Rémus Tzincoca

Tzincoca, Rémus

Rémus (Pétru) Tzincoca. Conductor, composer, teacher, administrator, b Iassy, Rumania, 15 Sep 1915, naturalized Canadian 1965; diploma in orchestral conducting, theory, and pedagogy (Iassy Cons) 1938, premier prix conducting (Paris Cons) 1948. At the Iassy Cons 1933-8 his teachers were Antonin Ciolan (conducting) and Alexandre Zirra and Constantin Georgesco (theory). He taught 1937-40 and 1943-4 in Iassy and 1940-2 in Bucharest. He was secretary of music studies at the Bucharest Opera and music director 1940-2 at the patriarchal cathedral of that city and became conductor of the Iassy Opera in 1943. He continued his studies in conducting at the Paris Cons with Louis Fourestier and Eugène Bigot. He also took private lessons 1945-50 with the brothers Jean and Noël Gallon and consulted with Georges Enesco, while serving 1946-50 as director of the Société philharmonique de Laval, France. He became Enesco's assistant for a tour in the USA, where he arrived in 1952. That same year he appeared as guest conductor at the Ipswich Festival, Ipswich, Mass. He founded the Newport Music Festival, Newport, RI, and directed 1953-5 its orchestra, made up of members of the New York Philharmonic. With the principal players of the latter, he founded the Orchestra da Camera (1954-6) in New York City.

At the invitation of Wilfrid Pelletier, Tzincoca moved to Montreal and taught 1959-77 at the CMM. He directed the orchestra classes there and was in charge of orchestra and ensemble conducting. He founded a second Orchestra da Camera (1959), this time with principal players from the MSO. During its only season it gave three concerts at the Orpheum Theatre, two featuring works by Bach, and the third Canadian music, and it premiered Jacques Hétu'sSymphony for Strings. Between 1960 and 1965 Tzincoca also directed a choir and taught choral conducting at the École Vincent-d'Indy. In 1962 the choir won first prize at the Quebec Music Festivals and participated with the CBC Montreal orchestra at a gala concert held in honour of the Queen Mother's visit, which featured Tzincoca's 'Pater Noster' and Ballade No. 1 at the Comédie-Canadienne. The choir also took part in the inauguration ceremonies of the Salle Claude-Champagne in Montreal in 1964, and the same year performed Tzincoca's oratorio Sur la montagne.

In 1964 in France Tzincoca premiered La Chèvre de M. Séguin, a musical tale by Henri Tomasi, with the chamber orchestra and youth choir of the ORTF. At the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, he conducted the Pasdeloup Orchestra in the European premiere of Claude Champagne'sAltitude in the presence of the composer. Also in 1964 he conducted Jean Vallerand'sCordes en mouvement on the ORTF. He has been regularly invited to Rumania, where he has conducted the most important symphonic ensembles and the Bucharest Opera, especially in Wagnerian repertoire (eg, Die Walküre, Tannhäuser). He has appeared as guest conductor with several other orchestras, including the Orchestre Lamoureux de Paris, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Bordeaux SO. He was a jury member in 1962, 1964, and 1971 at the annual examinations of the Paris Cons. He has performed on CBC radio and conducted the CBC Quebec Chamber Orchestra in his Ballade No. 2 (1977)and in his Symphony No. 1 (1985). In 1984 he conducted the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra in the world premiere of Bartók's Cantata profana in its original version in the Rumanian language. The original score of this version was restored by Tzincoca and his wife, the pianist Anisia Campos, based on holographs found in New York.

Among Tzincoca's compositions are 20 songs for voice and piano composed to texts by Moriglioni-Dragan, Musset, Pillat, and Valéry; Béatitudes (1969, a revision for soloists, choir, and orchestra of the 1963 oratorio Sur la montagne which used Byzantine thematic material); Ballade No. 1 for choir and orchestra, and Ballade No. 2 for chamber orchestra; two symphonies; a Liturgie orthodoxe for a cappella choir; a Dance for violin and piano; and three Byzantine Chorales for piano. Jean Vallerand described Sur la montagne as a piece that is 'extremely well written for voices and has a deep inner lyricism' (La Presse, 15 May 1964). Tzincoca helped to found and is an honorary member of the Association des professeurs du Cons de musique du Québec.