Vladimir Cosma

After receiving first prizes for violin and composition at the Bucharest Conservatory, he arrived in Paris in 1963 and continued his studies at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris, working with Nadia Boulanger. As well as for classical music, he discovered early on a passion for jazz, film music and all forms of popular music.

From 1964 he made a number of international tours as a concert violinist and began to devote himself more and more to composing. He wrote various compositions including: Trois mouvements d'été for symphony orchestra, Oblique for violoncello and string orchestra, music for theatre and ballet (Volpone for the Comédie Française, the opera Fantômas...).

In 1968, Yves Robert entrusted him with his first film music for Alexandre le Bienheureux.

Vladimir Cosma has since composed more than three hundred scores for feature films and TV series. His numerous successes in the cinema have notably been in collaboration with Yves Robert, Gérard Oury, Francis Veber, Claude Pinoteau, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Claude Zidi, Ettore Scola, Pascal Thomas, Pierre Richard, Yves Boisset, André Cayatte, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Edouard Molinaro, Jean-Marie Poiré, etc. Films he composed the score for include: Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, Diva, Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob, La Boum, Le Bal, L'As des as, La Chèvre, Les Fugitifs, Les Zozos, Pleure pas la bouche pleine, Dupont Lajoie, Un éléphant ça trompe énormément, La Dérobade, Le Père Noël est une ordure, L'Étudiante, La Gloire de mon père, Le Château de ma mère, Le dîner de cons, etc.

Vladimir Cosma has also been featured in major French and American television productions: Michel Strogoff, Kidnapped, Mistral's Daughter, Châteauvallon, Les Mystères de Paris, Les Coeurs brûlés, etc.

Film music allowed him to approach and develop many different musical styles: jazz (with music written for famous soloists such as Chet Baker, Toots Thielemans, Don Byas, Stéphane Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, Philip Catherine, Tony Coe, Pepper Adams; chanson (for Nana Mouskouri, Marie Laforêt, Richard Sanderson, Diane Dufresne, Herbert Léonard, Mireille Mathieu, Nicole Croisille, Lara Fabian, Guy Marchand); and original compositions inspired by folk music (for Gheorghe Zamfir, Stanciu Simion "Syrinx", pan-flute, Liam O'Flynn, pipes/Romane-guitar), as well as classical music (Berlin Concerto for violin and orchestra, Concerto for Euphonium and orchestra, Concerto Ibérique for trumpet and orchestra, Courts Métrages for brass quintet, etc.)

In 2006 Cosma himself conducted the world premiere of his composition Eh bien ! Dansez maintenant, a divertissement for narrator and symphony orchestra, adapting eleven of La Fontaine's Fables. The work's title refers to the ant's rejoinder to the grasshopper when it comes begging for food in the first of the fables: “You sang all summer? Now go and dance!” In Cosma's interpretation, the recitation of the story is unaccompanied, but each of the fables is illustrated in a different dance measure – from polka to pasodoble, from gavotte to foxtrot.[1] The first performance of many that followed took place at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Lambert Wilson as narrator. Conducting the Orchestre National de France, he gave a first performance in Paris of this work in December 2010 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, featuring Éric Génovèse of the Comédie Française.

Vladimir Cosma went on to write the opera Marius et Fanny, adapted from Marcel Pagnol, for which the first production took place in September 2007 at the Opéra de Marseille with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in the title roles, as well as Jean-Philippe Lafont in the role of César. The performances were repeated several times on television on the channels Arte and France 3.

In 2008 he composed the music for the musical comedy Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob performed at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, with Éric Métayer, Marianne James, Spike, Julie Victor, among others.

In June 2009, Vladimir Cosma conducted the world premiere, in the Eglise Sainte-Madeleine de Béziers, of his cantata 1209, for soprano, narrator, children's choir and orchestra, written especially for the 8th centenary of the Sac de Béziers.

He is dedicated to re-writing his film music with the intention of conducting performances in symphonic concerts, thus approaching a wider audience than at the cinema . Among others, he gave a concert in Geneva in 2003 with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, a series of concerts in 2003 with the Orchestre National de Lyon, three concerts in 2005 in Paris at the Grand Rex, and a concert in 2010 with the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

He has also appeared in many countries with major symphony orchestras and such prestigious soloists as Ivry Gitlis, Vadim Repin, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Patrice Fontanarosa, Jean-Luc Ponty, Didier Lockwood, Stanciu Simion, Philip Catherine and others. A book of interviews with Vincent Perrot entitled Vladimir Cosma comme au cinéma was published in 2009 in the Editions Hors Collection and an anthology of his film music regrouping 91 complete original soundtracks in two volumes has just come out. Two evenings were devoted to him by the French TV channel, France 3 in 2010, airing his concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet and a documentary Vladimir Cosma intime.

