Born 1969 in Bucharest, she studied musicology with Octavian L. Cosma and composition with Octavian Nemescu at the Bucharest Academy of Music, gaining a Master of Arts degree for composition in 1997 and for musicology - in 1995. Between 1992-1998 she continued her studies at the Summer Courses of New Music in Busteni (Romania) and working under Aurel Stroe. At present she is preparing a doctoral thesis on surrealist music. She is editor of the Romanian periodical Muzica and the founding member of the 'Pro Contemporania' Ensemble. Her compositions have been given many concert performances in Romania, Moldavia, Albania, Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Staes.
Irinel Anghel's compositional awards include First Prize at the Romanian Radio's National Composers Competition (1998) for the orchestral work Mondes impossibles I (a year later it received a commendation at unesco's International Composers Rostrum in Paris); awards from the Romanian Composers' Union (1998, 1999), the Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences (2000) and Second Prize at the Thomas Bloch Composition Competition in Paris (2000) as well as a scholarship and arts award from the 'Pépinière Européenne pour Jeunes Artistes' Organization in Mons (2000).
Her book entitled Developments and Trends in Romanian Music in the Second Half of the 20th Century (1998) was awarded by the Romanian Composers' Union and the Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Selected works: Music for Vassarely for orchestra (1993), The Myth of Sisif for orchestra (1995), La Tour de Babel for orchestra (1996), Rhinoceros for orchestra (1997), Entre le ciel et l'enfer for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piano, percussion, violin and cello (1997), Mir en miroir for flute solo (1998), La Persistance de la mémoire for four percussions, string trio, organ and accordion (1998), La Caverne de l'âme for cello and percussion (1999), Mondes impossibles I for orchestra (1998), Story of the Three who Dreamed for piano, violin/viola, clarinet / bass clarinet, khaen, tromba lontana, tzitera and percussion (1999), Metablues for piano (2000), Glassrope for glass harmonica and tape (2000), Silhouettes fantomatiques for two cellos and percussion (2000), Distances for two trumpets, harpsichord, percussion and string orchestra (2000), ChimŹres - perspective magrittienne for cello, percussion and string orchestra (2000), Le Quasi-infini for two flutes, accordion, violin and viola (2001), Visions provoquées par un mystŹre for cello, piano, khaen, percussion and tape (2001), Labyrinthe for seven non-conventional amplified instruments (shofar, khaen, accordion, Tibetan conch, tromba lontana, cello with scordatura, Zen singing bowls) and orchestra (2001), Fascination for cello, bass flute, gu zheng, khaen, udu and tape (2002).

Labyrinthe is a piece for a soloist playing seven different non-conventional amplified instruments (shofar, khaen, accordion, Tibetan conch, tromba lontana, cello with scordatura, Zen singing bowls) and orchestra. It was commissioned by the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung and written for a very special performer - Andrei Kivu, who possesses all these unique skills and a passion for exploring so many sound sources.
The labyrinth is a dreamlike shape, very appropriate for a surrealistic aesthetical approach in a postmodern spirit, with lots of possible cuts and many structural 'jumps', replacing the uniformity and the homogeneity of the 'real' world with the fantasy's variety and plurality. The surrealistic combination of events is ruled by the laws of dream, which infringe and surpass traditional, conventional principles. The work has bizarre sonorous decisions, troubled hierarchies, superposed musical levels, various 'anomalies' crossing the music and changing its logical itinerary - all these leading to an 'alternative artistic world' following the suggestions of some famous paintings: 1. Tourbillon des signes (Hérold), 2. L'objet invisible (Giacometti), 3. Assemblages (Picasso) 4, Fascination (Brauer), 5. Pensée interrompue par un objet blanc (Dominiquez), 6. Désintegration (Duchamp), 7. Terre d'ombre (Tanguy).
The work was commissioned by the 'Warsaw Autumn' Friends' Foundation and financed with funds from the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung.
Irinel Anghel