Ion Voicu

Ion Voicu (October 8, 1923, Bucharest – February 24, 1997, Bucharest) was a great Romanian violinist and orchestral conductor of Roma ethnicity. The roots of the Voicu family date from the middle of the 19th century, when a violin player, Nicolae Voicu, used to play in a Bucharest band. His son, the violinist Ştefan Voicu (1893-1976) had a solid occupation as an instrumentalist in the orchestras of the capital (it seems that he had become a virtuoso double bass player as well), taking pride in his four children who took up three different instruments: Ion Voicu – the violin, Marin and Mircea Voicu – the piano, and Gheorghe Voicu – the double bass. This is actually the generation that received higher education in Bucharest and Moscow, which irrevocably imposed the name of the Voicu family on the national and global level in the 20th century, the son of the great late violinist (Mădălin) being today an internationally recognized conductor.


Raised in Bucharest, he received his first violin at the age of 5, and he was initiated into the study of this instrument by a student, Constantin Niculescu. Garabet Avakian and Vasile Filip subsequently guided him for the examination admission to the Royal Academy of Music in Bucharest where, at the age of 14 years old, he was directly matriculated in the 5th year. Here, he studied under remarkable professors (George Enacovici, Cecilia Nitzulescu-Lupu, Vasile Filip) and was polished in Moscow, at the Music Conservatory “Piotr Ilici Tchaikovsky”, by the scrupulousness of the great Soviet masters (Abram Iampolsky and David Oistrakh), the young Romanian virtuoso was to begin a brilliant career.


In 1946, having won the National Prize “Enescu–Menuhin” he went to Switzerland. In 1950 he became the soloist of Philharmonic Orchestra in Bucharest; the young violinist's huge potential and his ascent convinced the administration of the Ministry of Culture to get an exceptional instrument and and to place it at his disposal. In 1956, Ion Voicu became the first Romanian who had a Stradivarius violin.


Ciprian Porumbescu - Balada (Ion Voicu)

He gave concerts on the greatest stages of the world (Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall in New York, Teatro Colòn in Buenos Aires, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna a.s.o.) with the most famous orchestras (Berliner Philarmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo, the Symphony Orchestra in Cincinatti, Seattle, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Dresden, München a.s.o.) and co-operated with eminent musicians: Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Henryk Szering, Monique Haas, Christoph Eschenbach, Sergiu Celibidache, John Barbirolli, Antal Dorati, Vàclav Neumann, André Cluytens, a.s.o.


He was a juror in prestigious international violin competitions: “Piotr Ilici Tchaikovsky” (Moscow), “Carl Flesch” (London), “Jan Sibelius” (Helsinki), “Johann Sebastian Bach” (Leipzig) and during his career, he was awarded by many prizes and titles, among which: “Medaille d'or” of the French Academy, the Honorary Diploma of the Foundation “Eugène Ysaye”, The Prize of the Romanian Academy, The Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Culture and Prize of Excellency of the Union of Interpreters, Choreographers and Musical Critics of Romania. He was member of the Foundation “Henryk Szering” and of UNICEF Council. From 1972 to 1982, he was the director of the Romanian Philharmonic. In 1969 he founded the award-winning Bucharest Chamber Orchestra, which is now conducted by his son Mădălin Voicu.

Valentin Gheorghiu

Valentin Gheorghiu (born March 21st, 1928) is a great Romanian classical pianist and composer.


Gheorghiu was born in Galaţi, Romania in 1928, where he started studying piano when he was very young. He studied first at the Royal Musical Academy in Bucharest, as a disciple of Mihai Jora (theory-solfeggio, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, composition), Constanţa Erbiceanu (piano), Mihail Andricu (chamber music) and Constantin Băloiu (history of music), then, between 1937-1939, the talented and successful young man was encouraged and supported to go to the High National Music Conservatory in Paris, where he studied under the following teachers: Lazare Levy (piano), Marcelle Mayer (theory and solfeggio) and Noël Gallon (harmony).


