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Virgil Mihaiu (born June 28, 1951 in Cluj) is a Romanian writer, jazz critic, diplomat, jazz aesthetics professor, polyglot, cultural promoter, and performer. Between 2006-2012, he was co-founder and the first director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon, as well as minister counsellor at Romania's Embassy in Portugal.

Biography
Virgil Mihaiu graduated from the Faculty of Letters, University of Cluj-Napoca in 1974. Main objects of study: English & German; secondary objects of study: Spanish & Portuguese. Between 1971 and 1983, Virgil Mihaiu was a member of the editorial staff of the Echinox cultural magazine and from 1981 became member of the Writers' Union of Romania. Between 1983 and 1993 he was included in the editorial staff of Jazz Forum, the International Jazz Federation's magazine, published in Warsaw and since 1990 he has been a member of the editorial staff of Steaua, cultural monthly of the Writers’ Union.

Since 1992, Virgil Mihaiu is Assistant Professor at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj, honorary member of the United States' Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) and member of the Romanian PEN Club. Since 1997, he has been a co-founder and Professor of Jazz Aesthetics of the Jazz Department at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj. In 1998 the Czech-Romanian Cultural Association nominated him as an honorary member. Since 1999, Virgil Mihaiu has been a member of the Down Beat Jazz Critics Poll and member of the international editorial college of Down Beat, Chicago international jazz magazine. In 2002 he received the Ph.D. title with a monograph research on F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 2004, Virgil Mihaiu became member of the European Jazz Prize Jury (Hans Koller Prize) in Vienna and member of the editorial council of the Tribuna cultural magazine (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). Between 2006-2012 he exercised the functions of the first director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon and minister counsellor with Romania's Embassy in Portugal

Contributions, lecturing, congresses, grants
Virgil Mihaiu has published countless poems, essays, literary, musical and choreography criticism, and translations (from English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Swedish, and Italian) in Romania’s major cultural magazines. He has made contributions to cultural publications in Portugal, Poland, Great Britain, Germany, Latvia, Switzerland, Russia, Croatia, USA, France, Brazil, Serbia, Austria, Italy, Norway, Spain, Rep. Moldova, Hungary, Costa Rica, Montenegro, Turkey and Canada.

Mihaiu has delivered Jazzology 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, USA, France, Italy, Montenegro, Rep. Moldova, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Ireland, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Belgium). Between 2000 and 2005 he participated at the F. Scott Fitzgerald World Conferences held in Nice, France; Vevey, Switzerland; and New York, US, and he made several lectures, recitals & 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).

Grants

 * 1972 – from the University of Reading, England;
 * 1978 – from the University of Dresden, Germany;
 * 1992 – from the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Germany;
 * 1993 – from the World Radio Switzerland;
 * 1999-2000 – from the Instituto Camões de Portugal.

Co-founder
Co-founder of Jazzographics (after 1993), a loose-knit jazz-poetry outfit displaying various stage combinations of the following artists: Performances of own poetry spoken in various languages, either together with Jazzographics, or alone, in: Ireland, Scotland, Romania, England, Austria, USA, Serbia, Germany, Northern Ireland, Hungary, France, Croatia, and at the Lisbon World Exhibition Lisbon, Portugal, in 1998. Jazz-poetry shows together with Portuguese piano-improviser João Paulo Esteves da Silva, 2008, and the group Trigon, 2008.
 * Alan Tomlinson/trombone (member of the London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra);
 * Harry Tavitian/piano;
 * Corneliu Stroe/percussion;
 * Virgil Mihaiu/poetry, bass-guitar;
 * Alex Bǎlǎnescu/violin;
 * Livia Tulbure/choreographic improvisations.

Producer
Since 1980 he is the producer of the regular Eseu Jazz broadcast on Radio Cluj and CD Radio Napoca. After 1994: producer of the regular Jazzorelief TV broadcast and of various cultural programmes on Romania’s Public Television channels (TVR1, TVR2, TVR Cultural, TVR International, TVR3).

Guest producer
Guest producer of cultural programmes on Radio Switzerland (Bern, Lugano & Lausanne Studios).

Contributions to Sveriges Radio AB, BBC, Romanian Radio & TV, Radio & TV Cluj, Radio & TV Chisinau, 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, Radio Europa-Lisboa, RDP-Antena 2 Lisbon.

Co-producer/liner-notes author of records issued in Romania, Lithuania, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Rep. Moldova.

Author of musical collages for visual essays (after 1995), by architect/stage designer/director Horațiu Mihaiu, staged at theaters in Cluj, Ramnicu-Valcea, Sfântu Gheorghe, Sibiu, Târgu-Mureş, Piatra Neamţ, Târgovişte, and at Hungary’s Cultural Centre in Bucharest.

