The Romanian Musicians’ Performing Arts Union (UCIMR) has launched the Veturia Ghibu Cultural Project, which aims to pay tribute to the life and outstanding contribution of an important figure of Romanian musical culture, pianist and soprano Veturia Ghibu (1889 – 1959).
The project focuses on an essential period in Romanian musical history, marked by the reconfiguration of national identity and integration into the democratic European cultural network.
Veturia Ghibu, the wife of Onisifor Ghibu, significant scholar and key figure in the unification of a democratic Romania, was in her own right a major influence in Romanian culture, as the initiator of a musical genre within Romania.
In short, she brought the “lied” composition from her musical studies in Germany back to Romania, setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. Her collaborations and close friendship with composers and lyricists led to the development of a new phenomenon: Romanian folk lyrics set to classical music, and sung by a dramatic soprano.
She was the first Romanian singer to be recorded on disc (Columbia Records, 1927), and the first to be broadcast on Radio Paris.
Her legacy, however, remains partially obscured, as the communist regime made efforts to marginalize her, thanks to her husband’s activities.
She was also a pianist and teacher, collaborating closely with George Enescu, Dinu Lipatti, Felia Litvinne, Tiberiu Brediceanu, Cella Delavrancea, and Ana Voileanu, among many other figures of Romanian and European music.
Thus, five multimedia events will take place through September and October in the different Romanian cities in which she was active. The conference-shows will include historical-bibliographical and musicological presentations, multimedia dialogue recitals, Q&A sessions, and a digital photography exhibition.
The first event took place on the 19th of September in Cluj-Napoca, at the Conservatory.
It was repeated at the Brașov Filarmonica on the 21st of September.
The next event is at Sinaia, at Peleș Castle, in the Music Salon (where Veturia Ghibu sang, accompanied by George Enescu, for the Romanian Royal family), on September 28, at 4 o’clock;
After which the same event will take place at the Astra Library in Sibiu, on September 30th, at 7 PM;
and finally the last event will be at the National University of Music in Bucharest, in the Opera&Multimedia Studio, on the 10th of October, at 7 PM.
These musicological conferences will be presented following extensive research carried out by Dr. Bianca Manoleanu, soprano and Associate Teaching Staff at the National University of Music in Bucharest, and Dr. Corneliu Beldiman, historian, museographer, scientific researcher at The National Museum of the Eastern Carpathians and at the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, Romanian Academy Bucharest. The dialogue recitals will be presented by Dr. Bianca Manoleanu, with the participation of a voice and piano duo composed by Stanca-Maria Manoleanu, soprano, and Mihai Murariu, pianist-composer. They will perform lieds composed by composers contemporary to us, in a multimedia dialogue with recordings of Veturia Ghibu performing contemporary lieds from his time. During the events, there will be A&A sessions with journalist Ivona Cristescu, musicologist and TVR producer.
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