Dora COJOCARU
- composer -
Born in 20.08.1963, at Baia-Mare, Romania.
Address: 3, Buttonwood, D.D.O. / Montreal, Quebec, H9A 2N1, Canada
Phone: 01-514-6850487
E-mail: doracojocaru@yahoo.com
http://www.musiccentre.ca/apps/index.cfm?fuseaction=composer.FA_dsp_biography&authpeopleid=60023&by=C
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.
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 (Frag.
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
(Frag. 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
(Frag. 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)
(Frag. 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
- 2nd String Quartet ...esser loro Padre, Guida ed Amico!
- Transylvanian Quartet, Mozart Festival, 10th
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..."
AUDIO FILES - 5 Momente efemere (frag.785KB); Trio Violinissimo (frag.898KB); Die andere Seite der Stille (frag.1,8MB); Der Magier (fagment from Daţi-mi Lampa lui Aladin - 1,5MB); Concerto for Oboe und Strings (frag.1,8MB); Transparences (frag.2,6MB)
Copyright: cIMeC