Vladimir Cosma received two Césars for the best movie score, for Diva (1982) and Le Bal (1984), two Golden Sevens for the best music for television, as well as a number of prizes and awards in France and other countries. He has also obtained numerous gold and platinum records all over the world (France, Germany, Japan, England, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia). Vladimir Cosma is Chevalier de l'ordre National la Légion d'Honneur, as well as Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. He has also been awarded the Romanian Ordinul "Meritul cultural" în grad de Cavaler.

• 1981: Disques d'Or et de Platine pour les B.O.F. : Diva, La Boum.
• 1981: César Award de la meilleure musique de film pour Diva.
• 1982: Prix du Festival de Moscou de la musique du film pour Diva.
• 1982: Disques d'Or et de Platine pour la B.O.F. : La Boum 2.
• 1983: Grand Prix du Disque de la Musique de films (Sacem) pour l'ensemble de son œuvre à Cannes.
• 1984: César Award de la meilleure musique de film pour Le Bal.
• 1985: Disques d'Or et de Platine pour les B.O.F.: L'Amour en Héritage, Les Mondes Engloutis, Châteauvallon.
• 1986: 7 d'Or de la meilleure musique pour la télévision avec le film en deux parties : L'été 36.
• 1986: Nommé au grade de Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.
• 1988: Disque d'Or pour la B.O.F. de L'Etudiante.
• 1990: Grand Prix Sacem de l'Œuvre musicale audiovisuelle.
• 1991: 7 d'Or de la meilleure musique pour la télévision.
• 1995: Médaille d'honneur de la Ville de Beauvais.
• 2000: Médaille d'honneur du Conseil Général de l'Yonne.
• 2001: Prix Philip Award de Varsovie («Greatest Creation accomplishment in Europeen film music»).
• 2003: Grand Prix Sacem de la Musique de Film.
• 2004: Nommé Grand Officier du Mérite Culturel Roumain.
• 2004: Nommé Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur.
• 2005: Lumière d'Honneur – Festival La Ciotat, Berceau du Cinéma.
• 2006: Médaille d'honneur de la Ville et Parrain de l'Ecole Municipale de Musique (Vandoeuvre les Nancy).
• 2007: Hommage et Médaille d'honneur de la Ville de Cabourg.
• 2008: Trophée «Phenix Award saluant l'ensemble de sa carrière (Festival du Film à Spa en Belgique.)
• 2009: Hommage et Médaille d'honneur de la Ville de Béziers.
• 2010: Prix Henri Langlois de la Cinémathèque Française 2010.

• Alain Lacombe et Claude Rocle, La Musique du Film – Vladimir Cosma (Editions Francis van de Velde, Paris, 1979)
• Who is Who in Europe – Dictionnaire Biographique – Vladimir Cosma (Ed.Servi-Tech, 5ème éd., Belgique, 1983)
• Steve Harris, Film and Television Composers : An International Discography – Vladimir Cosma (Mc Farland & Company Inc., Publishers, USA, 1992)
• Théodore Baker, Nicolas Slonimsky, Dictionnaire Biographique des Musiciens – Vladimir Cosma (Ed.Robert Laffont, Paris, 1995)
• Stéphane Lerouge, Cent ans de cinéma - Vladimir Cosma. Du Grand Blond à Diva, l'autre Cosma paru dans NOTES N° 14 (Ed.SACEM / SDRM, Paris, 1995)
• Enciclopedia Români in stiinta si cultura occidentala – Vladimir Cosma (Los Angeles, CA90027 USA, 1992 ; 2ème éd., 1996)
• Viorel Cosma, Muzicieni din România – Vladimir Cosma (Editura Muzicala, Bucuresti, 1999)
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians – Vladimir Cosma (Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2nd éd., 2001)
• Vincent Perrot, B.O.F. Musiques et compositeurs du cinéma français – Vladimir Cosma (Dreamland éditeur, Paris, 2002)
• Lionel Pons, Le style de Vladimir Cosma, des studios à la scène, dans Marius et Fanny (Ed. Actes Sud, 2007)
• Vladimir Cosma comme au cinéma, Entretiens avec Vincent Perrot (Ed.Hors Collection, Paris, 2009) ISBN 2-84855-101-1
• Lionel Pons, Vladimir Cosma l'imagier avec des analyses musicologiques incluses dans le coffret discographique Vladimir Cosma – 40 Bandes Originales pour 40 Films (Ed.Larghetto Music, Pays Bas, 2009)
• Who is Who in France – Dictionnaire biographique – Vladimir Cosma (Ed.Laffitte-Hébrard, 41ème éd., Paris, 2010)
• Lionel Pons, Vladimir Cosma, prima la musica, avec des analyses musicologiques incluses dans le coffret discographique Vladimir Cosma, vol.2, 51 Bandes Originales pour 51 Films (Ed.Larghetto Music, Pays Bas, 2010)

• Vladimir Cosma at IMDb
• Vladimir Cosma at AllMusic
• Interview with SCORE magazine
• Interview with Vladimir Cosma (in French)
• Thème de Nadia (from Michel Strogoff) — original recording on YouTube
• Thème de Nadia — concert performance on YouTube