AUGUST 14-16, 2015 | SIBIU, ROMANIA

Classics for Pleasure
Artists 2015 

Andrei Licaret

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Recognized as a“musician who ventures to the very essence of the music” (Romania Literara) and one whose “rich artistic maturity and depth go above and beyond ability alone” (L’Unione Sarda), pianist Andrei Licaret has performed concerts and recitals in major cities throughout Europe and the United States.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Mr. Licaret began his piano studies with his father at the age of five. By age eleven, Andrei made his orchestral debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C Major, K. 246, with the Chamber Orchestra of the Bucharest Philharmonic. He attended the George Enescu Music High School in Bucharest, where he studied with Gabriela Enasescu. Continuing the early start to his performing career, Andrei has given concerts in Paris,Vendome, London, Santander, Berlin, Wurzburg, Rome, Lucca, Livorno, Thessaloniki, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Prague, Tel-Aviv, Warsaw and Brussels. In the United States, he has performed in New York City, Washington D.C., Boston, Houston, Pella, New Jersey and Northhampton. Invited by the leading Romanian orchestras to appear as soloist, as well as by ensembles from Lubeck, Wurzburg, Cagliari and Mexico City, Andrei has collaborated with conductors Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Jin Wang, Arnold Ostman, Arie Vardi, Ilarion Ionescu-Galati, Florentin Mihaescu, Anthony Bramall, Justus Franz and Jose Arean.

Andrei has had the honor of being broadcast on Romanian National Radio playing works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and Ravel. In addition, his playing has been seen and heard on Romanian National Television. Mr. Licaret has won First Prize awards at the Jeunesses Musicales and Bucharest Yamaha competitions as well as receiving the Lory Wallfisch Prize. Additionally, he was awarded Second Prizes at the Tel-Hai Competition and the Shreveport Concerto Competition.

Among his renowned teachers have been Viniciu Moroianu, Dana Borsan and Dan Dediu, with whom he also studied composition, all at the Bucharest Music Conservatory. In Paris and Berlin, Andrei has studied with Jacques Rouvier, and in Salzburg, Austria, with Dmitri Baskirov in his Mozarteum master classes. He has been a participant in the prestigious Steans Institute Program for Young Musicians at the Ravinia Festival. Andrei earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Bucharest Music Conservatory. He recently completed his Graduate Performance Diploma and Artist Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Leon Fleisher. Leon Fleisher follows a direct pianistic lineage from Beethoven, making Andrei part of this illustrious pianistic heritage. Most recently in April 2013, he played a solo recital to much acclaim in the Chamber Hall of the Moscow Philharmonic. Andrei made his Carnegie Hall debut with a successful solo recital in Weill Hall in February 2013.

 His refined touch and warmth of tone, along with
his virtuosic facility and soulful playing did great justice to the monumental work. 

Lubecker Nachrichten 18.10.2011

Licaret played naturally, poetically and with extraordinary attention to detail – a tantalizing glimpse that left you wanting more.

Stephen Brookes, Washington Post

Constantin Adrian Grigore (Conductor)

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Constantin Adrian Grigore was born in Bucharest in 1983. He began his musical studies as a violonist at the age of 7, at Dinu Lipatti Music Highschool in Bucharest.

After he graduated Highschool, he was enrolled at the orchestral conducting class within the National University of Music Bucharest under the guidance of Petru Andriesei and Horia Andreescu and later with maestro’s Ilarion Ionescu. Within the framework of CEEPUS and Erasmus – Socrates scholarships, he continued his musical studies at “Karol Lipinski” Academy of Music, Wroclaw, under the guidance of the polish conductor Marek Pijarowski. In addition, Constantin Adrian Grigore has participated at different Masterclasses, such as International Masterclass for Orchestral Conducting and Phenomenology of Music (Craiova 2012 – prof. Konrad von Abel),Wiener Meisterkurse (Viena 2008 – prof. Salvador mas Conde), The Roads of Romanticism (Warshaw 2006 – prof. Marek Pijarowski) and so forth.

In 2011 he was addmited as conductor in residence at Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the guidance of maestro Marek Janowski and later in 2012, he was attending the rehearsals and concerts of Munchener Philharmoniker and Sinfonieorchester des Bayrisches Rundfunk, where he had the possibility to meet the the most representative conductors nowadays like: Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Alain Gilbert, Paavo Jarvi, Lawrence Foster or Vasily Petrenko.During his studies in Germany he had taking part in the phenomenology courses held by Konrad von Abel in Munchen.

