One writer and seven composers explore together seven powerful human affects
Romanian Cultural Institute in New York and ISVOR Cultural Association in Bucharest are pleased to launch a new online series, titled “7 eMotions”, which delves into the complicated inner lives of artists with the aim to reveal how their rich panoply of feelings is turned into timeless works of art. The author and cultural journalist Ioana Bâldea Constantinescu and seven contemporary Romanian composers explore seven powerful human affects that define our psychological life and inspire our creativity: disgust, anger, sadness, surprise, contempt, joy, and fear.
The second episode, an original composition by Bogdan Pintilie with Maria-Diana Petrache on piano, deals with the potent feeling of anger.
Ioana Bâldea Constantinescu graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Bucharest, with a specialization in English and Spanish, and a master's degree in American Cultural Studies. From 2001 to 2020, she worked as a journalist at the Romanian Broadcasting Society. She is well known for her interviews with Richard Flanagan, Mathias Énard, Andrew Solomon, David Mitchell, Elizabeth Gilbert, Isabel Allende, Evgheni Vodolazkin, David Lodge, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss, Care Santos, Sarah Dunant, Alain de Botton, Guzel Yakhina, Jonah Sachs, John Freeman, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Jhumpa Lahiri among others. Since 2019, he has been writing the Off Air editorial for Forbes Life. Ioana Bâldea Constantinescu is also a translator and, most of all, appreciated writer. Her first two novels „Dincolo de portocali” / ”Beyond the Organge Trees” (nominated in 2016 for the Observator Cultural magazine awards) and ”Nautilus” were published by Humanitas Publishing House in 2015 and 2017. In 2019 she published at Nemira Publishing House „Poveste pentru Maria” / ”Story for Maria”, volume nominated, in 2020, for the Writers' Association Awards. Ioana also publish short stories and essays in the anthologies “Selfie” (Arthur Publishing House, 2018) and „Dragă Virginia” / “Dear Virginia” (Black Button Books, 2019). In 2020, Ioana launched her own platform, ioanabaldea.com, and the PLAY podcast, a meeting place for lovers of vintage conversation, with a touch of playfulness typical of 21st century creativity.
Bogdan Pintilie (b. 1993) is a Romanian composer. He trained as a pianist from an early age, then studied composition at the National University of Music in Bucharest. He completed his first Bachelor studies (2012-2016) under the guidance of composer Mihai Măniceanu, and his masters (2016-2018) and PhD studies (2018-2022) under the mentorship of composer Dan Dediu. Bogdan Pintilie has participated as a composer in festivals such as Summer Days of Romanian Music, Meridian International Festival, International New Music Week, Cluj Modern Contemporary Music Festival, CIMRO DAYS, CHEI Festival. His works have been performed in Romania and abroad, collaborating with orchestras, ensembles and soloists such as: National Radio Orchestra, UNMB Concerto Orchestra, SonoMania Ensemble, GAME Ensemble, ConTempo Quartet, PERCUSSIONescu Duo, Jaya Cello Duo, the pianist Maria Diana Petrache etc. Bogdan Pintilie has taken part in numerous masterclasses and workshops where he has worked with composers such as Doina Rotaru, Adrian Pop, Roland Moser, Catherine Milliken, Cristian Lolea, Diana Rotaru, Dominik Schuster etc. Among his most important works are the Concertino for piano and chamber orchestra entitled Dancing with time, the mini-opera Scena pe care dansăm / The Scene We Dance On, Go for two cellos, the ballet music entitled Moartea căprioarei / The Death of the Deer, Între foc și noapte / Between Fire and Night for clarinet, piano and string trio, Reconstruction for violin, cello and piano, Sentimente și rațiuni / Feelings and Reasons for solo piano, Catharsis for 3 percussionists. In addition to his work as a composer, Bogdan Pintilie is also an active pianist, mostly performing his own works. In 2018, he was awarded one of the National University of Music's Excellence Scholarships. He is currently an assistant professor at the same university.
Maria-Diana Petrache, (b. 1994) is currently studying for her PhD at the National University of Music Bucharest. She finished her Master Studies at the Hannover Music University with Professor Roland Krüger in 2019 and her Bachelor Studies at the National University of Music Bucharest with Professor Viniciu Moroianu in 2017.
She is an active presence on the concert stages. She performed as a soloist in different concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Saint-Saëns or Rachmaninov, collaborating with over 10 different orchestras such as Webern Kammerphilharmonie from Vienna, Radio Chamber Orchestra - Bucharest, Sibiu Philarmonic Orchestra, Oltenia Philharmonic Orchestra of Craiova, Philharmonic Orchestra of Ploieşti, “Mihail Jora” Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacău etc. and conductors like Vladimir Kiradjiev (Austria), Gabriel Bebeşelea, Valentin Doni, Petre Sbârcea, Radu Postăvaru, Dario Bisso-Sabadin (Italia); Constantin Grigore, Corvin Matei (South Africa), George Hariton, I.I.Prunner. She also presented numerous solo and chamber music recitals in Romania, Germany, Austria, England, Italy and Israel. The pianist won the Haydn prize at the International Competition Anton Rubinstein, Düsseldorf, 2018 and is a laureate of numerous national and international contests. She is the recipient of scholarships such as DAAD Scholarship, granted for the academic year 2018-2019, Yehudi Menuhin - Live Music Now scholarship in 2018 and 2019, Erasmus+ scholarship at the Music University in Nürnberg for the academic year 2015-2016, International Summer Academy scholarship in 2015 and 2017, SoNoRo scholarship in 2012 and 2010. Maria Diana Petrache participated in Masterclasses with great personalities and professors such as Christopher Elton, Andrei Gavrilov, Boris Berman, Lilya Zilberstein, Martin Hughes, Markus Schirmer, Gottlieb Wallisch, Markus Bellheim, Diana Ketler, and Gabriel Amiraș.
The artistic team of the project also include: Bogdan Vuluță – music director; Andrei Barbu - sound designer; Florin Ghenade – video director; Irinel Cîrlănaru – photography, editing, color grading; Daniel Ivașcu – graphics; Oana Ivașcu – producer and coordinator.
Project co-funded with the support of AFCN Romania.
Next in the series: sadness, surprise, contempt, joy, and fear.
Watch the previous episodes here:
Ep. 1 / Disgust