Dora COJOCARU

– Composer –

ARTISTIC BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1963 in Baia Mare, Romania.

EDUCATION and CAREER:

After studies in music, philology and history, she graduated in composition, pedagogy and piano at the Music Academy Gh. Dima in Cluj (Romania / acad. prof. dr. Cornel Taranu) and subsequently took a master's degree in composition at the Music Academy Cologne (Germany / prof. Johannes Fritsch). In 1997 she obtained a Ph.D. in musicology, with a work about Gy. Ligeti, published in 1999.

Her second book about Mozart's "Haydn Quartets" was published in 2000 by the Romanian Mozart Society.

Dora Cojocaru is the recipient of several composition prizes (including the First Prize at the International Mozart Composition Contest in 1997 and the Romanian Composers Union Prize in 1989 and 1999) and grants (Paul Sacher, Socrates, Gaudeamus, D.A.A.D., European Community, Heinrich Böll).

Her works are widely performed in Europe (Romania, Hungary, Germany, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, Ukraine), Japan, South-Korea and U.S.A.

She was a jury member for different artistic competitions and also collaborated with the "Westdeutscher Rundfunk" in Germany from 1993 to 1995.

She thought composition, musical forms, music history and theory at the Music Academy in Cluj and was invited to give courses, workshops and conferences in several European countries.

Since 2002, she lives in Montreal and teaches part-time at McGill University.

WORK LIST (selection)

CHAMBER MUSIC

1991 Cantos ll / mezzo-soprano and clarinet

1992
Poarta Soarelui / flute and percussion
A3 / clarinet, piano, percussion (CD: Hungaroton, Budapest, 1998)
Trills / string trio

1994 String Quartet No.1

1995 Concertare / trombone quartet

1996
Fragmenti / trombone solo
5 Momente Efemere / wind quintet (Part of Score)
String Quartet No.2 "...esser loro Padre, Guida ed Amico! – in memoriam A. Kaercher"

1997 Refrains / clarinet solo (CD: Computer Music Production, Cluj, 2002)

1998
Qu.-Sax. / saxophone quartet
Trio Violinissimo / violine trio (Part of Score)
Violinissimo / string ensemble (2/2/2/2/1)

2001 Die andere Seite der Stille / oboe, violin, viola and violoncello, published by Müller & Schade Edition, Bern/Switzerland, CD: GunPowderTower Studio, Sibiu, 2002 (Part of Score)

2003
De doinit / traverse flute and harpsichord
Etudes oubliées / clarinet quartet (or bassoon quartet)

2004
Schattenspiel / oboe and violoncello (or oboe and clarinet)
Clopote si orgi / organ, 2 organ positives and tubular bells

2005 Venedig / voice, traverse flute, baroque cello and harpsichord, text by F. Nietsche

CHAMBER CANTATAS

1995 Galgenlieder in der Nacht / chamber cantata on text by Christian Morgenstern for soprano and ensemble (flute, clarinet, French horn, violin, violoncello, percussion)

1998 Dati-mi lampa lui Aladin / chamber cantata on texts by different authors for soprano and ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon, percussion), CD: Computer Music Production, Cluj, 2002

2003 Virelais et virelangues / chamber cantata on French tongue-twisters for voice and ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, trombone, piano, percussion and string quintet)

CONCERTOS

1996 ...on revient toujours! / clarinet and ensemble (violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, piano, percussion) (Part of Score)

2001 Concerto for Oboe und Strings (2/2/2/1/1),published by Müller & Schade Edition, Bern/Switzerland, CD: produced by M. van Wijnkoop, Sibiu, 2002

2002 Transparences / clarinet and ensemble (flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, violoncello, double bass)

OPERA

1994 Riga Crypto si Lapona Enigel / soprano, mezzo-soprano, barytone and ensemble (2 flutes, 2clarinets, 2 French horns, 2 trombones, piano, percussion, strings)

CDs

A3 / clarinet, percussion, piano – Hungaroton Classic, HCD31783, 1998
Hier ist Magie / voice and clarinet and ...on revient toujours! / clarinet and ensemble – Computer Music Production, 2002
Concerto for Oboe and Strings / "Triptychon", CH-3063 Ittingen, PC 30-265482-3
Die andere Seite der Stille / oboe and strings, GunPowerStudio, 2002

IMPORTANT PERFORMANCES (selection)

