Over 30 years ago, Professor Ninuca Pop launched in Cluj Napoca The Gheorghe Dima International Music Competition under the name of Gheorghe Dima Festival and Competition of Composition and Musical Performance. The first event took place in December 1984, being a composition competition dedicated to choral, chamber and orchestral works.
The personality of Gheorghe Dima was highlighted in the festival by the main activities that characterized his life: composition and conducting. Most of his compositions are for choir: he left us an important number of works both with original themes and inspired by Romanian folklore.
The following competitions added the Musical Performance Competition as a new component. With each event the instruments were changed to allow more young musicians to compete.
The Composition Competition was designated for choral works, vocal music with accompaniment, works dedicated to wind or brass instruments, piano, cello and piano. Meanwhile the Musical Performance Competition was focused towards violin, piano, singing, wind instruments ( flute, oboe, clarinet), string quartet, 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 in the festival: the first Performance Competition for percussion instruments.
The 6th edition also marked a national premiere by introducing the section of Musical Critique. Here Romanian students specialised in Musicology were invited to participate with their own works.
Starting with the 8th edition, in 1992 the Festival introduced the section of Choir Conducting underlining the personality of Gheorghe Dima as a conductor.
After 15 years intermission, from 2011 to 2017 the competition focused on wind instruments, becoming rapidly very popular.
The 17th Edition took place in June 2018 and it was designated for Choral Conducting regostering an extraordinary succes: young conductors from Romania and 23 countries ( Australia, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Czech Republic, China, Colombia, Croația, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, SUA, Ucraine, Great Britain) have applied, the competition achiving a very high standards of the competitors. There were selected 32 candidates, competing in four rounds.
The 18th edition was dedicated to the composition section, where a significant number of works by representatives of composition classes from Portugal, Italy, France, Romania and beyond were entered in the competition. The winning piece was named generically Quarantine! of the composer Gerson De Sousa Batista from Portugal.
The 19th edition took place at the National Academy of Music „Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca, between September 13th-17th, 2021, the choral conducting section being the one under which the competition was organized. Young conductors from more than 10 countries worldwide competed in the art of conducting to obtaing the competition’s prizes. Although it was organized during the COVID pandemic, both the participants and the choirs involved managed to present themselves processionally and contribute to the success of the edition.
The year 2024 marks the 20th anniversary edition of the ”Gheorghe Dima” Competition, an edition that marks the synthesis of the two musical arts, composition and choral conducting. We are waiting for as many of you as possible to enroll to the competition!