Gabriela Vlahopol is a graduate of the “Ștefan Luchian” Art High School in Botoșani, Performance Section — Piano, and later of the “George Enescu” National University of Arts in Iași (UNAGE), Faculty of Composition, Musicology, Music Pedagogy and Theatre, Music Pedagogy Section, with Piano as secondary specialization (Class of 2001). She completed her master’s studies at the same institution in the field of 20th-Century Musical Thinking. Syntheses and Perspectives (2002), followed by doctoral studies under the scientific supervision of Prof. Gheorghe Firca, PhD.
In 2004, she began her academic career as a teaching assistant (associate) in Theory and Solfeggio and Counterpoint, later also teaching Musical Forms and Analysis. In 2006, she obtained a tenured position as Lecturer, teaching Score Reading and Musical Forms and Analysis. She is currently Associate Professor, PhD, at the Faculty of Performance, Composition and Theoretical Music Studies, “George Enescu” National University of Arts in Iași.
She served as Head of the Department of Theoretical Music Studies within the Faculty of Performance, Composition and Theoretical Music Studies (2020–2024). She is a member of the editorial board of ARTES. Journal of Musicology and an evaluator for the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Programme – CHORAL (Cultural Heritage Outreach in Romance Languages) at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour. Since 2023, she has been a member of UCMR (Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists), and she is currently part of the ARACIS expert body, Commission 8.
Her main area of academic specialization and research focuses on modern polyphony, with particular emphasis on the study of the fugue form in 20th-century music. Since her postgraduate years, her research activity has included not only in-depth investigation of all ramifications of this topic, but also its dissemination through conferences and scholarly communications, followed by the publication of studies in prestigious journals. Completion of her doctoral studies opened multiple opportunities to expand her research into new directions: sonata-form typologies across various repertoires, educational sciences applied to music through innovative teaching tools, jazz music and its manifestations in contemporary creative and performance practices.
One of the first major outcomes of her research was her doctoral thesis, The Evolution of the Genre and Form of the Fugue in 20th-Century Music, published in two volumes: The Genre and Form of the Fugue in 20th-Century Music (Iași, Artes Publishing House, 2019) and The Fugue Form and the Challenges of Modernity (Bucharest: Editura Muzicală; Iași: Artes Publishing House, 2023). Her scholarly interests are also reflected in a series of articles in Romanian and English, published in journals with broad visibility and indexed in major international databases.
Research areas as doctoral supervisor:
- Musical analysis (language, form, compositional techniques)
- Universal and Romanian music of the 20th century
- Renaissance and Baroque polyphony
- Aesthetics and style in Classical and Romantic music
- Style and performance in vocal and instrumental music (modern and contemporary)
- Research in jazz music — composition and performance
- Film music