Adrian Gaspar - Portrait
Adrian "Adi" Coriolan Gaspar is a Romanian-Austrian pianist, composer and arranger. He is a Roma and one of the key Roma musicians in Austria.
Adrian Gaspar was born in Moldova-Noua, Romania on 2 May 1987. He spent his early childhood in Pojejena, a small village close to the Romanian-Serbian border. In 1990, the Gaspar family tried to emigrate to Germany and settle down there, but were expelled after slightly more than a year. After leaving Germany, the family settled in Caransebeş, a small town in southwest Romania, where the young Adrian attended German school.
During that time, Adrian Gaspar had his first piano lessons and it was not long before his parents discoved their son’s extraordinary talent. They were afraid, though, that the musical potential of their son could not be optimally addressed in Romania and therefore decided to again venture out to western Europe.
In 1996, the Gaspar family moved to Vienna. Adrian first attended the music school in Brigittenau and was accepted at the music academy shortly thereafter. At the age of 13, he composed his first piece, “Sonatina in C major”. In 2003, for his piece “Romanes-ke”, he was honoured as the youngest contemporary composer to receive an award at the Viennese music schools competition.
In 2005, Gaspar formed the Adrian Gaspar Orchestra, which soon after was hailed in the Austrian media as the “youngest jazz big band in the world”. In 2006, the group received the Audience Award at the Austrian World Music Awards and subsequently recorded two albums with the backing of ORF Burgenland. In addition to the big band, Adi Gaspar runs various other music projects including the Adrian Gaspar Trio and the Adrian Gaspar GypsyCombo, with which he won the Newcomer Award at the Austrian World Music Awards in 2007.
Moved by the sad story of the life of Hugo Höllenreiner, a German Sinto and survivor of the Porjamos (Porjamos is the term for the genocide of the European Sinti and Roma by the Nazis), Adrian Gaspar wrote his first orchestral work entitled Symphonia Romani – Bari Duk (Grosser Schmerz) in 2008. The meeting between Hugo Höllenreiner and Adrian Gaspar was documented by Iovanca Gaspar (Adrian’s mother) in the film “Dui Rroma”.
Adrian Gaspar is involved in various music, social and cultural projects. He initiated the Bridge-Beat music project, which regularly organises workshops with Sinti musicians and he is also the organiser of the annual Suno music festival.
Discography:
2007 Adrian Coriolan Gaspar – Gypsy Dance & Jazz
2007 Adrian Gaspar Orchestra - All.can B-Jazz
2008 Adrian Gaspar Trio - This.Orient.ate Minds
2008 Adrian Gaspar GypsyCombo – Crastavica
2010 Adrian Gaspar Orchestra - The Fun-Key
2011 Adrian Gaspar Trio – Reloaded
2013 Adrian Gaspar & Gäste – Improvisionen
2007 Adrian Gaspar Orchestra - All.can B-Jazz
2008 Adrian Gaspar Trio - This.Orient.ate Minds
2008 Adrian Gaspar GypsyCombo – Crastavica
2010 Adrian Gaspar Orchestra - The Fun-Key
2011 Adrian Gaspar Trio – Reloaded
2013 Adrian Gaspar & Gäste – Improvisionen
Text: Robert Lippuner / Gypsy Music Network
Translation: Jamie Davies