He received numerous distinctions and prizes, such as “Fraţii Bucovineni” prize for being head of promotion at National University of Music Bucharest, first prize at “Garabet Avachian” Interpretation Competiton, Semifinalist in Jeunesses Musicales Conducting Competition (Bucharest, 2010), as well as different diplomas awarded by the Romanian Government for contribution in various cultural projects which he had in co-ordination.

Constantin Adrian Grigore is appointed as a guest conductor of Ion Dumitrescu State Philharmonic Orchestra-Râmnicu Vâlcea, Radio Chamber Orchestra from Bucharest, Piteşti State Philharmonic Orchestra, Oradea State Philharmonic Orchestra, Ploiesti State Philharmonic Orchestra, Sibiu State Philharmonic Orchestra, Musical Theatre „Nae Leonard” Orchestra-Galati, National Opereta Orchestra from Bucharest, „Oleg Danovski” Opera Orchestra-Constanta, Chamber Orchestra R-20 from Wroclaw, Kielce Philharmonic – Poland or the National Republic of Moldovia Chamber Orchestra or the National Republic of Moldavia Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2009 he was the conductor of Bucharest Symphonic Pops, during the extraordinary concert held in Bucharest by Al Bano and Montserrat Caballe and in 2013 he was chosen to conduct the Evolution Tempo Orchestra in Steve Vai Europe Tour, in Russia, Poland, Italy and Spain.

In 2009 Constantin was the principal conductor of the George Enescu Music Highschool Symphony Orchestra (wherewith held concerts in „George Enescu” International Festival, one of the most prestigious Festival in the world).

Also, he is one of the founding member and main conductor of the Royal Camerata Orchestra, wherewith supported numerous concerts in Romania, as well as Albania, Republic of Moldovia or Poland.

He collaborated with well renowned soloist such as Florin Croitoru, Nicolae Licaret, Daniel Podlovschi, Florin Ionescu Galati, Teodor Ilincai, Cristian Mogosan, Irina Iordachescu, Stefan Ignat, Ana Maria Donose, Cristina Anghelescu, Ioana Goicea, Raluca Ouatu, Tina Munteanu, Horea Haplea, Ingmar Anthony Lazar, Cristian Sandrin, Ioana Ilie, Laura Nicorescu, Anna Mirescu, Natalia Konik, Wictor Kociuban, Piotr Banasic or the National Chamber Choir “Madrigal”.

Currently he is appointed as Principal Conductor of Craiova State Philharmonic Orchestra.

Emanuela Pascu (mezzosoprano)

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After graduating in 2011 Master-degree at the National University of Music in Bucharest, Emanuela get in the same year scholarship CEE Musiktheater Vienna. Since 2010 her mentor is the tenor Corneliu Fânăţean.

She sang roles such as Amelia in “La casa de Bernarda Alba” by Miguel Ortega, Dido from “Dido & Aeneas” by H.Purcell, Ruggiero from “Alcina” by Haendel, Rosina in “The Barber of Seville” by G.Rossini and Marcellina in “The Marriage of Figaro” by WA Mozart, during her University studies.

Since April 2012, Emanuela began working with the Bucharest National Opera with such roles as Romeo from “I Capuleti ed i Montecchi” by V. Bellini, Carmen in the opera with the same name by G.Bizet and Zerlina from “Don Giovanni” by Mozart. She also sang at the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Berliner Philarmonie in the “Requiem für Auschwitz”, conducted by Riccardo M.Sahiti.

Emanuela is invited to sing in the Anniversary Concert of King Mihai I at the Romanian Athenaeum, conducted by Christian Badea in 2013, and in December the same year she collaborates with conductor Raymond Janssen in the tournament “Ave Maria” Christmas Concerts in the Netherlands.

In 2014 Emanuela returns at the National Opera in Bucharest in concert “Marcello Giordani and guests”, conducted by Iurie Florea. In June he has partnered tenor Teodor Ilincăi in “Bucharest Music and Film Festival”, where concerts alongsi George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Constantin Adrian Grigore. In October she was the winner of the second prize at Chinese International Vocal Competition and she was invited to Beijing in December concerts at the National Center of Performing Arts along with conductor Mark Gibson.

Hyun-Jin Yun (Conductor)

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Hyun-Jin Yun is the Winner of the 3rd. International Conducting Competition «Jeunesses Musicales» in Bucharest, where he also received Special Award of the “George Enescu” Philharmonic Orchestra.