His career began brilliantly at the age of 15, under the baton of George Georgescu and gradually evolved towards complete fame. In 1950 Gheorghiu became soloist of the George Enescu Philharmonic. He made successful tours in all European music capitals, in the Middle East, USA and Canada, being recognized worldwide as a prestigious musician and recital performer. Valentin Gheoghiu is a perfect partner in several chamber groups, among which one of the most famous was the Bucharest Trio, where performed along with his brother, the violinist Ştefan Gheorghiu and the cellist, Radu Aldulescu). Gheorghiu has cooperated with maestros as Antal Dorati, Kurt Masur, Sergiu Commissiona, George Prêtre, Kiril Kondraschin and joined orchestras as the Dresdner Staatskapelle, the Suisse Romande Orchestra, the Bayerisches Rundfunk, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore, Leningrad, Montreal, Tokyo, and Moscow etc. As a solo player he took part to important festivals such as those of Salzburg, Prague, Dubrovnik, Bucharest and he played a recital for the UN members in New York. Gheorghiu has done many records for His Master’s Voice, Deutsche Grammophon, Pathé Marconi, RCA, Supraphon, Electrecord and Eterna. He was a member of the jury in all the most famous international piano competitions among which we can mention the Leeds, the Van Cliburn, the Tchaikovsky, the Margherite Long, the Santander, the Chopin in Warsaw, the Beethoven in Vienna, the Busoni.


As an exemplary pianist, won important prizes, including the First Enescu Mention in 1946 for the Piano Sonata; as a composer, won the “George Enescu” prize of the Romanian Academy for his Piano Concerto. Recently, Gheorghiu has been awarded the honorary degree by the National Academy of Music of Bucharest.

Modest, much too modest, Valentin Gheorghiu is a man of perfect moral conduct: "he remains in his place", he does not enjoy being in the light spot, he rather leaves this to his younger colleagues, as he is too shy to assert himself. Knowing his value, let us proclaim him as a first class and authentic musician: for over half a century, the complex musician, pianist and composer, Valentin Gheorghiu, has honestly and impressively represented the Romanian spirit.

Dan Grigore

Dan Grigore (born August 6th, 1943) is a great Romanian classical pianist and composer.

Dan Grigore was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1943. He was first a pupil of Mihail Jora and then of Florica Musicescu, who had both been teachers to Dinu Lipatti. He also studied in Saint Petersburg with Tatiana Kravcenko and in Vienna with Richard Hauser. He made his debut playing Enescu's Burlesque, Choral and Carillon Nocturne in first world audition and ever since the artist has been constantly including Enescu's music in his programs, all over the world.


Grigore is winner of the George Enescu National Music Competition (1960), laureate of George Enescu International Music Competition (1961, 1967) and Montreal International Piano Contest (1968). After 1966 his reputation is spread due to enthusiastic articles written by Cella Delavrancea. Together with Valentin Gheorghiu, Dan Grigore is one of the leading Romanian pianists of the second half of the twentieth century.

Dan Grigore was professor at the Music University in Bucharest between 1967-1979 and 1990-2001 - this time at the student's request. His activity for promoting young musicians is well-known and many of his former students have now successful international careers. He has given master-classes and held conferences in Great Britain, Japan, Italy, he is a member of international juries and frequently invited to prestigious international festivals. His career in Romania and abroad was severely restricted because of his steady opposition to the Ceauşescu regime. However, his reputation continued growing and he had many prestigious invitations being enthusiastically received by the audience. He has a growing discography and also a rich, steady publishing activity - essays, chronicles, interviews in cultural journals as well as Radio and TV talk- shows. He has an extremely wide repertoire, covering the whole range of styles and two constants in his entire artistic life are well-known: the high exigence towards himself and the careful choosing of the invitations to perform that he accepts. Surrounded by a mysterious aura, abandoning himself completely when he plays, he has been praised as belonging to the highest elite of pianists.


In February 1999 he was decorated by the French Government with the Order "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" and in 2000, by the Romanian State, with The Great Cross of the Order "Devoted Service". Since July 2000, the Romanian Government has appointed him as a member of the National Council of the Audiovisual.