Interviews
Interviews granted to International Herald Tribune, TAZ (Germany), BBC Romanian & Russian Services, Scottish BBC Edinburgh, WDR Koln (Germany), Free Europe Prague (Czech Republic), Portuguese Public Television channels (RTP1 & RTP2) Politika (Serbia), Deutsche Welle, Voice of America/Washington, Televisão SIC Portugal, Radio Rossia, Up&Underground/Zagreb (Croatia), Atlas-TV/Podgorica (Montenegro), Radio Renascença Lisboa, Mundo/São Paulo (Brazil), Radio France Internationale.

Co-author of art documentary-films

 * The Voice of the Poet / with Radu Ţuculescu (TVR Cluj, 1994, 15 min.);
 * Paradise Lost in Memory / with Alex Huppert (TV Studio, Arad, 1996, 35 min.);
 * Sighişoara şi Teiuş – ombilicul lumii [Sighişoara 2000 and Teiuş – Navel of the World] / with Carmen Cristian (TVR2, 2000 and 2002, 60 min. each);
 * 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.).

Authored

 * Legea conservarii adolescentei (Law for the Conservation of the Adolescence) / Dacia, Cluj, 1977;
 * Sighisoara, Suedia si alte stari de spirit (Sighisoara, Sweden and other States of Mind) / Albatros, Bucharest, 1980;
 * Indicatiuni pentru balerina din respiratie (Directions for the Ballerina Inside Breath) / Eminescu, Bucharest, 1981;
 * Cutia de rezonanțǎ – eseuri despre jazz din perspectiva culturii contemporane (The Resonance Box – Essays on Jazz from the Perspective of Today's Culture) / Albatros, Bucharest 1985;
 * Poeme (Poems) / Dacia, Cluj, 1986;
 * Jazzorelief / Nemira, Bucharest, 1993, ISBN 973-9144-60-8;
 * Paradis pierdut in memorie (Paradise Lost in Memory) / Cartea Romaneasca, Bucharest, 1993, ISBN 973-23-0346-8;
 * Incantari & descantari clujene (Canticles & Enchantments of Cluj) / Dacia, Cluj, 1996, ISBN 973-35-0525-0;
 * Recensamant de epifanii/Census of Epiphanies – bilingual volume of poetry translated into English by Adam J. Sorkin – Paralela 45, Pitesti, 1999, ISBN 973-593-041-2;
 * Jazz Connections in Portugal – conceived and published in English / Alfa Press, Cluj, 2001, ISBN 973-85060-2-6;
 * Jazzografii pentru imblanzit saxofoniste (Jazzographies for the Taming of She-Saxophonists) / Dacia, Cluj, 2001, ISBN 973.35-1231-1;
 * Between the Jazz Age and Postmodernism: F. Scott Fitzgerald – conceived and published in English / Editura Universitatii de Vest, Timisoara, 2003, ISBN 973-8433-33-9;
 * Aur din coama Ariadnei / Gold aus Ariadnes Maehne (Gold from Ariadna’s Mane) – bilingual volume of poetry translated into German by Rolf-Frieder Marmont / Limes, Cluj, 2004, ISBN 973-7907-90-6;
 * Jazz Connections in Romania – conceived and published in English / Institutul Cultural Roman, Bucharest, 2007, ISBN 978-973-577-531-5;
 * Lusoromana punte de vant (Lusoromanian Bridge of Wind) / Brumar, Timisoara, 2010, ISBN 978-973-602-499-3.

Co-authored

 * Russian Jazz New Identity – edited by Leo Feigin / Quartet Books, London, 1985, ISBN 0704325063;
 * Jazz in Europa – edited by Wolfram Knauer / Darmstaedter Beitraege zur Jazzforschung, Wolke Hofheim/Germany, 1994, ISBN 3-923997-42-6;
 * Pentru Gellu Naum (For Gellu Naum) – edited by Iulian Tanase / Vinea & Icare, Bucharest, 2002;
 * The Foreign Critical Reputation of F. Scott Fitzgerald – edited by Linda C. Stanley / Praeger, Westport, Connecticut & London 2004;
 * Sadovaia 302 bis (Mikhail Bulgakov and Moscow from Today’s Perspective) – together with Ruxandra Cesereanu, Marta Petreu, Corin Braga, Ovidiu Pecican, Ion Vartic / Apostrof, Cluj, 2006, ISBN 973-9279-80-5;
 * Cartea cu bunici (The Grandparents Book) – edited by Marius Chivu / Humanitas/Bucharest, 2007, ISBN 978-973-50-1828-3;
 * A Cidade de Lisboa (The City of Lisbon) – conceived & published in Portuguese – edited by Micaela Ghitescu / Fundatia Culturala Memoria, Bucharest, 2007;
 * Clujul din cuvinte (The Cluj of Words) – edited by Irina Petras / Casa Cartii de Stiinta, Cluj, 2008, ISBN 978-973-133-474-5;
 * Primii mei blugi (My first Jeans) – edited by Corina Bernic / Art, Bucharest, 2009, ISBN 978-973-124-452-5;
 * Sapte decenii de melancolie si literatura (Seven Decades of Melancholy and Literature) – edited by Stefan Borbely / Eikon, Cluj, 2011, ISBN 978-973-757-458-9.
 * Promenada scriitorilor / Uniunea Scriitorilor din Romania Filiala Cluj (The Writers' Promenade / The Writers' Union of Romania, Cluj Department) – edited by Irina Petras / Eikon, Cluj, 2012, ISBN 978-973-757-607-1.

