Daniel Reynaud sings at Testament launch

Australian idol

Thursday, March 12, 2020
Avondale academic adds credibility to launch of acclaimed Romanian poetry anthology
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An Avondale academic’s role in launching a bilingual anthology of Romanian poetry has seen him record a hit song with a popular folk–rock musician.

Professor Daniel Reynaud sang classic songs in English accompanied by some of the country’s leading musicians at launches for Testament: 400 de Ani de Poezie Româneasă/400 Years of Romanian Poetry (Editura Minerva) in Romania over the yearend. During the five-city tour, Reynaud performed at art museums in Cluj-Napoca and Ploiești and at the Artist Cafe and the Gaudeamus Book Fair in Bucharest. He also featured in radio and television interviews and, after singing Nicu Alifantis’ signature song at the launches, accepted an invitation to record “Decembre” (December) in English for a compilation album celebrating its 50th anniversary. “Nicu is a genuine legend of Romanian music,” says Reynaud, Assistant Dean (Learning and Teaching) in the Faculty of Arts, Nursing and Theology at Avondale University College. “To be asked to sing his signature song gave me an enormous buzz.”

Testament impressed those at the book fair, with judges awarding it the 2019 Antoaneta Ralian Prize for Best Translation from Romanian to a Foreign Language. Romanian national television broadcast the ceremony live.

Media coverage of the tour, and speeches by Reynaud about the importance of Romanian literature in a global context, built credibility in Romanian literary circles. “Poets and critics who had snubbed earlier editions were now queuing up for recognition and inclusion,” says Reynaud. One woman told Reynaud that hearing him speak transformed her opinion of Romanian literature. “With tears in her eyes, she said she now realised her nation’s poetry really mattered.”

Reynaud, principal translator Daniel Ioniță, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster have produced four editions of Testament over eight years as well as one volume of bilingual Moldovan poetry, for which Ioniță won a prize. Reynaud initiated the final, “definitive” edition of Testament when he proposed production of a comprehensive anthology of Romanian poetry from its medieval origins to the present. The result: a deluxe hardback collector’s edition, comprising 1151 pages covering nearly 320 poets and 380 poems, as well as essays by a Romanian and an Australian critic, as well as a critical bibliography for each poet.

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Brenton Stacey
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Brenton Stacey

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Brenton is Avondale University’s Public Relations and Philanthropy Officer. He brings to the role experience as a communicator in publishing, media relations, public relations, radio and television, mostly within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific and its entities.

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