2005
– Venedig - Ensemble L'Arcadia, Luzern, Bern, Basel and Zürich, Switzerland
– Der Magier – Adrine Simonian and Trio Clarinetissimo, Vienna and Gmunden, Austria

2004
– De doinit, Schattenspiel, Red /Rouge Rot, Amintiri din Apuseni - Willisau, Switzerland
– Transparences – Ensemble Viener Collage, Vienna, Austria

2003
- Fragmenti – Larry Zimmerman, North New Music Festival, Thunder Bay, Canada
– Die andere Seite der Stille – Arioso Quartet, Ligerz, Switzerland

2002
– Hier ist Magie... (fagment from Daţi-mi Lampa lui Aladin) – Ensemble Oggi Musica, Lugano, Switzerland
– Violinissimo – Ensemble Musicuria, Zürich, Switzerland
– Violinissimo – Ensemble Orpheus, Jack Fortner / conductor, Fresno, California, USA

2001
- Oboe Concerto – Swiss-Romanian Ensemble, Daniel Glauss / conductor, Sibiu and Cluj-Napoca, Romania
– Daţi-mi lampa lui Aladin – Ensemble Ars Nova, Cornel Ţăranu / conductor, Cluj Modern Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
– Qu.-Sax – Tokyo Saxophone Quartet, Eastern & Central Europe Music Festival, Tokyo, Japan

2000
- Refrene – Diego Montes, Essen, Germany
- Trio Violinissimo – Ensemble Aperto, International Festival for New Music, Bucureşti, Romania
– 5 Momente efemere – Ensemble Arta, World Music Days, ISNM Festival, Diekirch, Luxembourg

1999
– Galgenlieder in der Nacht – Ensemble of the Transylvanian Philharmonics, Ciprian Para/conductor, Chamber Music Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
– Qu.-Sax. – Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Fragmenti – Barrie Webb, Donne in Musica Festival, Fuigi, Italy
– Short Poem for John Tomson (four voices) – Yudo Group & Ensemble Decadanse, Tom Johnson Festival, Montreuil, Paris, France and Amsterdam, Holland
- Gymels for Gemini – Ensemble Gemini, Festival fuer Junge Kultur / Düsseldorfer Altstadt Herbst, Germany

1998
– ...on revient toujours! – Ensemble Thürmchen, Erik Oňa / conductor, Köln, Germany
- Trills – Ensemble Frescos, Coming Together International Festival, Odessa, Ukraine

1997
– 2^nd String Quartet ...esser loro Padre, Guida ed Amico! – Transylvanian Quartet, Mozart Festival, 10^th edition, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- A3 – Ensemble Pro Musica Nova, Contemporary Music Festival, Chisinãu, Moldavian Republic

1996
– Riga Crypto şi lapona Enigel – Ensemble and soloists of the Music Academy Gh.Dima, Adrian Morar/conductor, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

1995
– Eleusis – Percussion Ensemble Cluj, Paris, France
– Concertare – Ensemble of the Transylvanian Philharmonics, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

1994 - Sh'ma Itamar – Ulrike Gätzner/flute, Daniel Sonntag/guitar, Berlin, Germany

1993 - Trills – Ensemble Thürmchen, Köln, Germany

1992
– Poarta soarelui – Amelie Berson / flute, Didier Aschour / ucelli, Dan Suciu, Stephan Meier / percussions, International Summer Courses – Darmstadt, Germany
– Cantos ll – Sara Stowe / soprano, Ellen Verburgt / clarinet, International Summer Courses – Darmstadt, Germany

REFERENCES

Insa Oertel, Neue Musik Zeitung, 2000 /9, p.53: "Dora Cojocaru has no slogans ready. Composing fulfils her need for highest freedom. Self-honesty is her standard... Each work has to be original, and the internal logic works for connection, tension etc. Nothing is left here to the chance; even aleatory moments will be controlled in the frame of improvisation. The performance of the piece designates the composer as an act of confession. The work is the author. The author is the work. The public is irritated: on what has one part? ... However, the search for herself is most important... Dora Cojocaru has a predilection for the archaic. She knows how to use that distinct and very scientifically folklore-research from the East. Instead of the serial techniques of western music, she often develops her concepts on modal bases and heterophony. Moreover, she steps in her works again and again in relation to the tradition, but sets this to the contemporary ear... On one of her CDs, her work... is designated as bridge between one and his world..."