Roman Vlad Italian composer and musicologist Date of Birth: 29.12.1919 Country: Italy

Biography of Roman Vlad

Roman Vlad was an Italian composer and musicologist of Romanian descent. He emigrated to Italy in 1938 and obtained Italian citizenship in 1951. He graduated from the National Academy of Music Santa Cecilia in Rome in 1942 under the guidance of Alfredo Casella. In 1943, he was awarded the Enescu Prize as a composer for his Symphony.

Among Vlad's subsequent works are the Suite of Transylvanian Christmas Carols, Meditations on an Ancient Russian Song, piano, guitar, and harp concertos with orchestra, four ballets, chamber and vocal compositions. Additionally, Vlad composed music for films, including Rene Clair's "Beauty and the Devil" in 1949.

As a musicologist, Vlad published monographs on Luigi Dallapiccola (1957) and Stravinsky (1958), as well as "The History of Dodecaphony" (1958), among others. Later, he released more popular books such as "Introduction to Musical Culture" (1988) and "Understanding Music" (1989).

Throughout his career, Vlad held various important positions. He served as the artistic director of the Rome Philharmonic from 1955 to 1958 and 1966 to 1972, and has been its president since 1994. He also led the Turin Radio Orchestra from 1973 to 1989, among other responsibilities.

In 1991, Vlad was honored with the St. Michael Prize in Trieste for his contribution to Italian music. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the Bucharest National University of Music in 2001.