBO Max in collaboration with Global Records. Personal life Cotoi married his girlfriend in July 2018. The couple has a daughter. !style=“wid

Tiberiu Olah

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Tiberiu Olah (2 January 1928 – 2 October 2002) was a Romanian composer, teacher, and musicologist of Hungarian ethnicity. Biography Olah was born in Arpășel village, Batăr commune, Bihor County, the son of Ioan Olah, a notary, and Maria Olah, née Molnar. After going to elementary school is his native commune, he attended from 1938 to 1940 the King Carol II High School in nearby Salonta, and then went to Oradea, completing his secondary education in 1946 at the Emanuil Gojdu High School. He then moved to Cluj, where he began his musical studies at the Cluj Conservatory. From 1949 to 1954, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1958 he took a position as a lecturer and later as a professor at the Bucharest Conservatory. with support from a DAAD grant. Works Olah composed orchestral and chamber music works in which he was initially inspired by Béla Bartók, George Enescu, and Igor Stravinsky and later by the Second Viennese School, including a five-part cycle dedicated to the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, as well as cantatas, an oratorio, choral works, and film music. He was known for popularizing the oratorio. Selected compositions include: *Cantata for women’s choir, two flutes, s

Tudor Ciortea

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tudor Ciortea (28 November 1903 – 13 October 1982) was a Romanian composer, musicologist, and music educator. Life and career Ciortea was born in Brașov and began his music studies under in Cluj. He went on to study at the Bucharest Conservatory (now the National University of Music) under Ion Nonna Otescu and in Paris under Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas. He lived most of his life in Bucharest where he taught for over thirty years at the Bucharest Conservatory. Amongst his students there were the composers Liana Alexandra, Irina Odagescu, Elise Popovici, Maya Badian, and Carmen Petra Basacopol. His compositions concentrated on chamber music and art song and were influenced by the French chamber music tradition and the traditional folksongs of Transylvania. He was awarded in 1971 the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 3rd class, He is buried in the graveyard next to the Tocile Church in Șcheii Brașovului. The Tudor Ciortea Memorial House in Brașov contains some of his personal effects and instruments as well as a portrait of his wife, the dancer and choreographer . The music school, Liceul de Muzică “Tudor Ciortea”, in Brașov is named in his honour, as is the cit

Violeta Dinescu

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Violeta Dinescu (born 13 July 1953) is a Romanian composer, pianist, and academic teacher, living in Germany since 1982. She has been professor of applied composition at the University of Oldenburg from 1986. Romania Born in Bucharest on 13 July 1953, Dinescu began her studies of music in 1972 at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest, composition with Myriam Marbe. In 1978 she received her master’s degree with distinction. She also received diplomas in the fields of Composition, Piano and Pedagogics. She started teaching at the George Enescu Music School in Bucharest, conducting courses in Music history, Aesthetics, Counterpoint, Harmony and Piano. In 1980 she joined the Romanian Composers Union. Germany, operas In 1982, she moved to West Germany. Her first opera, Hunger und Durst after Eugène Ionesco, was premiered in Freiburg in 1986. Der 35. Mai (The 35th of May, or Conrad’s Ride to the South Seas), a children’s opera after Erich Kästner was composed in 1986, The operas have been performed at leading opera houses, as Der 35. Mai at the Staatsoper Hamburg in 2004. She worked for the Austrian theatre ARBOS on two music theatre projects, “The Singing of The Fools About E

Vladimir Cosma

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Vladimir Cosma (born 13 April 1940) is a Romanian composer, conductor and violinist, who has made his career in France and the United States. He was born into a family of musicians. His father Teodor Cosma was a pianist and conductor, and his mother Carola Pimper a writer-composer. His uncle Edgar Cosma was a composer and conductor. One of Vladimir’s grandmothers, a pianist, was a student of Ferruccio Busoni. Career After receiving first prizes for violin and composition at the Bucharest Conservatory, Vladimir Cosma arrived in Paris in 1963 and continued his studies at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris, working with Nadia Boulanger. As well as for classical music, he discovered early on a passion for jazz, film music and all forms of popular music. From 1964 he made a number of international tours as a concert violinist and began to devote himself more and more to composing. He wrote various compositions including: Trois mouvements d’été for symphony orchestra, Oblique for violoncello and string orchestra, music for theatre and ballet (Volpone for the Comédie Française, the opera Fantômas…). In 1968, Yves Robert entrusted him with his first film music for A