Conductor, professor, composer, Dan Mihai Goia is a respected choral and academic name, a professional loved by colleagues and students alike. Between 1971 and 1995, Dan Mihai Goia worked as lyric soloist of the National Chamber Choir "Madrigal", but also as assistant conductor and deputy general director of the ensemble. Between 1997-2009 he conducted the Orthodox Men's Choir "Te Deum Laudamus", performing more than 250 concerts in Romania, touring internationally (France, Sweden, The Netherlands) and recording 5 albums of religious music. For these achievements, in 2004 he was awarded the Patriarchal Cross by Patriarch Teoctist. Since 2000 he has also been the conductor of the Academic Radio Choir, with which he has participated in over 200 concerts, promoting both Romanian and universal music. His relationship with Marin Constantin is reflected not only in the vocal field, but also in the conducting field, Dan Mihai Goia declaring his gratitude to his mentor on many occasions.

You have many ties with the "Madrigal" Choir and, especially, with Marin Constantin. How did you perceive him?

I would start by confessing that half of my professional life, so about 25 years, I spent in "Madrigal", with the late Maestro Marin Constantin in front of me, whom I watched with emotion, with great and very close attention, day after day, minute by minute. I watched his every gesture, his every word, and they all resonated deeply in my mind and soul. Marin Constantin was a powerful personality - as a person, as an artist, as a psychologist in his approach to human nature. With his jovial, seemingly friendly face, with his smile, almost permanently in the corner of his mouth, with his hat pulled down to his right eyebrow, Marin Constantin read you, x-rayed you in a second and knew how to draw you, to bewitch you towards the artistic beauty, always searching for the deepest meanings of music.

As far as I know, he's been a mentor to you in the conducting field as well, hasn't he?

For me, Marin Constantin was like a professional father, I would say. He was, first of all, a role model in the investigation of scores, in the meticulous and artistically beautiful work of meticulously and painstakingly polishing each individual measure, of the deep meaning of each work. I remember that during a rehearsal I worked with him for almost two hours on just two bars of the choral piece "Păstorița" by Marțian Negrea. That was how the interpretative value of each score was shaped in our rehearsals.

He was, as we all know, the example of the autocratic, domineering leader. How did you perceive this side of him?

Marin Constantin was harsh, even ruthless with me and with most of my colleagues, in order to make us always ambitious and to continuously improve. Marin Constantin was uncompromising, he made no concessions in the "Madrigal's" workshop. I would often go through a piece and, at the last measures, if I was a comma or two down, I would start again and again from the beginning.

And all to achieve that ultimate ideal of perfect sound.

Marin Constantin was a philosopher of the profound meanings of choral music, a powerful personality, endowed with a terrific ability to manipulate the spirits of those around him, of people in general and, especially, of his madrigalists. They were trained, they were educated, they were disciplined,and they were totally devoted to the good and the valuable brilliance of his group, "Madrigal", this gem of Romanian choral singing which was in a permanent symbiosis with its Maestro, with Marin Constantin.