"Zestrea lui Zamolxe"  for mixed choir on a poem by Nicola Coman
A mystical piece, it uses a text composed especially for the piece by Nicolae Coman, in which almost all the words are of Dacian etymology. The Dacians are the ancestors of Romanians and only few words from their language are assumed to have survived the test of time.

Sibelius Academy's Vocaali yhtye, Edward Cooper cond.

Zestrea Lui Zamolxe

A Story of the Sun and the Moon

A continuation for the search in the first piece. This one is more reflexive and with less hope.

Nouvel Ensemble Moderne with Lorraine Vaillancourt (cond.)

Better raise the volume on this one, the recording is a bit quiet.

It's a Jester's Life 2

"The Garden with the Crystal Fountain" is a piece for electric harp and live electronics. This is an atmosphere piece, mostly impressionistic and timbral. The live electronics enrich the beauty and tenderness of the original harp sound.
Although written for electric harp, It can also be performed on a normal harp, but the electric one is preferred.  The harpist has to play a vibraphone as well in this piece. First performed by Lily-Marlene Puusepp at Musiikin Aika festival 2012 as part of a defunensemble concert. 




The Garden with the Crystal Fountain

A piece for 13 instrumentalists. Written in 2006 for the Profil festival in Romania, the piece stands as a question whether romanticism has a place in contemporary music or not. Romanticism in general is a very important binding arch in my music and this piece is one of the main pieces based on this theme of romance.

The recording is from a concert part of the Moving Music workshop in Vienna 2007.

Dialogue with a Forbidden Muse

My 3rd sonata for piano is based on one theme that appears only toward the end of the piece as a whole; otherwise, bits and pieces of that theme are spread around the 3 movements. The music is very often edgy and violent but with a good touch of humor and good spirit. It is more of a cleansing process of finding the whole/the answer/the truth after a rough but fun ride.

Performed by Finnish pianist Risto-Matti Marin.

Sonata no. 3

A piece for 11 instrumentalists. It's an eclectic work that combines different styles and techniques including tonal baroque and romantic music, quarter-tone music, ritualistic and rhythmical music. It's a satire to the composers' life in today's society. 

In this recording, Gabriel Bebeselea and the ICon Arts ensemble from Sibiu, Romania.

It's a Jester's Life

A funny song for baritone and violin; a drunken version of "twinkle, twinkle little star". No need for further explanations, just have fun!

Baritone: Herman Wallen, Violin: Jaso Sasaki, Text: author unknown.


Drunk's Poem

A trio for violin, guitar and accordion. A piece with a complex form,  that, like other pieces of mine works with  inter-related leitmotifs . Composed between 2008 and 2009.

Violin: Emilia Karjunen, Guitar: Szymon Pietrzak, Accordion: Saila Korhonen.

When I Heard the Voice of the Thunder

Probably my favorite work, Aurora Borealis is a septet for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, piano and percussion. Written between 2007 and 2008 and revised for further 2 years, it is a piece that works with interconnected leitmotifs. It is divided into three movements played attacca: the cold, the dark and the light. The message of the piece is that one must endure many difficulties throughout lifetime in order to achieve inner peace and wisdom. 

 In this recording, Zagros ensemble with Nils Schweckendiek conducting.

Aurora Borealis

Matei Gheorghiu (born 1984) is a Romanian composer residing in Finland. After completing his bachelor's degree The National University of Music Bucharest (UNMB) with Nicolae Coman, Dan Dediu and Octavian Nemescu he continued his master studies at The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Tapio Tuomela. He has taken part in numerous master-classes and workshops with composers such as: Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka Tiensuu, Marko Stroppa, Joshua Finberg, or Herman Obst among others. From 2016 he has started his doctoral studies at the same Sibelius Academy.

Gheorghiu is the only young composer to have received a composition concert with large-scale works (orchestra and choir) from the Sibelius Academy. This happened in January 2014, where Gheorghiu’s composition concert was the first to open the new concert series “Atso’s Corner”, with conductor Atso Almila as the host. 

Former chairman of the young Finnish composers' society "Korvat Auki" (Ears Open Society), he was also the society’s longest lasting chairman and the first foreigner to hold this position. He was the artistic director of the anniversary festival of the society "Korvat 35, How far can you hear?". Gheorghiu has spent 8 years in the board of Korvat Auki, keeping a deep interest in the society’s development, either as a chairman, vice-chairman, grant strategist or as a keyboardist of the Korvat Auki Ensemble.

He was also selected along with other 7 composers from more than 100 applicants for the “Le Forum” residency with Nouvel Ensemble Moderne in Montreal in November 2014.

His repertoire contains music from almost all genres, apart from opera and ballet. His music has been performed in 11 countries: Romania, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Netherlands and Canada.

Some of the notable ensembles he has worked with include: Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Can), Avanti! (Fin), defunensemble (Fin), Uusinta (Fin), Zagros (Fin), Athelas (Den), Caput (Ice), Profil (Rom), ICon Arts (Rom), The Finnish radio symphony orchestra and the Kuopio philharmonic orchestra (Fin). Some of the notable festivals he was performed at include: Le Forum (Can), Musica Nova (Fin), Time of Music (Fin), Suvisoitto (Fin), Pasimusic (Fin), Ung Nordisk Musik (Swe, Den, Ice, Nor). 

Matei Gheorghiu

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