23. 03. 2018

COMPOSER IOSIF HERŢEA HAS PASSED AWAY (1936-2018)

Composer and ethnomusicologist Iosif Herţea has passed away at age 81.

Iosif Herţea graduated from the Music Academy in Bucharest in 1960. Between 1960 and 1980 he worked at the Institute of Ethnography and Folk Art of Bucharest, subsequently conducting scientific research at the Ethnographic Museum in Cluj. He has lived in Germany since 1990. He has begun to work as a theater composer in 1968, collaborating with such highly acclaimed directors as Andrei Belgrader, Cătălina Buzoianu, Ion Caramitru, Dincu Cernescu, Ildikó Kovács, Mihai Măniuţiu, Cătălin Naum, Silviu Purcărete and Gábor Tompa. In 1995 and 2004, the Romanian Association of Theatre Artists (UNITER) awarded him with a special prize, in recognition of the theatrical music he had composed. He had composed works for the following productions within the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj: The Cherry Orchard directed by Vlad Mugur, Black Eyed Roses staged by Alan Lydddiard, as well as Troilus and Cressida directed by Gábor Tompa.

"It is stage music that gives rhythm to a performance. It provides relief to the space and time of the stage and mediates access towards the magic of signs. Music has the power to merge the intelligible with that which is sensible, to release them of their meaning, and finally to convey the emotions of the actors and viewers alike." – stated Iosif Herţea on the role of stage music.

May he rest in peace!