Virgil Mihaiu (born June 28, 1951, in Cluj, Romania) is a Romanian writer, jazz critic, diplomat, jazz aesthetics professor, polyglot, and performer. He was co-founder and the first director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon, and served as minister-counselor at the Romanian embassy in Portugal. Since 2015 he is director of the Casa do Brasil / Brazilian Cultural Centre, as well as the Biblioteca de Estudios Latinoamericanos, both institutions functioning under the aegis of Cluj's principal University.
Biography
Virgil Mihaiu is the son of Virgil, medical doctor (1915-2002), and Lucreția, music teacher (1925-2012); his brother, Horațiu Mihaiu (b. 1953) is architect, stage designer & theatre director. He is the father of Rafaela Lucreția Mihaiu (b. 1991) and Matei Virgiliu Bindea Mihaiu (b. 2005). In 1974 Virgil Mihaiu graduated from the Faculty of Letters at Babeș-Bolyai University, after studying English and German, as well as Spanish and Portuguese.
Between 1971 and 1983, he was on the editorial staff of Echinox,Chapter on Virgil Mihaiu in Literatura Echinoxului by Nicolae Oprea, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 2003. a cultural magazine. In 1981, he became a member of the Writers' Union of Romania.Virgil Mihaiu's Curriculum Vitae on the site of the Writers’ Union of Romania/Cluj: http://www.uniuneascriitorilor-filialacluj.ro/detalii_membrii_635_MIHAIU-Virgil.html .
Between 1983 and 1993, he was part of the editorial staff of Jazz Forum, the International Jazz Federation's magazine in Warsaw.Polska Federacja Jazzowa [Jazz Forum : Polish Jazz Federation magazine], periodical, .
He joined the editorial staff of Steaua, the cultural monthly of the Writers’ Union, in 1990.
Mihaiu became an assistant professor at the G. Dima National Music Academy in Cluj in 1992. Five years later, he became a professor of Jazz Aesthetics of the jazz department at G. Dima.Virgil Mihaiu's Curriculum Vitae on the site of G. Dima National Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca: http://amgd.eu/58.Faculties/83.Faculty_of_Theory/155.The_musicology_and_music_education_department.html .
In 2002 he received a Magna cum laude doctorate for his interdisciplinary research on F. Scott Fitzgerald.Between the Jazz Age and Postmodernism: F. Scott Fitzgerald (conceived and published in English), Editura Universitatii de Vest, Timișoara, 2003,
In 2006, he co-founded and became the first director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon,Virgil Mihaiu's Curriculum Vitae on the site of the Romanian Cultural Institute www.icr.ro ; see also Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon: . continuing in the post until 2012. He also served as minister-counselor at the Romanian embassy in PortugalVirgil Mihaiu's Curriculum Vitae on the site of Romania's Ministry of External Affairs: www.mae.ro (http://old.mae.ro/poze_editare/CV_Mihaiu.pdf); see also http://lisabona.mae.ro/ .
Mihaiu is an honorary or full member of several organizations, including the United States' Jazz Journalists Association (JJA),For more information about the Jazz Journalists Association visit their official site: http://www.jazzhouse.org/ . a member of the Romanian PEN Club,Virgil Mihaiu's Curriculum Vitae on the site of the Romanian PEN Club : www.penromania.ro . and an honorary member of the Czech-Romanian Cultural Association based in Prague.
Since 1997, Mihaiu has been a part of the Down Beat Jazz Critics PollSee Down Beat Jazz Critics Poll: http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp and in 2001 he became the first Central-European ever to be included in the international editorial college of Down Beat,Down Beat ( ) http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2012/DB201203/_art/DB201203.pdf . a prominent jazz magazine edited in Chicago.
In 2015 he was co-opted as a master professor at The Centre for Imagination Studies Phantasma within Cluj's UBB University.
Since 2015 Mihaiu is director of the Casa do Brasil / Brazilian Cultural Centre, as well as of the Biblioteca de Estudios Latinoamericanos, both institutions functioning under the aegis of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj.
