Vasil S. Tole (born 22 November 1963) is an Albanian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

, ethnomusicologist and administrator. A proponent of

European classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" als ...

, his compositions include

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l works and various pieces for small ensembles and solo instruments. He is the author of several books, mostly about the

music of Albania The music of Albania ( sq, Muzika Shqiptare) is associated with the country of Albania and Albanian communities. Music has a long tradition in the country and is known for its regional diversity, from the Ghegs in the North to the Tosks in the ...

. He has also researched about

Aromanian music Aromanian music ( rup, Muzica armãneascã) is the music characteristic of the Aromanians. The Aromanians are an ethnic group scattered throughout the Balkans, living in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. Aromanian ...

. Tole is currently a professor at the

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

, Albania. He is also the head of the Department for Cultural Heritage in Albania's Ministry of Culture; president of the

National Music Council The National Music Council of the United States is an organization listed under Title 36 of the United States Code, founded in 1940 and chartered by the 84th Congress in 1956. The Council is composed of organizations of national scope interested ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

and a member of the International Music Council.

Career

He was graduated for composition at the Faculty of Music, at the Academy of Arts, in Tirana, in 1987, at the class of Prof. Kozma Lara. After working for three years as the artistic director at “Shtëpia e Kulturës” (“''House of Culture''”), in his hometown, Përmet, in 1991, he was appointed as a professor of the Albanian Music Folklore at the Faculty of Music, at the Academy of Arts, in Tirana, and then as a professor of Composition. It is here where he presents his PhD dissertation in 1994, in the field of ethnomusicology with the study: “''Structure and Semantics in the Instrumental Folk Music of Southern Albania''”. In 1994-95, he carried out the post-graduate studies in the field of Composition at Folkwang Hochschule, Essen-Germany, in the class of Prof. Wolfgang Hufschmidit and, in 1996, he carried out the postdoctoral studies in the Department of Musicology at the University of Athens, Greece. In 2000, he received the scientific title “Associate Professor”, and the one of “Professor” in 2004. As an active representative of the new generation of the Albanian composers, Vasil S. Tole is known as one of the main protagonists of change, an initiator of new creative alternatives, one of the most decisive supporters of the concept for the restructuring of the Albanian folk music subject, serving to the identification of the identity and the novelties in contemporary music. Simultaneously, he dedicates himself to a broad activity related to studies and journalism, and participates in numerous music contests, conferences and roundtables in Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Spain, England, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Canada, USA, China etc. He cooperates with artistic and research newspapers and magazines, with the Albanian Radio and Television; he is the author of tens of journalistic writings and monographies on music, as well as the winner of some important awards at national and international level, such as the winner of the first prize in composition “Dimitris Mitropoulos”, Athens 2001, with the opera ''“Eumenidet”.'' After the 1990s, along with some colleagues, at the Academy of Arts, he becomes the initiator of the foundation and the management of some important music organisms, such as: the association “Muzikës së Re Shqiptare” (1993); the Albanian section of ''“The Rilm Abstract Literature of Music”,'' New York (1995); the Albanian section of CIOFF-it (1996); he has been the chairman of the Albanian Music Council since 1995, a member of the National Council of Music, Paris, a member of SEM-USA, Gema-Germany etc. From 1997 to 1999, he was the Director of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet. From 2001-2007, he was the Director of the Cultural Heritage Directorate at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports. In 2005, he met all the obligations as an expert of ethnomusicology to prepare the file of the Albanian folk iso-polyphony, proclaimed by UNESCO as a “''Masterpiece of Oral Heritage of Humanity''”. In 2008, he was elected as a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Albania, in 2013, as a scientific secretary and in 2019 as the Deputy Chairperson of the Academy of Sciences of Albania.

References

External links

Prof. Dr. Vasil S. Tole's website
(in English and Albanian). 21st-century classical composers Albanian composers 1963 births Living people Male classical composers Musicians from Tirana 21st-century male musicians {{albania-composer-stub