Remus Azoitei – violin
Described in The Strad as „an uninhibited virtuoso, with soul and fabulous-technique „, the Romanian-bom violinist Remus Azoitei has been a featured soloist of prestigious European ensembles including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique and Deutsche Kammer Orchester. He has performed concertos under conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Dimitri Kitaenko, Michael Sanderling, and Gabriel Chmura.
Remus Azoitei’s recent engagements have taken him to venues around the world including Weill Recital at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center in New York, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Cortot Paris, Konzerthaus Berlin, St-Martin-in-the-Fields and Wigmore Hall in London, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Konzerthaus Vienna, or Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels. „Azoitei played with a fluid melodic sensibility and sparkling technique ” wrote The Washington Post, commenting on his Washington DC debut at the Terrace Theatre of Kennedy Center, in December 2009.
Remus has worked with artists such as cellists David Geringas and Adrian Brendel, violist Gerard Causse, or Schubert Ensemble, with whom he recently recorded a CD for Chandos label. In 2005, he performed Bach’s Double concerto with Nigel Kennedy, a concert broadcast on 19 Radio and TV stations across Europe and North America, including Arte and Mezzo. After his London Wigmore Hall debut in 2004, the Sunday Express wrote that „he delivered a memorable programme in front of a packed Wigmore Hall, and had the crowd cheering. He is one fine musician.”
Over the years, Remus Azoitei has developed a successful artistic partnership with pianist Eduard Stan. Apart from a very large number of performances they have given as a duo, the two artists recorded together the first ever entire repertoire for violin and piano by George Enescu. Launched by Hanssler Classics on 2 CDs in 2007, this award winning collection immediately attracted international acclaim, such as: „Azoitei has all the requirements: marked sensitivity, a sweetness of tone (but not over-succulence) and an impressive emotional and dynamic range…” – The Strad, or „…the refined but vibrant performing style of Remus Azoitei… a distinctive player who combines temperament, mastery of idiom and executive elegance in a very special way” – The Gramophone.
Alexandra Dariescu – concert pianist
From the Royal Albert Hall in London to Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to Carnegie Hall in New York, the young Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu, recently named as ‘one of 30 pianists under 30 destined for a spectacular career’ in the International Piano Magazine, gave her debut at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and became the first ever Romanian female pianist to perform in this prestigious hall. Alexandra won UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category in 2013, Romania’s Woman of the Year in 2014 and she has released three solo CDs and two with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to critical acclaim.
Alexandra was named ‘Special Ambassador of Romania’ and was granted a diplomatic passport in 2015 after recently receiving the Custodian of the Romanian Crown Medal, the youngest musician to receive a distinction from the Royal Family of Romania. Alexandra has performed extensively throughout Europe, USA, South Africa and Japan and this season she makes her concerto debut at the Vienna Musikverein, tours China and debuts in Canada and stars with Angela Gheorghiu at the Staasoper in Vienna.
Dedicated to education and charity projects, Alexandra helped raise more than £500,000 in 2016 for Young Talents in Romania, Goodwill Children’s Homes, Ataxia, Hospices of Hope in Great Britain and Children of the Andes in Columbia. A former graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, as well as the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Alexandra was appointed as Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Northern College of Music in 2016 and is the Patron of Music in Lyddington as well as a board member for Transylvania Festival, where she organised the first edition of the Festival in the presence of HRH Prince of Wales.
Alexandra was born in Iasi and started learning the piano age 7 with Mihaela Constantin and Cornelia Apostol. Age 17, Alexandra moved to the UK, where she studied with Faye Mercer at Pocklington School, Mark Ray, Nelson Goerner, Alexander Melnikov and Dina Parakhina at the Royal Northern College of sic, Ronan O’Hora at the Guildhall School of Music in London, Imogen Cooper through the Royal Philharmonic Society, Sir Andras Schiff in Switzerland and the USA, Dimitri Bashkirov and Menahem Pressler in Switzerland and Phillippe Cassard in France.
