Alexandru Ţitruş

Alexandru Ţitruş (March 3, 1922 - May 5, 1989), was a famous Romanian folklore performer, a violin virtuoso.

He was born in Unirea, Ocna-Mureş, Alba County, in a modest family with nine children. He began playing at 6 years old in the instrumental group composed of his father and brothers. Because Alexandru was the youngest, his father decided that he had to play at dulcimer, the violin being entrusted to Nicolae, the elder brother. In this formula, the Ţitruş family sang at weddings and various parties. But Alexandru loved the violin, and at 8 years old he stole the instrument of his brother and practiced hidden in the cemetery old songs heard from the elders.


At fourteen, he decided to go to Bucharest, where, by happy chance, manages to realize his first audio recording at Radio Bucharest. Then he returned in Ocna-Mureş and continued to sing with his father and brothers. Alexandru married at the age of eighteen.


For a while he sang with "Doina" Ensemble of the Army of Bucharest, led by general Dinu Stelian, then in 1963 he established in Cluj, where he was employed for a period in the Popular Music Orchestra of the State Philharmonic "Transylvania".


Being endowed with an amazing talent, Alexander Ţitruş had collaborations with famous conductors including Radu Simion, Toni Iordache, and with renowned orchestras, with which recorded remarkable achievements in all concerts at home and abroad. He recorded four LP and a MC at Electrecord.


Due to his unique style of interpretation, Alexandru Ţitruş was considered the greatest violin player of the folklore of Mureş area and Transylvania. He died prematurely, at only 67 years.

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.

Lola Bobescu

Lola Violeta Ana-Maria Bobescu (August 9, 1919, Craiova, Romania - September 4, 2003, Sart-les-Spa, Belgium) was a great Romanian violinist. Yehudi Menuhin considered her the greatest violinist of the world.


She was born in Craiova, Romania, and began her career as a child prodigy, giving her first recital at the age of 6 together with her father, Aurel Bobescu. In 1928, it entered the École Normale de Musique in Paris, then graduated the Conservatoire National de Musique in the capital of France, receiving "Prix d'Excellence". Privately, she worked with two masters of international stature, George Enescu and Jacques Thibaud.


Young Lola was worldwide remarked at 17, when interpreted in Paris the "Concerto Roumain" by Stan Golestan with the Colonne Orchestra conducted by Paul Paray. Followed 60 years of soloist career or in concert with major orchestras of the world, such as Colonne, Pasdeloup, Lamoureux (France), Berlin and London philharmonics, "Concertgebouw" in Amsterdam, "La Suisse Romande" in Geneva, "Accademia Santa Cecilia" of Rome or in recitals of chamber music, often accompanied by pianist Jacques Genty. She came frequently in her native country, where she played with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Bucharest and the philharmonics in Craiova, Iaşi, Timişoara and Sibiu. She recorded a vast repertoire at Electrecord, Philips, Decca, Columbia, Nippon Program, Arcophon.


Lola Bobescu - Bach, Concerto BWV 1041

Lola Bobescu was established in Belgium before the end of the Second World War, having an outstanding teaching career at the Conservatory of Liège and the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. She founded and led "Solistes de Bruxelles", now "L'Orchestra Walon" of Liège, and the String Quartet "L'Arte del Suono" in Brussels. She was a member of the jury of international violin competitions "Reine Elisabeth de Belgique".

Clara Haskil

Clara Haskil (January 7, 1895, Bucharest - December 7, 1960, Brussels), Romanian classical pianist, renowned as an interpreter of the classical and early romantic repertoire. Haskil was particularly noted for her performances and recordings of Mozart. Many considered her the foremost interpreter of Mozart in her time. She was also noted as a superb interpreter of Beethoven, Schumann, and Scarlatti.


Clara Haskil was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Bucharest, and began her career as a child prodigy. She entered at the Bucharest Conservatory when she was 6. At age 7 she was sent to Vienna and profited from the tutelage of Richard Robert (whose memorable pupils included Rudolf Serkin and George Szell) and briefly with Ferruccio Busoni. She was only 10 when she made her public debut there. At 10 she was sent to Paris to continue her training with Morpain, and, at 12, entered the Paris Conservatoire, officially to study at Alfred Cortot's class, although most of her tuition came from Lazare Lévy and Mme Giraud-Letarse. In 1909 she took the 1st prize at the Concours de l'Union Française de la Jeunesse of Paris, and also 2nd Prix at the Conservatoire. She graduated in 1910, age 15, with the Prémier Prix at the Conservatoire. She also graduated with a Premier Prix in violin.


Upon graduating, Haskil began to tour Europe, though her career was cut short by one of the numerous physical ailments she suffered throughout her life. In 1913 she was fitted with a plaster cast in an attempt to halt the progression of scoliosis. She did recover, making her New York debut in 1924 and her London debut in 1926. Frequent illnesses, combined with extreme stage fright that appeared in 1920, kept her from critical or financial success. Most of her life was spent in abject poverty. With the outbreak of World War II, Clara Haskil was trapped in occupied Paris, but was able to escape to Marseilles. There she survived a surreptitious surgical procedure to remove a tumor from her optic nerve. In 1942 she sought refuge in Switzerland, smuggled to Vevey, where she settled for the rest of her days. In 1949 she became a naturalized Swiss citizen. It was not until after World War II, during a series of concerts in the Netherlands in 1949, that she began to win acclaim.


As a pianist, her playing was marked by a purity of tone and phrasing that may have come from her skill as a violinist. Transparency and sensitive inspiration were other hallmarks of her style. Well regarded as a chamber musician, Haskil collaborated with such famed musicians as George Enescu, Eugène Ysaÿe, Pablo Casals, Isaac Stern and Arthur Grumiaux, with whom she played her last concert. While renowned primarily as a violinist, Grumiaux was also a fine pianist, and he and Haskil would sometimes swap instruments. She played as a soloist under the baton of such conductors as Ansermet, Barbirolli, Beecham, Celibidache, Karajan, Kempe, Klemperer, Kubelík, Markevitch, Münch, Sawallisch, Solti, Stokowski, Szell, among many others.


Haskil died from injuries received through a fall at a Brussels train station. She was to play a concert with Arthur Grumiaux the following day. An esteemed friend of Haskil, Charles Chaplin, described in 1961 her talent by saying "In my lifetime I have met three geniuses; Professor Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Clara Haskil. I am not a trained musician but I can only say that her touch was exquisite, her expression wonderful, and her technique extraordinary". (Internet infos compilation)