Anthologies
Virgil Mihaiu has had works included in the following poetry anthologies:


 * Jahresring 79-80, German translation by Oskar Pastior / Deutsche-Verlag-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 1980;
 * Erkezö szel, Hungarian translation by Tibor Hergyan / Tankönyvkiado, Budapest, 1986;
 * Young Poets of a New Romania, translated by Brenda Walker, Forest Books, London & Boston, 1991, ISBN 0-948259-89-2;
 * Streiflicht, Eine Auswahl zeitgenössischer rumänischer Lyrik, German translation by Christian W. Schenk, Dionysos Verlag, Kastellaun, 1994, ISBN 3-9803871-1-9;
 * Transylvanian Voices, An Anthology of Contemporary Poets from Cluj-Napoca, translated into English by Adam J. Sorkin and Liviu Bleoca, The Romanian Cultural Foundation, Iaşi, 1994, ISBN1223-1908;
 * Savremenik, Serbian translation by Adam Pusloijc / Apostrof, Belgrade, 1995;
 * Transylvanian Voices, anthology by Adam J. Sorkin & Liviu Bleoca, second edition / East European Monographs, Columbia University Press, 1994, The Center for Romanian Studies, Iaşi, 1997, ISBN 973-98091-4-6 12 bis;
 * Gefährliche Serpentinen, German translation by Dieter Schlesak / Galrev, Berlin, 1998, ISBN 3-933149-01-0;
 * Vid tystnadens bord, Swedish translation by Jon Milos / Symposion, Brutus Ostlings Forlag, Stockholm, 1998;
 * Day After Night – Twenty Romanian Poets for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Gabriel Stanescu & Adam J. Sorkin / Criterion Publishing, USA, 2000;
 * Meet, French translation by Alain Paruit / Maison des ecrivains etrangeres et des traducteurs, St. Nazaire, 2002;
 * Cantecul stelelor / Il canto delle stelle, anthology by Aurel Rau & Adrian Popescu; Italian translation by Stefan Damian & Bruno Rombi / Editura Limes, Cluj-Napoca, 2004, ISBN 973-7907-77-9;
 * Un pahar cu lumina / Poharnyi feny, Romanian-Hungarian anthology by Lajos Molnos / Ed. Tinivar, Cluj-Napoca, 2005;
 * The Poetry of Men’s Lives, edited by Fred Moramarco & Al Zolynas, English translation by Adam J. Sorkin / University of Georgia Press, Athens Georgia USA, 2004, ISBN 0-8203-2351-9;
 * Mi-ar trebui un sir de ani / It Might Take Me Years, Romanian-English anthology by Constantin Abaluta / PEN Romanian Centre, Casa Cartii de Stiinta, Cluj-Napoca, 2009, ISBN 978-973-565-0.

Awards and honors

 * 1977 – debut prize for poetry awarded by “Dacia” publishing house (Cluj-Napoca, Romania);
 * 1984 – Amicus Poloniae, honorary badge awarded by Poland's Minister of Culture;
 * 1994 – poetry prize of the Writers’ Association Cluj, Romania;
 * 1996 – Poetry Book of the Year, prize at “Salonul naţional de carte”/National Book Award, Romania;
 * 1998 & 2002 – poetry prize of the Writers’ Union Cluj Section
 * 2001 – Cultural Ambassador of Cluj, honorary title conferred by the Romanian National Opera, Cluj-Napoca and the Transylvanian Business Center;
 * 2003 – prize for jazz criticism awarded by the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation;
 * 2008 – prize for jazz criticism awarded by the “Muzza” Cultural Foundation;
 * 2009 – Movimento Arte Contemporanea Foundation/Association of Contemporary Art (MAC), prize for excellence in Lisbon (Portugal), for promoting international cultural cooperation.