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Andrei Ioniță

The Gold Medal-winner at the 2015 XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, the phenomenal young cellist Andrei Ioniță was called “one of the most exciting cellists to have emerged for a decade” by the prestigious Times of London. He was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2016-18 and was the Symphoniker Hamburg’s artist-in-residence for the 2019-20 season. A versatile musician focused on giving gripping, deeply felt performances, Andrei has been recognized for his passionate musicianship and technical finesse.

 

Andrei made his U.S debut in 2017 with recitals in Chicago and Washington D.C., and gave his New York debut recital in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Highlights of the previous two seasons have included concertos with the Münchner Philharmoniker, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, BBC Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales; he has given recitals at Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie, Zurich Tonhalle, LAC Lugano, and L’Auditori in Barcelona, as well as at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier and Martha Argerich Festivals. Andrei’s debut album on Orchid Classics combined a Brett Dean world-premiere with Bach and Kodály, prompting Gramophone to declare him “a cellist of superb skill, musical imagination and a commitment to music of our time.” 

 

Before winning the Tchaikovsky Competition, Andrei won First Prize at the Khachaturian International Competition in June 2013; in September 2014, he won Second Prize and the Special Prize for his interpretation of a commissioned composition at the International ARD Music Competition. In 2014, he received Second Prize at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermannin Berlin. Andrei was born in 1994 in Bucharest and began taking piano lessons at the age of five before receiving his first cello lesson three years later. He studied under Ani-Marie Paladi in Bucharest and under Jens Peter Maintz at the Universität der Künste Berlin. A scholarship recipient of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, Andrei performs on a cello made by Giovanni Battista Rogeri from Brescia in 1671, generously on loan from the foundation.