Eugene Doga

Eugen Doga
Eugen Doga (August 2014)
Born	(1937-03-01) 1 March 1937 (age 80) Mocra, Moldavian ASSR, Soviet Union (in modern Transnistria)
Nationality	Romanian
Citizenship	Moldova USSR (until 1991)
Occupation	Composer, conductor
Notable work	The waltz from A Hunting Accident
Website	http://www.dogamusic.com/en

Eugen Doga ([e.uˈd͡ʒen ˈdoɡa]; born 1 March 1937) is a Moldovan composer.

He writes music in all kinds of genres and styles, which makes him one of the most prolific and versatile composers. He has his own easily recognizable style. A creator of three ballets "Luceafărul”, “Venancia”, “Queen Margot”, the opera “Dialogues of Love”, more than 100 instrumental and choral works – symphonies, 6 quartets, “Requiem”, church music, and other, plus music for 13 plays, radio shows, more than 200 movies, more than 260 songs and romances, more than 70 waltzes; he is also the author of works for children, the music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in 1980 in Moscow.

He is considered a genius and one of the most romantic composers; he is also included on the list of the twenty best and most frequently performed composers of the twentieth century.

In Moldova, the years 2007 and 2017 (when the composer celebrated his 70th and 80t birthdays, respectively) were declared the Year of Eugen Doga. Chișinău's main pedestrianised thoroughfare has been named Eugen Doga Street in his honour.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) in recognition of his outstanding achievements in music awarded him with a special certificate in 2007.

Doga was born on 1 March 1937, in the village of Mocra in the Rîbniţa District (Moldova). He made his compositional debut in 1963, with a string quartet, later becoming the author of many musical compositions, theater scores and film soundtracks.

The childhood of the composer coincided with a period of historical cataclysms – the war, repressions, hunger, poverty, exhausting hard work (the composer's memories of his childhood).

After finishing seven years at school, Eugen Doga with his friends went to Chișinău (barefoot and without money, as he recalled later) to enroll in the School of Music of which he learned about when listening to a homemade radio. He was admitted to the music school, despite having no prior training. Thanks to his natural talent and hard work, Eugen Doga managed to quickly catch up, mastered musical notation and learned to play cello. He still has the fondest memories of his cello teacher Pablo Giovanni Baccini, who with his personal example greatly influenced the future destiny of the composer.

"My second teacher, an old man by the name of Pavel Ivanovich Bachinin, became my salvation. I always think of him with joy. He scheduled my first lesson at 6 o'clock in the morning. I came in – he was already sitting there playing the piano. I liked him a lot – intelligent, very musical, and tactful. He worked with me every morning from 6:00 to 8:30, before lectures, for two and a half years. He taught me not only to play the cello, but simply to be a decent human being. He never said the word "must", never used the imperative mood. However, through his own example, his attitude, he had taught me a lot,”- says Eugen Doga.