The 2023-2024 Season of our ever-popular Enescu Concerts Series comes to an end with the much-awaited recital of the Duo formed by violinist Remus Azoiței and pianist Eduard Stan, the supreme experts in rendering the superb chamber works of our legendary composer George Enescu. For this extraordinary concert, the two musicians paired Enescu's fascinating "Torso Sonata" with Beethoven's "Spring Sonata" and Brahms' Sonata No. 3. Join us for this unforgettable music event!
Programme:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in F Major Op. 24 "Spring Sonata"
George Enescu: Sonata in A minor "Torso Sonata"
INTERMISSION
Viorel Munteanu: „Făurăria lui Brâncuși” / "Brâncuși's Workshop"
Johannes Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in D minor Op. 108
”Azoitei and Stan combine temperament, mastery of idiom and executive elegance in a very special way” (GRAMOPHONE)
“Two estimable artists” (THE STRAD)
“… extremely colourful and fiery, musical and at the same time artistic” (BERLINER MORGENPOST)
Founded in 1999 by two Romanian-born artists, the violin and piano duo Remus Azoitei and Eduard Stan has established itself „among the most outstanding of duo partnerships“ (Classical Source). Both artists have since been regular guests in such venues as Carnegie Hall New York (WRH), Kennedy Center Washington DC, Wigm0re Hall London, Konzerthaus Berlin and Vienna, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Cortot Paris, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Rudolfinum Prague, Konserthuset Stockholm or Teatro La Fenice Venice. Performances in recent years have brought the duo to Edinburgh and the World Expo Milano 2015, followed by a tour in 2016 including the London Menuhin-Festival, the Palais Béhague in Paris, Gödöllö Castle in Budapest and Fulya Sanat in Istanbul. In 2019 they celebrated 20 years of collaboration through numerous performances in the season 2019-2020, including in London, Stockholm, Warsaw, Nicosia, Tokyo and New York, where they have been invited for a recital at Carnegie Hall. A milestone in the impressive career of the duo represented the recording of the first ever entire repertoire for violin and piano by George Enescu, launched by Hänssler Classic on 2 CDs in 2007. This collection attracted international acclaim and was immediately regarded as a model of interpretation of Enescu's sublime music. This is one of Romania's most outstanding classical music duos.
Described in The Strad as “an uninhibited virtuoso, with soul and fabulous technique”, Remus Azoiței graduated from the Juilliard School in New York in 2001 after his studies with Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki and Itzhak Perlman and has since been a featured soloist of prestigious European ensembles including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique and Deutsches Kammerorchester. He has performed under conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Dimitri Kitaenko, Michael Sanderling and Gabriel Chmura. A prize-winner of international violin competitions in Bucharest, Milan, Weimar and Wellington, NZ, Remus performed Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins with Nigel Kennedy in 2005, a concert broadcast on 19 Radio and TV stations across Europe and North America, including Arte and Mezzo. The same year, he received "The Cultural Order" from the Romanian President. In 2001, Remus Azoitei was appointed violin professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, becoming the youngest-ever violin professor in the history of this institution. He is the Artistic Director of the Enescu Society in London and one of its founding members. Remus lives in London and performs on a violin made by Niccolo Gagliano in 1750.
Hailed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for his “eminent sense of tonal timbres and colours”, Eduard Stan emigrated to Germany in 1978 at the age of eleven. He has widely performed across Europe, the US and Israel, past engagements taking him to major festivals such as Massenet, Lille Pianos or Piano à Riom in France, Enescu festival in Romania, Hohenloher Kultursommer and Braunschweig Classix in Germany, Julitafestivalen in Sweden, Royal Crakow Piano Festival in Poland or Schumann-Festival in Galway/Ireland. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Enescu Philharmonic and Romanian National Radio Orchestra in venues such as Berliner Philharmonie or Bucharest Atheneum, under the baton of Christian Badea, Cristian Mandeal, Jin Wang, Lutz Köhler, Shinya Ozaki, George Jackson and Theo Wolters, among others. A student of Arie Vardi and Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Eduard Stan graduated from the Academy of Music and Drama in Hanover, where he obtained his Master’s Degree and has also benefited from lessons in orchestral conducting. Born in Transylvania’s town of Brasov, he has been awarded the Prometheus Prize by his country for his merits in promoting Romanian culture abroad.
When: 05 Jun 2024, 19:00 – 21:00
Where: Romanian Cultural Institute, 1 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PH, UK
