THE LIVING COMPOSERS PROJECT  

Irinel Anghel

(b. 14 May 1969, Bucharest).

Romanian composer of mostly orchestral and chamber works that have been performed throughout Europe and elsewhere.

Ms. Anghel studied analysis with Adrian Iorgulescu, composition with Octavian Nemescu, harmony with Adrian Rațiu, musicology with Octavian Lazăr Cosma, and orchestration with Nicolae Beloiu at the Universitatea Națională de Muzică București, where she graduated in 1996 and earned her MA in composition in 1997 and PhD in composition in 2003.

Among her honours are First Prize in the competition of Radio România (1998, for Mondes Impossibles I), three prizes from the Uniunea Compozitorilor și Muzicologilor din România in Bucharest (1998–99, 2002) and the Premiul from the Fundația Națională pentru Știință și Artă in Bucharest (1999). In addition, her Mondes Impossibles I represented Romania at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers and earned a recommendation (1999). She has also earned Second Prize in the competition for glass harmonica Thomas Bloch in Paris (2000, for Glassrope), a creation grant from the Pépinières Européennes pour Jeunes Artistes (2000, for Chimèresperspective magrittienne), a residency in Belgium (2000), and a creation grant from the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung in Munich (2002, for Labyrinthe II). She received the Uchimura Prize from the International Theatre Institute/UNESCO (2002, shared with the creative team of The Bloodied Lovers), the prize of the journal Actualitatea muzicală in Bucharest (2003, for her work with Pro Contemporania), the Camajani Fellowship from New York University (2003, to lecture there), and the International New Music Consortium Award in New York, New York (2003, for her work in all areas of new music). Her music has been performed in Albania, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA.

Ms. Anghel is also active in other positions. She founded the ensemble Pro Contemporania in Bucharest in 1990, in which she plays numerous instruments. She has served as its artistic director since 1990. She has been active as an improviser since 2003, primarily with musicians from different genres. Moreover, she has been a researcher at the Institutul de Istoria Artei George Oprescu in Bucharest since 1994 and has served as editor of the review Muzica in Bucharest since 1996. She has also written the book Developments, Ways and Trends in Romanian Music during the Second Half of the 20th Century (1997, Editura Muzicală). In addition, she served as assistant director of the International Week of New Music Festival in Bucharest in 2003 and founded the crossover festival MultiSonicFest in Bucharest in 2004, serving as its artistic director since 2004.

She is married to the cellist and composer Andrei Kivu.

CONTACT INFORMATION

E-mail address: aki@decknet.ro

COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS (dates unavailable)

STAGE:

The Bloodied Lovers (incidental music, play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon)

La Dissolution de la Persistance de la Mémoire (incidental music for a poetry/theatre show), shamisen (3-string lute from Japan), cello, piano, organ, singing bowls (+ tam-tam)

A View from the Bridge (incidental music, play by Arthur Miller)

ORCHESTRAL:

Chimèresperspective magrittienne, cello, percussion, string orchestra

Distances, 2 trumpets, harpsichord, percussion, string orchestra

Labyrinthe II, player (shofar, khene [mouth organ from Laos], dungkar [horn from Tibet], tromba lontana, zheng [zither from China], cello [with scordatura], accordion, singing bowls), small orchestra

Mondes Impossibles I

Music for Vasarely

The Myth of Sisyphus

Rhinoceros

La Tour de Babel

CHAMBER MUSIC:

Arrêts, violin, cello, accordion, fixed media

La Caverne de l'Âme, cello, percussion

Divers(ion), contrabass saxophone

Divers(ion) II, contrabass saxophone, violin, viola, cello, piano

Electro-Transe, electric guitar, cello (+ sampler), live electronics

ElEnigmes I, electric guitar, fixed media, live electronics

ElEnigmes II, electric guitar, cello, bass guitar, fixed media, live electronics

Entre le Ciel et l'Enfer, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello, piano, percussion

Ephemeral Equilibrium, bassoon

Ethereal Beauty, zheng, accordion, live electronics

Everything and Nothing, viola (+ harmonica)

Fascination I, zheng (+ khene), cello (+ khene), fixed media

Fascination II, bass flute, zheng (+ khene), cello (+ udu [percussion instrument from Nigeria]), fixed media

Frontiers, bass flute, zheng, violin, piano (+ toy piano, accordion, percussion), fixed media, live electronics

Für Elise String Quartet, string quartet

Glassrope, glass harmonica, fixed media

Images flottantes, flute (+ shofar, khene, daf [frame drum from the Middle East]), accordion

Irresistible, kalimba (thumb piano from Africa) (+ percussion), berimbau (musical bow from Brazil) (+ percussion), fixed media, live electronics

Irresistible II, kalimba, ensemble (flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, 2 percussion), live electronics

Miró en Miroir, flute

La Persistance de la Mémoire, violin, viola, cello, organ, accordion, 4 percussion

Le Quasi-Infini I, 2 flutes, violin, viola, accordion

Le Quasi-Infini II, shō (mouth organ from Japan), 2 flutes, violin, viola, accordion

Rotations bizarres, 6 bassoons, cimbalom

Silhouettes fantomatiques I, 2 cellos, percussion

Silhouettes fantomatiques II, viola, cello, percussion

Silhouettes fantomatiques III, cello, double bass, percussion, fixed media

Sonata, cello

Sous-conversations, clarinet, trombone, violin, piano

Story of the three who dreamed I, clarinet (+ bass clarinet), violin (+ viola), piano

Story of the three who dreamed II, clarinet (+ bass clarinet), cello, piano

Toys R Us, toy piano (+ harmonica, toy marimba, percussion toys), kalimba (+ sampler), live electronics

Visions provoquées par un mystère, cello, piano (+ khene, percussion), fixed media

CHORAL:

Assemblages (text from words in an invented language), 24 mixed voices

VOCAL:

Electric Muse (vocalise), voice, piano (+ MIDI-keyboard, laptop), live electronics

Timeless (vocalise), 2 voices, live electronics

PIANO:

Metablues

MULTIMEDIA/PERFORMANCE:

Hypnotic Visions, fixed media, film (by the composer)

DISCOGRAPHY

Mondes Impossibles I. Ludovic Bács/Orchestra Națională Radio (Editura Muzicală: EM 008, 2000)

Fascination II. Pro Contemporania (Association of Romanian Women in the Arts/Editura Muzicală/Star Media Music: 007, 2003)

Labyrinthe II. Andrei Kivu, shofar, khene, dungkar, tromba lontana, zheng, cello, accordion, singing bowls; Szymon Bywalec/Orchestra Națională Radio (Radio România: 118, 2004)

Le Quasi-Infini I. Partita Radicale (Edition Pro Viva: ISPV 193, 2004)

Frontiers. Pro Contemporania (PFAU-Verlag: Europäische MeridianeNeue Musik Territorien. Reportagen aus Ländern im Umbruch [2 books with 2 CDs], 2004)

Electro-Transe. Pro Contemporania (Editura Muzicală/Star Media Music: 037, 2005)

Miró en Miroir. Ion Bogdan Ștefănescu, flute (Gutingi: 233, 2005)