He was also a finalist at the Lisbon International Conducting Competition and the 53rd. Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors, and won several awards as composer at numerous International Competitions in Europe and South Korea. In recent seasons he has worked with many orchestras in Europe, including Hamburger Symphoniker, Baden-Badener Philharmonie, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Lorraine National Orchestra, “Banatul” Timisoara Philharmonic, Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, Baltic Youth Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, among others.

In 2014-15 Highlights include as Conductor with Hamburger Symphoniker in Hamburg, “George Enescu” Philharmonic in Bucharest, as Composer with WDR Sinfonieorchester in Köln, and as Composer & Conductor with Ensemble TIMF in Seoul. He studied composition und conducting in Seoul, South Korea and has continued conducting studies at the University of Music Mannheim and Hamburg in Germany.

During studies in Germany he received scholarships from the Oscar and Vera Ritter-Foundation, Hamburg Johannes Brahms-Foundation and the Franz-Wirth-Memorial-Foundation. His conducting mentors include Myung-Whun Chung, Peter Eötvös, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink and Kurt Masur.

Katarzyna Dondalska (Coloratura soprano)

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Kata Dondalska, the polish born Coloratura Soprano, started her musical career at the age of five with the violin. Aged fifteen she began studying singing.

After studying at the Academy of Music in Olsztyn, the singer, who was born in Bydgoszcz, continued her education at the Academy of Music at Würzburg, Germany. With the guidance and encouragement of her professors Grigori Zhislin (violin) and Jutta Bucelis-Dehn (singing) she received diplomas in violin and singing – both with distinction.

She was a finalist in several well known international Singing Competitions such as: the Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD, the Cardiff Singer of the World Festival and the ‘Sylvia Geszty’ Coloratura Singing Competition in Luxemburg and holds numerous prizes.

In 2011 the Danzig Music Academy awarded her the Doctorate Degree.
Her most celebrated roles include Mozart’s ‘Queen of the Night’ and ‘Constanza’, Richard Strauss’s ‘Zerbinetta‘, Stravinsky’s and Braunfels’ ‘Nachtigall‘ (Nightingale), Offenbach’s ‘Olympia‘ and Rossini’s ‘Rosina‘, which she has successfully performed in opera houses such as: Grand Opera Houston, Welsh National Opera Cardiff, the Korean National Opera Seoul, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Teatr Wielki Warsaw and many others.

International Concert Tours have led her into famous concert halls like the Avery Fisher Concert Hall in New York, the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Washington John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Chicago Music Hall, the John Bassett Theatre, Toronto, the Konzerthaus Stockholm, the DR Koncerthuset, Kopenhagen, the Königin-Elisabeth-Saal, Brussels, the Alte Oper, Frankfurt, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Philharmonie Berlin, the Carl-Orff-Saal am Gasteig, Munich, the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin. She has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Liverpool, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Rundfunkorchester, Köln, the NDR Rundfunksinfonieorchester, Hannover, the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, the BBC Orchestra, London and with artists such as: Vasily Petrenko, Dennis Russell Davies, Roberto and Daniele Abbado, Carlo Rizzi, Edita Gruberowa, Francisco Araiza, Peter Falk, Michael Jurowski, Elmar Gunsch, Günter Wewel, Gunter Emmerlich, Barbara Bonney, Pete York and Lesley Garrett.

She is well known publicly through appearances on TV and radio broadcasts for ARD, BBC, RAI, SWR, BR, WDR, NDR, RBB.

Mark Stringer (Conductor)

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In 2004 Mark Stringer was appointed Leopold Hager’s successor as Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He also leads regular conducting masterclasses in St. Petersburg, several cities in China, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, the Hochschule der Künste in Zürich, the International Summer Academy in Vienna and with the Dirigentenforum in Germany. He has also given masterclasses in Beijing and Shanghai, China.

From 1991 to 1996 Mark Stringer was engaged as conductor at the Stadttheater in Bern where he conducted numerous productions including Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto, Don Carlos, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Die lustige Witwe, Der fliegende Holländer, Salome and Ariadne auf Naxos.

Other major opera engagements have included a production with the New Zealand Festival of John Adam’s The Death of Klinghoffer in February 2005 and his debut at the Teatro Regio, Turin, in a production of Menotti’s The Consul in 2006. He was also assistant conductor to Sir Simon Rattle in the Amsterdam production of Pelléas et Mélisande (1993), Jenůfa at the Théâtre du Châtelet (1996), and The Makropoulos Case at the 2000 Aix‐en‐Provence Festival. He returned to that festival and the Salzburg Easter Festival to participate in the Berlin Philharmonic’s production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen between 2006‐2010.

