Tudor Ciortea
Tudor Ciortea was a Romanian composer, musicologist, and music educator.Life and career
Ciortea was born in Brașov and began his music studies under Gheorghe Dima in Cluj. He went on to study at the Bucharest Conservatory under Ion Nonna Otescu and in Paris under Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas. He lived most of his life in Bucharest where he taught for over thirty years at the Bucharest Conservatory. Amongst his students there were the composers Liana Alexandra, Irina Odagescu, Maya Badian, and Carmen Petra-Basacopol.
His compositions concentrated on chamber music and art song and were influenced by the French chamber music tradition and the traditional folksongs of Transylvania. According to Nicolas Slonimsky, Ciortea's best chamber music was remarkable for its "contrapuntal complexity." In 1964, Ciortea won the "George Enescu prize" of the Romanian Academy for his octet Din isprdvile lui Păcală.
The Tudor Ciortea Memorial House in Brașov contains some of his personal effects and instruments as well as a portrait of his daughter, the dancer and choreographer Vera Proca-Ciortea. The music school, Liceul de Muzica "Tudor Ciortea", in Brașov is named in his honour as is the city's annual chamber music festival.
