UE composers from Romania

Fred Popovici (27 July 1948-) is a Romanian composer, writing mainly for orchestra. He was born in Brăila, Romania and studied at the Bucharest Academy of Music. Since his graduation in 1972, he has been a teacher and lecturer as well as having his works performed extensively both at home and abroad.

The coexistence of intuition and reason in the formation of the composer Gabriel Mălăncioiu (born in 1979 in Brașov) is due to the graduation of both the Faculty of Automatics and Computers and the Faculty of Music and Theater from Timișoara. In addition to the decisive influence of Maestro Remus Georgescu - the one who initiated him in the study of musical composition, during his master's and doctoral studies at the Gheorghe Dima National Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, he met important personalities of Romanian musical life, whose influence can be easily detected: from Cornel Ţăranu he picked up the art of conciseness, from Adrian Pop – the importance given to detail, from Valentin Timaru – respect for the values of the musical past, from Eduard Tereny - the purpose of the game in the compositional process. 

The connection with what is happening in the field of contemporary music abroad is due to participation in composition courses at the SOMMERAKADEMIE Prague - Wien - Budapest, where he was guided by Nigel Osborne, Hans Tutschku and members of the Klangforum Wien ensemble; new opportunities arise due to his selection to participate at the EXPERIMENTAL STUDIO DES SWR courses in Freiburg, where he was taught by Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, Mark Andre, Dániel Péter Biró, but also his participation in the composition workshop of the GEORGE ENESCU Festival, where he had the chance to be guided by Miklós Maros, Bernard Cavanna, Hupert Stuppner and Zygmunt Krauze.

The dynamic balancing of polarities plays an important role in all 200 composed works, determining a meeting of polar pairs in terms of dynamics, sound densities or timbral structures, whether we are talking about specific refinement of the choral works, about the intimacy of chamber works, about the exuberance of symphonic music, about the exploration undertaken in the field of music involving the use of electronic equipment or about the experiment dominating musical performance. His works address an issue with multiple cultural and philosophical implications, where the shaping of a systemic perspective is organic and constructed internally.

Gabriel Mălăncioiu’s music has been presented to audiences on five continents in over 300 concerts, performed by prestigious ensembles such as Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, the Slovenian Chamber Choir or the Aventure ensemble, by performers such as Florian Mueller, Haika Lubcke or Richard Craig, by conductors such as Michael Wendeberg, Huba Hollókői or Martina Batič. Composer Corneliu Dan Georgescu remarked that Gabriel Mălăncioiu is "one of the most active personalities, a confident and very original voice in the contemporary musical landscape".

Gabriel Mălăncioiu is a member of the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists, of the Executive Committee of ISCM – Romanian section - and of some international music organizations such as Vox Novus (USA), La Villa des Compositeurs (France/Italy), Temp’ora (France), Access Contemporary Music (USA), Society of Composers (USA). Gabriel Mălăncioiu is currently teaching Stylistics of contemporary music performance, Orchestration and Musical Analysis at the West University of Timişoara, Faculty of Music and Theater.

Ioana Ilie was born in Sibiu, Romania in 1988. She began playing the piano at the age of three and by the time she received her first piano lesson one year later, she had already composed a handful of pieces. Impressed by the prodigy of her creations, a music theory teacher from the city's High School of Arts offered to write down the compositions which Ioana was always playing from memory. She won her first competition at the age of five and has meanwhile performed throughout Europe, America and Asia. By winning the Constantin Silvestri scholarship in 2004 she was able to spend a year at the Pocklington School in York, England. In 2014 she was the first to be awarded a 3-year scholarship by the Notenstein La Roche Private Bank's Cultural Program for Young Musicians. She completed her studies with Adrian Oetiker (piano), Balz Trümpy (composition), Rudolf Lutz (improvisation) and Jan Schultsz (Lied accompaniment) at the FHNW Academy of Music.

At the age of only 21, Ioana Ilie was the appointed to teach piano improvisation at the Trossingen Academy of Music between 2011-2015 and since 2015 she has been teaching piano at the Basel Music Academy. Described by the Badische Zeitung as a “master of improvisation”, the Romanian is often heard exposing the rare art of classical improvisation, which has now become her trademark.

There are numerous works for piano solo by Ioana Ilie, though as the Lied and chamber music have a special place in her heart, these musical forms can often be found in her compositions. Her music has so far been heard throughout Europe (among others through the internationally known Ensemble “Phoenix” under the direction of Jürg Henneberger) and the USA. Compositions of hers are on both her debut CD “ON CLOUD TEN”, as well as on her latest recording “ZODION – piano pieces about the 12 zodiac signs”.

www.ioanailie.com

"makes sparks fly"

Musicweb International

"strikes a different note"

The Daily Telegraph

Composer, conductor and violinist Vlad Maistorovici appears internationally in repertoire ranging from Bach to contemporary, through Enescu and Queen. His music is championed by world-class ensembles and artists.