In over half a century of cultural activity, Mihaiu has marked several priorities: he is the author of the first volume of jazzology essays in Romanian (Resonance Box, 1985); co-editor, together with producer Leo Feigin, of the first Romanian avant-garde jazz albums released in the West – performed by Harry Tavitian, Corneliu Stroe & the Creativ group – on London's Leo Records / 1985–86; founder of the first Jazz Aesthetics Course in the Romanian academic system / at the G. Dima National Music Academy in Cluj, 1997; in 2001 he became the first jazzologist from Central and Eastern Europe to be co-opted in the international editorial college of Down Beat, the global reference monthly published in Chicago. Mihaiu was involved, as co-founding director, in the development of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon. There he launched cultural diplomacy initiatives, such as: the establishment of the honorary title Amicus Romaniae, meant to highlight the personalities from the Portuguese and international cultural-diplomatic sphere consistently involved in supporting the activities of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon (2007); the Romanian Music Season in Portugal, held between 2007 and 2012; Romanian Cultural Summer in Portugal; Romanian cinema galas in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Evora, Estoril, Ponta Delgada / Azores Islands, etc.
Co-organizer, advisor, lecturer, moderator of the first Romanian edition of the World Jazz Day / April 30, 2013, Cluj; in 2015, at Mihaiu's initiative, for the first time a higher education institution in Romania – the National Music Academy in Cluj – awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to a jazzologist: John Edward Hasse from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; in 2017 and 2018, Mihaiu was the first scholar to give jazzology lectures at Montenegro's National Academy of Music in Cetinje.
Writing and lecturing Mihaiu is a prolific author of poems, essays, criticism, and translations. He has been published in Romania's major cultural magazines as well as publications in Portugal, Poland, Great Britain, Germany,Poetry by Virgil Mihaiu, translated into German by Rolf Frieder-Marmont, in Halbjahresschrift fuer Suedosteuropaeische Literatur und Politik, 13. Jahrgang, no. 1/2001, Germany. Latvia,Ja nebutu ta bijis, diez vai es to butu pastastijis. A selection of Virgil Mihaiu's poetry (24 texts), translated into Latvian by Leons Briedis (with bio/bibliographical note) / Kulturas Forums, no. 18 / 2006, Riga/Latvia. Switzerland, Russia,Interview with Virgil Mihaiu by Dmitry Ukhov, in Moscow's JAZZ.RU magazine and on its website, POLNYI DJAZ/NR. 27/2005, 28/2005: part one: http://www.jazz.ru/mag/314/interview.htM ; part two: http://www.jazz.ru/mag/312/interview.htm Croatia,Virgil Mihaiu – Jazzom protiv totalitarnih rezima, interview by Vid Jeraj in Up & Underground art magazine, no. 9-10/2007, Zagreb/Croatia: http://www.upunderground.com/pdf/0910/0910_virgil_mihaiu-jazzom_protiv.pdf the United States,Jazz Connections in Romania by Virgil Mihaiu, review by Bert Vuijsje, in Jazz Notes, the Magazine of the U.S. Jazz Journalists’ Associacion, vol. 19, no. 2 / Summer 2008. See also Jazz-poetry by Virgil Mihaiu; Selections from Mihaiu's Playlist: How were you first introduced to jazz?, in World Literature Today, USA, March–April 2011. France, Brazil, Serbia, Austria, Italy, Norway,Jazzen i et politisk Europa, Tekst: Virgil Mihaiu, oversatt av Grethe Tausvik – two parts, in JazzNytt, no. 3 & 4 / 2004, Oslo/Norway. Spain,El jazz en Rumania a comienzos del siglo XXI by Virgil Mihaiu, traduccion Ricardo Aguilar, in Cuadernos de jazz, no. 86/2005, Madrid/Spain. Moldova,Virgil Mihaiu – De ce-și pune omul intrebări?, responses to 33 questions from the Contrafort cultural magazine, no. 5-6/2010, Chișinău/Rep. Moldova: http://www.contrafort.md/numere/de-ce-i-pune-omul-ntreb-ri Hungary, Costa Rica, Montenegro,Virgil Mihaiu article about Montenegro Jazz Appreciation Month 2011, and video about the same event, in JJA NEWS, the site of The U.S. Jazz Journalists’ Association: http://news.jazzjournalists.org/2011/11/jazz-appreciation-month-2011-in-montenegro-2/ Turkey, and Canada.
