Gheorghe Costinescu (1934 - 2023), born in Bucharest and residing in New York after 1969, was a composer, conductor, pianist, musicologist and educator. He studied composition at the Bucharest Conservatory, The Juilliard School in New York, and Columbia University, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1976 under the guidance of Chou Wen-chung. His chamber, choral, orchestral and stage works have been performed in major cities in Europe and the United States, and at the Royan, Shiraz-Persepolis and Tanglewood festivals. His stage work, The Musical Seminar, won the League-ISCM National Composers Competition.
Costinescu received grants and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the NEA, the NYFA, the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, and The Ford Foundation. He was a Fulbright Scholar and also received the Romanian Academy’s George Enescu prize, The Juilliard School’s Alexandre Gretchaninoff Memorial Prize, and Fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. For his drawings in musical scores, he was awarded a Creative Artists Public Service fellowship in graphics from the state of New York. His theoretical writings include articles on contemporary music, essays on comparative aesthetics, and A Treatise on Musical Phonology.
Costinescu taught at Juilliard, Columbia, The New School, and Lehman College of the City University of New York, where he became professor emeritus of music in 2003.
