LIVIU PRUNARU – VIOLIN TEACHER
Liviu Prunaru began studying violin at 6 with Professor Oprişan; he has also studied with the following teachers: Berbec, Mailat, Carpen and Bronzetti. In 1990, Alberto Lysy invited him to study together at the Menuhin Academy in Gstaad, Switzerland, where he worked under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin, Igor Oistrah, Ruggiero Ricci, Nikita Magalov, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Pierre Amoyal.
He received awards in the most prestigious international violin competitions in the world: “Lipizer” Contest in Gorizia (Italy) and “Molinari” Competition in Switzerland (1991); “Reine Elisabeth” Competition in Brussels (1993); “Dong-A” Contest in Korea (1997); International Competition in Indianapolis, USA (1998); Juilliard-Mendelssohn and Nakamichi-Wieniawski Competitions, USA (1999). In 1999 he debuts at Lincoln Center’s Tully Hall from New York with Juilliard Symphony. He perfected in New York with professor Dorothy Delay and violinist Itzakh Perlman.
He sang as a soloist with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Westdeutsche Sinfonia, Belgium National Orchestra, symphonic orchestras from Athens, Bari, Buenos Aires, unde the baton of Yehudi Menuhin, Yuri Simonov, Andrew Litton, Peter Braschkat, Georges Octors, Cristian Mandeal, Lukas Vis, Horia Andreescu, Mario Benzecry ş.a.
He attended numerous festivals (Aspen, Menuhin, Enescu, Salzburg, Wallonie, Flanders, Buenos Aires, Ascoli). He was assistant for the Dorothy Delay class until 2001 at Juilliard School in New York. He recorded violin concerts for the Claves recording label. In February 2005 he launched 4 CDs with Beethoven’s complete sonatas (Casa Radio Publishing House in Bucharest).
Starting with 2006, Liviu Prunaru este concert maestro of the Concertgebou Orchestra in Amsterdam.
DORIN MARC – CONTRABASS TEACHER
Dorin Marc was born in Bratca – Bihor. He graduated the contrabass class of the National University of Music in Bucharest (prof. Ion Cheptea), then was active in the Cluj Philharmonic (1981-1992) and in parallel, as contrabassist soloist for Italy’s International Orchestra (1987-1992), and during 1992-2003 he had the same position at the Munich Philharmonic.
In 1998 he was a reader for the Nurnberg Music Academy where he became a professor in 2003. Back when he was studying he won First Prize at national competitions, in 1968 he was the recipient of the Musical Critics Award, and internationally he received prestigious awards in competitions in Markneukirchen – Germany (1979, 1981), Geneva – Switzerland (1978, 1983), ARD Munchen (1979, 1985), Mittenwald – Germany (1991 – apart from getting the First Prize, he also became a lifetime member of the Contrabassist International Society).
He performed in numerous concerts with philharmonics in the country, but also with orchestras in Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, also doing recordings for radio stations in Romania, Leipzig, Munich and Frankfurt, for the Swiss television, but for the disk done at “Electrocord” with “Mobile”, the Contrabassists quartet
He gave master classes in Germany (Koblenz, Kirchseeon), Italy (Lanciano, Fermo, Pescara, Bologna, Mantova, Piacenza), Sweden (Malmo), Spain (San Sebastian), as well as Sinaia and Bucharest.
MARIN CAZACU – CELLO TEACHER
Marin Cazacu studied cello at the Music High school in Bucharest with professor Ion Urcan, then at the Bucharest National Music University, with renowned professors such as Serafim Antropov and Aurel Niculescu. He perfected his skill at Weimar with Professor Mezö Lászlo and he was the assistant of master Radu Aldulescu at masterclasses. Marin Cazacu is a recipient of international competitions in Geneva, Markneukirchen, Leipzig, Bologna, and Belgrade.
Since 1983 he has been a soloist of “George Enescu” Philharmonic in Bucharest and has an intense activity both in Romania and abroad under the batton of great conductors: Ghenadi Rojdestvenski, Sergiu Comissiona, Lu Jin, Nanse Gum, Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Antoni Ros Marba, Mendi Rodan, Misha Katz, Jean Périsson.
He played together with exceptional artists such as Vladimir Orlov, Valentin Gheorghiu, Radu Aldulescu, Mihaela Martin, Mirel Iancovici, Ilia Grubert, Jeremy Menuhin and as a member of “Pro Arte” band and collaborator of the “Voces” quartet, as well as at grand European festivals (Munich, Berlin, Milan, Venice, Valencia, Bratislava, Sofia).
Since 1992 he has been teaching cello at the National Music University in Bucharest. In 1998 he founded the “Cellissimo” quartet – together with Alexandra Guţu, Răzvan Suma and Olga Mănescu – a group with which he performed at festivals in Venice, Mateus (Portugal), Macao, Singapore, Istanbul, Madrid and Romania, and he holds recitals with his students from 8 to 12 cellos in the group „Violoncellissimo“. He recorded for “Electrecord“ and “Olympia“.
In 2006, Marin Cazacu received his PhD in music under the guidance of prof. doctor Octavian Lazăr Cosma.
STEFAN GEIGER – TROMBONE TEACHER
Stefan Geiger formed as a musician in university cities such as Cologne, Paris and Philadelphia.
Among his teachers there were Branimir Slokar (trombone) and Peter Eötvös (conductor). He was a scholar of “Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes“ and recipient of several international trombone competitions. Stefan Geiger started his career as main trombone player at Bayerische Staatsoper München and shortly he became a trombone and chamber music professor at “Hochschule für Musik und Theater“ in Hamburg.
As a conductor he has been interested both in new music and classical repertoire, collaborating with renowned orchestra such as “Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg“, „Würzburger Philharmoniker“, „Nürnberger Symphoniker“, „Orquestra de Câmara da Cidade de Curitiba“, „Paraná State Symphony Orchestra“ and „Ensemble Resonanz“.
Since 2002, the artist has been conducting “Landesjugendorchester Bremen” / Bremen Youth Orchestra, with which he had remarkable success. With the support of „Norddeutscher Rundfunk“, he is also involved in projects for the famous “das neue werk” concert series.
He was for the first time invited in Romania in 2011 where he worked with the “Romanian Youth Orchestra” at the “Enescu and the World’s Music” International Festival, organized at Sinaia. In the same year he received an invitation from Goethe Institut to hold a trombone workshop at the National University of Music in Bucharest.