Picture: Sebastian Dumitrescu
Interview by: Lissu Kirves
Adina Dumitrescu (61), a Romanian-born composer and researcher has lived in Tampere since 2003. Dumitrescu holds a PhD in Musicology from the National University of Music in Bucharest and has worked as a researcher at Tampere University at the Music Anthropology department in 2006 and 2007. Dumitrescu is a member of the Society of Finnish Composers and has composed over a hundred works. Her organ solo I smiled to the bird on Jupiter was nominated for the Teosto Award in 2022. Dumitrescu’s works have been performed world-wide at prestigious contemporary music events. She is the artistic director and founder of the Romanian Țintea Muzicală International Festival for Classical and Contemporary Music together with her sister, composer Dana Cristina Probst. She has released three albums; the latest chamber music for kantele in 2015.
Hello Adina, could you tell me about your work as a composer?
“I am a contemporary composer; I am always looking for new ways to discover and approach composing. I am an innovative person and innovation excites me.
Originally, I studied computer science that was very topical at the time, but my sister encouraged me to study composition like her. I took a composition class and was very encouraged by my progress, as composing felt natural to me right from the beginning. Later, at times, I felt I didn’t know how to move forward and considered to study something else; however, my teachers convinced me to continue and explained that this is a normal part of the process.
I am not that young anymore but I still feel young. When I was younger, I didn’t speak much but I felt I had something to say, and still do, through music. I compose because I like to innovate and create. I bring myself forward and at the same time give something personal to the world. When I compose, I feel I step out of the world. I am not involved but also a bit scared without a clear reason. When I am not connected to the world, I also feel more relaxed without others having yet commented on my work. I live in my own imagination when I am composing. I write to imaginary performers, to made up characters, to personalize the process. It is almost like having a dialogue. After all, you don’t write for paper, you write for people. It is about translating your ideas into music. It is key to keep your voice, to be able to do that throughout the years, it is important that YOU are the creator. It reflects who you are and who you were, your temperament, your personality and what you give to the world – your point of view.
It is key to keep your voice, to be able to do that throughout the years, it is important that YOU are the creator.
A broad understanding of the arts makes me a better composer. I like to read a lot of literature and poetry. I want to feel originality. Sometimes, unfortunately, I am not able compose but reading a good book brings me joy. When I need to finish a piece, like this week, the mood needs to be right. As Murakami says, sometimes you need to be selfish in order to be generous to yourself.
I am well connected in Europe and also have experiences from Canada and the United States. My music is played and broadcasted. In Finland, musicians are very open to contemporary art, as is the audience – which is amazing. I work with excellent musicians here in Finland and am very grateful for that. I compose a lot for kantele, an instrument I first learned to know when I moved here.”
You applied for a grant for ”Creative work, a 15 minute long concerto” Could you tell us more about your work?
“I applied for a grant for a concerto for accordion and wind orchestra. I have worked a lot with accordionists Terhi Sjöblom ja Marija Kandič and my dream was to write a double concerto for them. Terhi contacted me about a project in Germany, and open-air accordion concert performed by Marija Kandič and an amateur orchestra, a police band.
The orchestra musicians are not professionals but it is interesting to me because they are so deeply invested. They give their everything to master their instrument, this commitment is immeasurable as is their enthusiasm and willingness to be better. These types of groups do not often play contemporary works but they are now excited to play something that was written for them. It feels so alive. Open-air is also another challenge, for example, strings behave very differently in open air. You will have tens of strings that have to play in a higher register. This performance will take place next year. I always like to be there for a premiere and even before it to give the musicians a chance to talk with me.”
The logo of the Teosto Cultural Foundation is the whole rest symbol, we use it to symbolise the creative peace we want to offer music creators. What does this mean to you?
“Actually, for me it means that in the morning I can say this is the main thing I have to do today. It is my right but also my duty. All of us contribute something to society and this is my role. This is important.
There is a list of professions that you can choose from when you come to live to another country. Here in Finland, there is the profession of a composer. That is not a possibility that all have, especially in the past. When being a professional composer is not an option to choose, it tells you what society thinks of making a living from this career, that society does not acknowledge it – or need it. It is the worst feeling to work for something that society does not recognise as valuable; it is painful.”
What is the next step, your goals at the moment in your work?
“I love composing for orchestras, although I haven’t had many chances yet. I know I should have more orchestra works before presenting them to be played, but composing for established orchestras is very competitive. I like to work with sound, an orchestra is full of new sounds, and that is amazing.
I am convinced of the infinity of the world, my style is to search for new sounds, new types of ensembles.
I am fascinated by microtonal music, it’s very new for me. I love the new feeling I get from that. I am convinced of the infinity of the world, my style is to search for new sounds, new types of ensembles. I would like to go deeper into this discovering of new sounds. Some years ago, I participated in an Austrian-Finnish project exploring how traditional instruments such as kantele, guzheng, sitar and liru are used in contemporary music. This was a great experience to put all these traditional instruments together to create contemporary music as it creates different sounds.”
What do you find especially interesting, challenging, exciting, educational in your work at the moment and in the near future?
“Microtonal music can be understood as challenging, much more than interesting, educational. I feel like I have not yet got hold of it, I am still discovering it all. We have more than twelve notes, we have sounds in between. Let’s find them!
With globalisation we have lost many things. Languages are, for instance, lost when a country is invaded and the invaders force another language to the people; the old language eventually dies and with it also a way of thinking disappears. The same happens with traditional music, its basics have to be retaught, and remembered. It’s important to know your history. We are not the only people who have lived. This is why I like to research other times than the present day. Contemporary music is not something that lives behind a wall – I like to dig for other sounds. ”Be careful not to write Mozart” my teacher once told me, meaning that if you don’t know your past, you might end up rewriting it.
I think it is important to remember that we all have a unique point of view. That makes our art interesting.”
Listen to Adina’s work at Soundcloud.