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Adrian Mocanu

b. 1989 · Ukraine

Adrian Mocanu (b. 1989, Kyiv) studied composition at the National Music Academy of Ukraine and completed postgraduate studies in Madrid. He has held residencies and fellowships across Europe, including with Ensemble Recherche and Casa de Velázquez, and the Weltoffenes Berlin Fellowship (2024).

VocalChamber

Awards

  • 38th Frederic Mompou International Award, Barcelona (2017)
  • Second Prize, IV International Composition Competition GMCL/Jorge Peixinho, Lisbon (2019)
  • First Prize, Borys Lyatoshynsky Composer Competition, Kharkiv (2021)
  • Second Prize, 5th Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition, Vienna (2022)
  • Second Award, XXXIII Young Composers Prize, SGAE Foundation, Madrid (2022)
  • Laureate, “George Stephănescu” International Composition Competition, Bucharest (2024)
  • Gaude Polonia scholarship (2019)

Performed at UCMF

Jeux

UCMF 2021 · Voices of the New Millennium · Mar 5 · 2013 · Chamber

for viola and piano; a cycle of impressions across the four stages of the day

Performed by Carrie Frey (Viola), Margarita Rovenskaya (Piano)

Jeux for viola and piano is a cycle that is in some way referring to impressionism: the interaction between the two instruments may be perceived as the “games” of elements of nature in different light environments. The cycle is aimed to create a series of impressions of these environments that change with every movement, corresponding with each of the four stages of the day: dawn, midday, dusk and night.

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Les Chevaux de Feu

UCMF 2025 · Ukrainian Tone Poems · Mar 15 · 2022 · Chamber · American premiere

US premiere; after Kotsiubynsky's Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Performed by PinkNoise (Ensemble), Jonathan Hass (Conductor)

Written in the spring of 2022 for the Postcolonial Recherche project with Ensemble Recherche, Les Chevaux de Feu explores Ukrainian identity through the lens of colonialism and its lasting impact. Its title refers to the French edition of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky’s renowned novel “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors,” introduced to Western Europe as “Les chevaux de feu” (The Horses of Fire). Weaving together the folklore and mythology of the Ukrainian Carpathians, the work bridges these ancestral echoes with the harsh realities of wartime Ukraine, transforming the vivid image of fiery horses into a powerful metaphor for resistance.

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