History of the Competition
More than 30 years ago, Professor Ninuca Pop founded in Cluj-Napoca the Gheorghe Dima International Music Competition, originally titled the Gheorghe Dima Festival and Competition of Composition and Musical Performance. The first edition took place in December 1984 and was a composition competition dedicated to choral, chamber and orchestral works.
The festival highlighted the personality of Gheorghe Dima through the two main activities that defined his artistic life: composition and conducting. Most of his works were written for choir, leaving an important legacy of compositions based both on original themes and on Romanian folklore.
In the following editions, the Musical Performance Competition was added as a new component. The instruments included in the competition changed from one edition to another in order to allow a larger number of young musicians to participate.
The Composition Competition included choral works, vocal music with accompaniment, and works dedicated to wind or brass instruments, as well as pieces for piano and for cello and piano. Meanwhile, the Musical Performance Competition focused on violin, piano, singing, wind instruments (flute, oboe, clarinet), string quartet, double bass, viola, and cello. In 1987, when the Gheorghe Dima Festival and Competition of Composition and Musical Performance reached its fifth edition, a national premiere took place: the first performance competition in Romania dedicated to percussion instruments.
The 6th edition also marked a national premiere with the introduction of the Musical Critique section, where Romanian students specializing in Musicology were invited to participate with their own scholarly works.
Starting with the 8th edition in 1992, the festival introduced a Choral Conducting section, highlighting Gheorghe Dima’s important role as a conductor.
After a 15-year interruption, the competition resumed between 2011 and 2017 with a focus on wind instruments, quickly gaining popularity among young performers.
The 17th edition took place in June 2018 and was dedicated to Choral Conducting, achieving remarkable success. Young conductors from Romania and 23 other countries (Australia, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Czech Republic, China, Colombia, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, the USA, Ukraine, and Great Britain) applied to participate, raising the level of the competition to an exceptionally high standard. From the large number of applicants, 32 candidates were selected to compete in four rounds.
The 18th edition was dedicated to the Composition section, attracting a significant number of submissions from representatives of composition classes from Portugal, Italy, France, Romania, and other countries. The winning work was Quarantine! by the Portuguese composer Gerson De Sousa Batista.
The 19th edition took place at the National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca between September 13–17, 2021, and was again dedicated to Choral Conducting. Young conductors from more than 10 countries competed for the competition’s prizes. Although the event was organized during the COVID-19 pandemic, both participants and the choirs involved performed professionally and contributed to the success of the edition.
The year 2024 marked the 20th anniversary edition of the “Gheorghe Dima” Competition, celebrating a synthesis of the two musical arts that define its tradition: composition and choral conducting.
As we approach the 21st edition, we warmly invite as many of you as possible to participate and become part of this prestigious musical event.Partea superioară a formularului