Jora studied in Leipzig with Robert Teichmüller. From 1929 to 1962 he was a professor at the BucharestConservatoire. He worked from 1928 to 1933 as a director/conductor of the Bucharest Broadcasting Orchestra. In 1944 he became vice-president of the Society of Romanian Composers: however, he soon came into criticism of the new communist government being accused of formalism (see Zhdanov Doctrine). In 1953, he was rehabilitated and allowed to rejoin the Composers' Union.