Doina Rotaru a studiat compozitia la Universitatea Nationala de Muzica din Bucuresti, fiind unul dintre discipolii lui Tiberiu Olah. Dupa ce a urmat o specializare la Amsterdam, Doina Rotaru a devenit la randul sau profesor la amintita universitate, ulterior fiind invitata sa sustina cursuri la Darmstadt si Amsterdam. Printre altele, a publicat impreuna cu profesorul Liviu Comes doua tratate: unul de contrapunct vocal si instrumental si unul de contrapunct destinat invatamantului preuniversitar.
Considerata a fi posesoarea unuia dintre cele mai originale limbaje muzicale din zona est-europeana, Doina Rotaru a compus peste 100 de lucrari in aproape toate genurile muzicale, ce au fost prezentate in Europa, Australia, America de Sud sau Canada.
Ca apreciere pentru creatiile sale compozitoarea a fost distinsa de opt ori cu premiul Uniunii Compozitorilor si Muzicologilor din Romania, cu Premiul Academiei Romane de stiinte si Arte, fiind si castigatoarea premiului I la Concursul International “Gedok” de la Mannheim.
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Born in 1951, Romanian composer Doina Rotaru has a M.A. in composition at the National University of Music in Bucharest. Doina Rotaru studied here between 1970 and 1975 with – among others – Tiberiu Olah. Since 1996 Doina Rotaru has been a professor of composition and, since 2008, the head of the composition department at the same University. In 1991 Doina Rotaru obtained a scholarship in Holland (Amsterdam) where she studied with Theo Loevendie.
Since 1998 Doina Rotaru also has a PhD in Musicology at N.U.M.B., with the work “Contemporary composers and archaic traditions”. Her teaching career has led to the writing of two school books, in collaboration with fellow professor Liviu Comes: “Counterpoint School Book for Music Highschools” (Ed. Didactica, 1977) and “Vocal and Instrumental Counterpoint Treatise ” (Ed. Muzicala, 1987).
Doina Rotaru has written so far over 100 works that cover almost every musical genre: from solo, chamber, choral to orchestral works, from works that mix instrumental with electronic music to theater music.
Doina Rotaru’s music has been performed in many concerts and festivals all over the world : Europe, Far-East, Australia, Canada and South-America. – some of these being “author concerts”. Some of Doina Rotaru’s works have been commissioned by Radio France, Radio Graz, Suntory Hall Tokyo, French Ministry of Culture, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, ensembles and soloists from France, Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Switzerland.
Doina Rotaru was awarded prizes by the Romanian Academy (Bucharest,1996) and the Romanian Composers’ Association (UCRM, Bucharest, 1981, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007). For her 2nd Symphony, she won in 1994 the first prize at the Gedok – Mannheim International Competition (Germany).
Doina Rotaru has been invited to take part in international juries for composition competition in France (Paris, 2002, 2006), Slovenia (Ljublijana, 2004) and Romania (Bucharest, 2006).
Doina Rotaru was invited as a lecturer about her music in Germany (Darmstadt, Summer Courses for New Music – 1992, 1994), Holland (Amsterdam, Gaudeamus International Composers’ Workshop – 1990,1992 ), England ( Huddersfield University – 1995, Brighton – 1995), Japan (Tokyo Suntory Hall – 1998, 2001) and Iceland (Skalholt, 2006).
Doina Rotaru has made so far over 50 radio and television transmissions.
In 1998 Doina Rotaru was the Artistic Director of the “Contemporary Music Week” festival in Bucharest.
Doina Rotaru’s works are published by the Musical Publishing House (Editura Muzicala) in Bucharest , Leduc and H.Lemoine, Paris