In 1989 Leonard Bernstein invited Mark Stringer to share concerts on two European tours with him (with the Schleswig‐Holstein Festival Orchestra and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia). Mr. Stringer has since proven very popular with Scandinavian audiences, conducting concerts and opera with the orchestras of Copenhagen, Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Stockholm and Gothenburg, among many others. Further engagements have included numerous concerts and tours with the Vienna Symphony, NHK Symphony (Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Orchestras of Wales and Scotland, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, the RIAS Jugendorchester, Deutsches Symphonieorchester, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the Brno State Philharmonic. In America he recently appeared in New York with the Juilliard Orchestra and on the West Coast with the San Francisco Ballet.

Mark Stringer was born in Alexandria, Virginia (USA) in 1964. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music, the Tanglewood Music Centre and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. His teachers include Bernstein, Ozawa, Rattle and Tilson Thomas.

His CDs of choral and orchestral works by Lili Boulanger and Albéric Magnard for Timpani Records have won many awards in France, England and America, including Gramophone’s ‘Editor’s Choice’, ‘Choc de repertoire’ from Le monde de musique and 5 ‘Diapasons’ from Diapason.

Royal Camerata

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Romanian Royal Camerata was born at the initiative of 22 students and graduates of the National University of Music from Bucharest and their desire to organise a professional orchestra, able to contribute to the promotion and development of young musicians in Romania. His Royal Highness Prince Radu of Romania honoured the proposal of the founding members and offered them his High Patronage.

The Romanian Royal Camerata was inaugurated on the 13th of December, 2009, during a concert of Romanian classical music, placed in “George Enescu” hall of the National University of Music, in Bucharest.

The high artistic level of the performances is due to the enthusiasm, passion for music and inner energy of the group, but also to the exceptional talented individual members.

The Romanian Royal Camerata is an unite and homogeneous group who keeps itself open to changes and new ideas. In order to find the most appropriate sonority, the Romanian Royal Camerata has highly original stage appearances.

Although a young orchestra, the Romanian Royal Camerata has worked with leading figures from the music world like Maestro Jin Wang, Zhani Ciko (Tirana Opera Director), Maestro Wolfgang Doerner (Austria), Maestro Enrique Garcia Asensio (Spain), Maestro Rony Rogoff (violonist and conductor USA), Dumitru Goia, young conductors like Constantin Adrian Grigore, Cristian Lupes, the violoniste Cristina Anghelescu, Ioana Goicea and Simina Croitoru, the percussionist Alexandru Anastasiu, the mezzo soprano Marianne Cornetti ( USA) and the soprano Nelly Miricioiu.

The Romanian Royal Camerata performed at the Romanian Atheneum and in the above mentioned hall of the National University of Music from Bucharest, and was invited to perform at important ceremonies of the Romanian Royal House, such as the Anniversary of the Jubilee of Prince Radu of Romania or the Coronation of Prince Nicolae of Romania with the title of Royal Highness, the celebration of the 90 birthday of His Majesty King Michael I. At present, the Romanian Royal Camerata is preparing a national and international promoting tour in Romania, as well as in Albania.

Among the Royal Camerata’s projects we can mention the invitation in the Royal Festival Orchestras Euro 2011 – Poland where it was accepted to represent Romania, the direct involvement in the International Festival Little Paris-Bucharest in august 2011, and in the second edition of the International Conducting Competition Jeunesses Musicales Bucharest, the Royal Camerata’s participation in the International Festival of Francophone with a tour of three concerts in Albania (Korca, Durres, Tirana). The highlight of 2011 was the concert in the George Enescu International Festival.

In may 2012 Royal Camerata was invited to assist Maestro Asensio in the conducting masterclasses of the first International Sergiu Celibidache Festival, in September it was chosen by Il Divo to accompany them in their first concert in Romania, and in October Royal Camerata had a project with the famous National Chamber Choir Madrigal.

The State Philharmonic of Sibiu

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In the context marked by the existence of a number of musicians and a music conservatory, as a long tradition in the interpretation of symphonic and opera, at January 1, 1949 was established the State Philharmonic of Sibiu, which-over its 50 years of existence as state institution presented thousands of concerts of symphonic and operatic music, assimilating a vast repertoire of symphonic and lyrical. Numerous reviews of Romanian and foreign newspapers and magazines have praised the music of the orchestra concerts in Sibiu, also reflecting the quality of recordings for radio and television, and CD disc.At the same time a great number of tours were successfully concluded in the country and abroad, in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, Russia etc.

