Thursday, March 24, 2022, 7 p.m.

Concert Hall “Enescu – Bartok”

SIMPHONIC CONCERT

Brahms & Schubert

Conductor: Ciprian Marinescu

In the program:

Brahms – Double concerto for violin and cello

Schubert – Fifth Symphony in E flat major

Soloists:

Valentin Serban – violin

Răzvan Suma – cello

Valentin Șerban is the winner of the grand prize in the Violin final of the 2020/2021 George Enescu International Competition, with a performance of Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor Op. 47 that brought the public to a standing ovation at the Romanian Athenaeum.

Valentin Șerban previously graduated with bachelor’s studies at the Transilvania University in Brașov and attended his master’s studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, under the guidance of Silvia Marcovici. He has performed in Romania, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. He has been a member of the Les Dissonances Orchestra in Paris since 2018 and a guest concertmaster of the Romanian Youth Orchestra.

He began studying the violin by the age of seven in his hometown (Brașov, Romania). During his early musical development Valentin Șerban progressed in his studies through lessons and masterclasses from violinists such as Valeriu Rogacev, Daniel Podlovschi, Maestro Ştefan Gheorghiu, Adam Han-Gorski, Maestro Ilarion Ionescu – Galaţi, Silvia Marcovici, Leonidas Kavakos, Ivry Gitlis, David Grimal, Mihaela Martin, Adam Han-Gorski, Arlette Bonamy, Alexandru Tomescu. 

He is a winner of several national and international violin competitions such as Andrea Postacchini International Competition (Italy), Mihai Jora National Competition (Romania), Ștefan Ruha International Competition (Romania), Remember Enescu International Competition (Romania).

He played in famous concert halls such as Grande Salle Pierre Boulez – Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Berlin, Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp, The Romanian Atheneum, Opéra de Dijon, Le Volcan in Le Havre etc. and he shared the stage with renowned musicians such as Alina Pogotskina, Alissa Margulis, Alexander Buzlov, Konstantin Heidrich, Claudio Bohorquez, Viviane Hagner, Diana Ketler, Razvan Popovici, Aimo Pagin, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Philippe Graffin, Marius Ungureanu.

RĂZVAN SUMA

„Cellist Răzvan Suma fascinates the public with his talent, musical sensibility, and intelligence.” – Das Orchester

Born in 1977 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Răzvan Suma started his career as a cellist at the age of six. He studied with Gabriela Todor in high school and then with Marin Cazacu in college at the Music University in Bucharest. After finishing his education in Romania, Răzvan earned an Artist Diploma from the Longy School of Music at Bard College in Cambridge, MA, where he studied with Terry King starting in 2002.

In his formative years, Suma participated in master classes with – and was inspired by – cellists the likes of Arto Noras, Miklós Perényi, Radu Aldulescu, Aurel Niculescu, Mirel Iancovici, Herre-Jan Stegenga, and Frans Helmerson. And top awards at international competitions, including the Giovanni Battista Viotti Competition in Italy, Markneukirchen Competition in Germany, and Villa de Llanes competition in Spain (among others), helped to launch Suma’s career.

He is now one of the most active and accomplished Romanian concert artists. Maintaining a vast repertoire, he has performed in hundreds of recitals and concerts all over the world and has participated in some of the most prestigious international festivals. Besides his regular concert activity in Romania, he gives recitals frequently with Spanish pianist Josu Okiñena, with whom he has performed in many famed concert venues, including the Auditorio Nacional of Madrid, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, Kursaal in San Sebastian, and Casa da Música in Porto.

In 2012, Suma launched a suite of successful national concert tours of his own devising: Do You Like Bach?, Do You Like Brahms?, Do You Like Tango?, and Do You Like Schu…?. He has also participated in the tours A Spanish Evening and A British Evening and is a founding member of the group ArgEnTango, with whom he had a pair of international tours – Piazzolla: An Authentic Story and Tango la cetate. (Source: https://www.festivalenescu.ro/en/razvan-suma/)