Mihaiu has delivered Jazzology lectures at various universities and institutes, and participated as a guest in congresses and festivals (Sweden, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, Germany, England, Austria, Spain, Lithuania, Switzerland, Serbia, Scotland, the United States,Audio samples from Virgil Mihaiu's jazz-poetry performances, as presented on the website of the World Literature Today magazine (USA), March–April 2011: http://www.ou.edu/wlt/03_2011/mihaiu_jazzographics.html ; http://www.ou.edu/wlt/03_2011/mihaiu_jazzographics2.html France, Italy, Montenegro, Moldova, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Ireland, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Cuba, Azerbaijan, Northern Macedonia, Belgium).
Between 2000 and 2005 he participated at the F. Scott Fitzgerald World Conferences. He has also given a series of lectures, recitals and documentation tours through universities and cultural institutions of the United States (New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, San Francisco, Stanford, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, and Berkeley).
Performing, media, visual arts
Mihaiu is co-founder of Jazzographics, a loose-knit jazz and poetry outfit featuring different combinations of the following artists: Alan Tomlinson/trombone (member of London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra) Harry Tavitian/piano Corneliu Stroe/percussion Virgil Mihaiu/poetry, bass-guitar Livia Tulbure/choreographic improvisations
He has performed his own poetry as a solo act, or with the Jazzographics, pianists João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Dima Belinski, Lucian Ban, violinist Alexander Balanescu, percussionist Mario Florescu, flutist Marius Gagiu, saxophonist Alex Munte, dancer Fatma Mohamed, and the group Trigon. Mihaiu has performed his poetry in Ireland, Scotland, Romania, England, Austria, USA, Serbia, Germany, Northern Ireland, Hungary, France, Croatia, and at the Lisbon World Exhibition 1998.
Between 1980 and 2004 Mihaiu produced his regular Eseu Jazz broadcast on Radio Cluj and CD Radio Napoca and the Jazzorelief broadcast on TVR Cluj.
Guest producer Guest producer of cultural programmes on Radio Switzerland (Bern, Lugano & Lausanne Studios). Contributions to Sveriges Radio AB/Radio Sweden Stockholm, Romanian Radio & TV Bucharest, RTV Cluj, Iasi, Timisoara, BBC / Romanian and Russian Departments, Radio & TV Chișinău, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, (RFE/RL), Sender Freies Berlin, Radio Norway (NRK), Yugoslovenska Televizija, Radio France Internationale, Radiodifusão Portuguesa, Radio Paris-Lisboa, Radio Nova de Porto, Radio Moskva Kultura, Voice of America, Radio Novi Sad, RTP-Antena 1 & 2 Lisbon, RDP-Antena 2 Lisbon, Radio & TV Montenegro, Atlas TV Montenegro, Radio Bulgaria, Deutsche Welle Köln, Radio & TV Azerbaijan, Radio Rossia Moscow, Radio Renascença Lisboa, Televisão SIC Portugal, Scottish BBC Edinburgh, Radio Europa-Lisboa. Co-producer/liner-notes author of records issued in Romania, Lithuania, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Moldova Author of musical collages for visual essays by architect/stage designer/director Horațiu Mihaiu, staged at theatres in Cluj, Ramnicu-Valcea, Sfantu Gheorghe, Sibiu, Targu-Mures, Piatra Neamt, Targoviste, Deva, and at Hungary's Cultural Centre in Bucharest.
Co-author of art documentary-films The Voice of the Poet / with Radu Țuculescu (TVR Cluj, 1994, 15 min.) Paradise Lost in Memory / with Alex Huppert (Vipcom TV Studio, Arad, 1996, 35 min.) Sighișoara 2000, with Carmen Cristian (TVR2, 2000, 60 min.) Teiuș – Navel of the World, with Carmen Cristian (TVR2, 2000, 60 min.) Art-deleni / with Emese Vig (TVR Cultural, 2008, 30 min.) Vestuarul / with Andrei Magalie (TVR Cultural, 2009, 30 min.) Români fără frontiere / with Corina Ionuț (TVR3, 2010, 30 min.)