Aleksandër Peçi (born Tirana, 11 July 1951) is an Albanian composer who has been recognized at the national and international levels.[1]
He has received his education from Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Academia Santa Cecilia, and the University of Arts, Tirana, where he worked with Çesk Zadeja. In Paris he worked with Ton de Leeuw, Paul Mefano, Jacques Charpentier. In Amsterdam Peçi has studied with Daan Manneke, Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Conservatorio Santa Cecilia to write Etera Tondo after Paradis of Dante Alighieri. Then he worked as the director of Palace of Culture in Përmet. From 1979 he was the artistic director of the National Ensemble of Popular Songs and Dances. Since 1986 he has been a full-time composer. In 1989 Peci composed the song Toka E Diellit which won the major Albanian music contest, Festivali i Këngës. Since 1992 he has taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana.
Career
In his professional career as a composer he wrote over 922 compositions and Editions, and 35 CD albums of his music were published. His YouTube channel has more than 622 videos of his music performances.
Aleksandër Peçi has participated in over 80 international festivals of contemporary music, including the Venice Biennale, Manchester International Festival, Festival of Marseille, ISCM World Music Days, Moscow Autumn, EMU in Santa Cecilia Festival, Seattle Festival, Summer Fest Moscow, Nuova Musica Brno, Convergence Fest Prague, and Festival of Hong Kong. His music has been premiered and performed in Carnegie Hall (New York), Steinway Piano Gallery (Miami), EuroPianos (Naples, Florida), Clarke Recital Hall (University of Miami), and Prague Conservatory.
Aleksandër Peçi has received commissions from the Ministry of Culture (Albania), Radio France music, Ministry of Culture France SACEM (France), Montreal Film Studio, Albanian Film Studios and Radio Television Orchestra Albania. 2011 marked Peçi’s world tour where his music was performed in Moscow, Paris, Texas, Ecuador, Louisiana, Armenia, Oman, Kosovo.
In August 2016, the Moscow Conservatory presented a first-time event featuring his Five Piano Sonatas. Peçi’s piano composition “Muzikë Kabaistike,” received its world premiere by Redi Llupa at the Kaleidoscope MusArt Concert Series in Miami, FL in February 2016.
Peçi has composed for movie soundtracks, symphonic, ballet, and operatic settings, chamber music, as well as solo piano, among many others.
Awards and titles
Aleksander Peçi was awarded the title of Merited Artist in 1989. In 2011, the President of The Republic of Albania, Bamir Topi, granted him the title Grand Master, with the written motivation: “For outstanding contributions to the modernization of thought and image of the Albanian composition, composer of a wider dimension, analyst, researcher and author of a series of musical works, with specific values in the History of National Culture.” Other awards include the ones from Radio France, and SACEM in France, Montreal Film Studio in Canada, and the Venice Biennale. Aleksandër Peçi is the winner of 21 National and International Prizes, including Special Award at the “KULT” 2011 and those at the 1979 Albanian Film Festival with Gjeneral Gramafoni; the ’89 festival with Toka e diellit; and the 2000 festival with Dasma e Sakos; as well as the First Prize for the Rhapsody No. 2 for violin and orchestra at the 1975 Koncertet e Majit, Tirana; First Prize for the ballet Kecat dhe ujku at the 1978 National competition honoring the 35th Anniversary of the National Army; First Prize at the 1981 Koncertet e Majit, Tirana, with the song Rritim jetën tonë; Special Prize awarded at the 1982 Balkan Film Festival in Istanbul for the music of Gjeneral Gramafoni; Second Prize at the 1988 Festivali i Këngës në RTSH with the song Në emër të jetës; First Prize at the 1989 Festivali i këngës në RTSH for the song Toka e Diellit; First Prize at the 2002 “Muza” National Competition under the auspices of the Albanian Ministry of Culture for Heteroondulation special (work commissioned by Radio France) and at the 2003 one for the opera OIRAT. In 2003, he was also the winner of the Silver Remi Award at the Houston - Texas World Fest for the music of Women without wings (produced by Cinestudio - Montreal, Canada). In 2021 has won first prize with sonata no.2 for violoncello Mitosfera and first prize in Germany with the film Ritrato infinito di Clara Bellini – production Italo - Albanese.
Selected recordings
Peçi’s output includes stage and orchestral works such as 20 film scores, 2 opera, 5 symphonies, 2 ballets,13 concertos 6 for cello and orchestra; 5 for piano and orchestra), 6 rhapsodies, 1 poem, Planetears for string ensemble, soprano, flute and piano, and 60 works for string orchestra. 20 sonatas.
- Koncert per piano dhe orkester nr. 1 = Concerto for Piano and orchestra, nr. 1, 1976
- Kecat dhe ujku = The Goats And The Wolf, balley, 1979
- Koncert per Violoncel dhe orkester = Concerto for Violoncello and orchestra, 1982
- Sinfoni nr. 1 = Symphony nr. 1, 1985
- Sinfoni nr. 2 = Symphony nr. 2, 1988
- Oirat, 2000[2]
- 12 Cartesius Cantus, piano cycle, 2002
- Etera tonda, acoustic and electro-acoustic music, + installation, 2006
- Piano concerto nr. 2, 2007
References
- ↑ Dakoli, Elida (2017). "Aleksander Peci Before and After the Iron Curtain".
- ↑ Tole, Vasil (2010). "Inventory of Performers on Albanian Folk Iso-Polyphony" (PDF). Albanian Music Council. p. 117. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
The oi-oi lament is encountered in general use in all Albanian sung laments. The term oirat is used as a title by the composer Aleksandër Peçi in his opera of the same name.