Together with the orchestra, famous artists from Romania and other countries have performed, among them: Ion Voicu, Valentin Gheorghiu, Stefan Ruha (Romania), Monique de la Bruchollerie and Jean Jaques Thiollier (France), Sviatoslav Richter, Rudolf Kerer, Lazar Berman, Dimitri Baskirov (Russia), Ivry Gittlis (Switzerland), Monserrat Caballe (Spain) and many others.

Stefan Pop

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Born in 1987 in Bistrita (Romania), Stefan Pop graduated “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj Napoca.

He won numerous international singing competitions as “Sigismund Toduta” 2007, “Hariclea Darclée” 2007, “Martian Negrea” 2008, “Ion Perlea”, “Sabin Dragoi” 2009, 6th International Music Competition Seoul 2010 – first prize, “Operalia” Milano 2010 – first prize and auditorium prize.

He has a rich concert activity with most of the Romanian symphonic orchestra (Bucharest, Targu Mures, Iasi, Timisoara, Oradea), especially to be mentioned the worldwide first performance of Colinda balada op. 46 by Gyorgy Kurtag with the Transilvania Philharmonic Orchestra from Cluj-Napoca, in March 2009.

The tenor makes his debut on the opera stages in the 2008-09 season, as Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto at the Hungarian Opera in Cluj-Napoca and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore at the Romanian National Opera in Timisoara.

In December 2009 Stefan Pop made his international debut as Alfredo in La Traviata at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in the famous production staged by Franco Zefirelli.

Soon after he performed this role on various international stages such as: Greek National Opera Athens, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Verdi Trieste, Hamburg State Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Teatro “Carlo Felice” Genova, Teatro Massimo Palermo (with Mariella Devia as Violetta), Bucharest National Opera, Israeli Opera Tel-Aviv.

He sang Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore at Teatro Verdi Trieste in 2010 and at Hamburg State Opera in 2011 and his first Elvino in La Sonnambula at Vienna State Opera in the same year. Later that year he also made his debut at Opernhaus Zürich as Cassio in Verdi’s Otello and in Seoul as Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto.

He was guest in three of Angela Gheorghiu’s concerts in the Far East (Seoul and Shanghai).

In February 2012 Stefan Pop made his first appearance on the stage of Opera de Paris as Il Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto. In December 2012 he made his debut at Royal Opera House in London, performing Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore

December 2013 brought the debut in the title role of Faust by Charles Gounod at the National Opera in Bucharest, a very successful performance soon followed by other Faust performances at Opera Rijeka (Croatia, March 2014) and Hong Kong Cultural Center (May 2014)

In June 2014 he made his debut as Rodolfo in the concert version of La Boheme at Salle Pleyel in Paris, alongside Patrizia Cioffi. Later on, in August 2014, he also made a debut, as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier at the Salzburg Festival.

In February 2015, Stefan Pop made the debut in Don Giovanni at Opera Bastille, Paris, alongside a great cast under Alain Altinoglu’s baton.

Stefan Pop performed alongside some of the most important opera singers: Angela Gheorghiu, Patrizia Ciofi, Mariella Devia, Edita Gruberova, Tatiana Lisnic, Sonya Yoncheva, Placido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Jose Cura, Thomas Hampson, Erwin Schrott, under the baton of Evelino Pidò, Andrea Battistoni, Daniele Gatti, Simone Young, Paolo Longo and Luciano di Martino among others.

Operetta Gala

  • FLORIN BUDNARU – tenor
  • TINA MUNTEANU – soprano

Concert of famous arias and duets from operetta “Ion Dacian” Operetta and Musical Theatre Orchestra

Conductor: Constantin Grigore
Soloists: Tina Munteanu, Irina Baiant, Amelia Antoniu,
Cătălin Petrescu, Ernest Fazekas, Florin Budnaru
With the participation of Ballet ensamble “Ion Dacian” Theatre of Operetta and Musical

The concert includes a selection of arias and duets from popular operettas of the romanian and international repertoire written by composers as Franz Lehar, Emmerich Kalman, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Riccardo Cocciante. The program includes excerpts from “Let me sing”, “The Merry Widow”, “Silvia” “My Fair Lady”, “The Land of Smiles”, “Countess Maritza” or “Ball at the Savoy”, performed by first soloists of “Ion Dacian” Theater Operetta and Musical.

The concert aims to introduce viewers to the world of stories with a happy ending, the balls and stately saloons, dance and love stories, present or suggested in one form or another in all famous operettas.