Mussorgsky & Brahms
Thursday, April 7, 2022, 7 p.m.
Concert Hall “Enescu – Bartok”
SIMPHONIC CONCERT
Mussorgsky & Brahms
Conductor: Horváth József
Soloist: Mihai Diaconescu – piano
In the program:
Modest Mussorgsky – Prelude and Dance of the Persian Slaves from the opera Hovanscina
Johannes Brahms – Concert no. 1 for piano and orchestra in D minor, op.15
Mihai DIACONESCU (b. 1991, Craiova) started studying piano at the age of 4. He graduated from the „Marin Sorescu” Art High School, where he was mentored by the distinguished teacher Mariana Ilie. He won his first piano competition at the age of 7, and his first notable performance in competitions was winning First Prize at the National Olympiad, at the age of 13.
From 2010 to 2013 he attends ,,Gh. Dima” National Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, under the guidance of Prof. Csiky Boldiszar. In 2013-2014 he will receive an Erasmus scholarship and will study at the ,,Sibelius” Academy in Helsinki. Between 2014-2018 he will attend the master of arts international program of the ,,Sibelius” Academy in the class of Professor Erik T. Tawaststjerna. Throughout this time he will maintain a very important artistic connection with Walter Krafft, under whose guidance he had the privilege to be from an early age and without whom ”a piano career would not have been possible”.
He made his international debut at the age of 12, when he had the opportunity to perform on the stage of the Kleinerkonzertsaal am Gasteig (Munich Philharmonic) as part of a masterclass. He will return here two years later (2006) with a solo recital.
In the course of his career, the young pianist has taken part in numerous masterclasses with leading personalities of the musical world: Walter Krafft, Mihai Ungureanu, Csiky Boldiszar, Martin Hughes, Denis Pascal, Paavali Jumppanen, Mirabela Dina, Julia Mustonen, Richard Gode, Antti Siirala, Galina Eguizarova, Marta Gulyas, Pascal Gallois, Imai Nobuko, Felix Renggli, Mihaela Martin, Bjorn Lehmann, Axel Bauni, Krysztof Jablonski, Jean-Jaques Kantorov, Martti Rautio, Teemu Kupiaine, Hui-Ying Tawaststjerna, Julia Mustonen, Thomas Hecht.
Mihai Diaconescu has won numerous prizes in national and international competitions: 2nd Prize in the ,,Giovanni Pianisti” Competition (Citta del Vasto, Italy); winner of several national performance olympiads (Romania); 1st Prize in the ,,Rovered’Oro” Competition (San Bartolomeo, Italy); 1st Prize in the “Liszt” Competition (Cluj, Romania). He is also a semi-finalist at the international competitions ,,Nordic Competition” (Sweden) and ,,Ciorlionis Competition” (Lithuania).
Since 2006, Mihai Diaconescu starts an intense concert activity and at the age of 16 he made his debut as a soloist with the “Oltenia” Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the Concerto no.1 in C major by Ludwig van Beethoven.
He is frequently invited to play in Germany, Italy and Austria. On the occasion of the commemoration of the composer Carl Filtsch, he gave a recital in Venice in 2007, followed by the opening recital of the “Carl Filtsch” Festival and Competition. His concert activity covers both the Romanian and the international scene: Romania (Bucharest, Craiova, Sibiu, Cluj, Brasov, Sinaia, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Sibiu), Germany (Munich, Dresden), Italy (Portofino, Venice, Aosta, Como, Stressa, Montferrato, Mantova, Trieste), Austria (Vienna), Armenia (Yerevan), Poland (Gdansk), Finland (Helsinki, Tampere, Turku), Russia (Moscow), Hungary (Budapest), Bulgaria (Sofia), Poland (Gdansk).
Important venues where the young musician has performed include: Gasteig (Munich, Germany), where he has given a series of recitals and chamber music concerts; Sala Argenta – Palacio de Festivales (Santander, Spain); Teatro Bibiena, (Mantova, Italy). Mihai Diaconescu has also given concerts at the ,,Carl Filtsch” Festival (Sibiu, Romania), ,,Liszt” Festival (Cluj, Romania), ,,Verdi Festival” (Aosta, Italy), ,,Encuentro Santander 2018″ Festival (Santander, Spain).
On 25 October 2018, Mihai Diaconescu was one of the soloists of the traditional Royal Concert, a concert that takes place every year in the Romanian Athenaeum Hall, together with the Royal Camerata.
Mihai Diaconescu had the opportunity to collaborate with renowned artists such as Serghei Lomovsky (second violin of the Borodin Quartet), Ludmila Kruskhova, Pascal Gallois, Cristina Anghelescu, Filip Papa. As a soloist, Mihai Diaconescu has performed with orchestras from Romania, Bulgaria and Finland, under the baton of masters such as Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Petre Sbârcea, I. Ilarion Galați, Gheorghe Costin, Tiberiu Soare, Vladimir Lungu, Ovidiu Bălan, Alexandru Iosub, Mihail Agafița, Jaan Ots, Gianluigi Zampieri, Walter Attanasi.
He is currently living in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and working as an assistant at „Gheorghe Dima” National Academy of Music since 2018.