Enescu Soirees Online / Special Edition
One of Romania's most accomplished lyric artists, award-winning soprano Gabriela Istoc, accompanied by pianist Mihaela Spiridon, explores the richness of Romanian song in a special Enescu Soiree dedicated to the great melody maker Tiberiu Brediceanu, one of our most beloved composers and former director of the Bucharest Opera House.
Program:
Tiberiu Brediceanu:
Cine m-aude cântând (Whoever Hears Me Singing);
Pe sub flori mă legănai (Under the Flowering Trees You Used to Cradle Me);
Vai, bădiță, dragi ne-avem (Oh, Sweetheart, How We Love Each Other);
Bade, pentru ochii tăi (Sweetheart, for Those Eyes of Yours);
Floricică de pe apă (Little Flower on the Water);
Mult mă'ntreabă inima (My Heart Wonders a Lot);
Doina Stăncuței (The Song of the Jackdaw)
Young soprano GABRIELA ISTOC has recently established herself both in native Romania and in Europe. She studied at the National Opera Studio in London and the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. She is the winner of numerous awards at national and international singing competitions; among the latter we mention the Second Prize and the Scholarship of the "Lucia Valentini Terrani" Foundation for the youngest voice in the competition and the Special Prize of the Massimo Theater in Palermo. She was also the recipient of numerous scholarships, including the Robert and Margaret Lefever Study Award and the Wessex Glyndebourne Association Award. She asserted herself in Great Britain, where she co-performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra the roles of Lucy Brown in Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, George Enescu's Oedipus Antigone and Wagner's Ortlinde from Die Walküre (The Valkyrie). Focusing primarily on opera, the soprano's repertoire is indeed very rich. Among her solo performances are Messiah by Handel and Vier Letzte Lieder by Richard Strauss, the latter with the Phoenix Orchestra in Dublin. She has also appeared with the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania and the Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra in Bacău. Since 2012 she has been a constant presence at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival in the UK.
Pianist and piano professor MIHAELA SPIRIDON was born in Bacău (Moldavia, Romania) and currently teaches in the Piatra-Neamț section of the “Gheorghe Dima” National Academy of Music, Cluj-Napoca. She has played alongside many of the philharmonic orchestras in Romania, such as the ensembles of Bacău, Ploieşti or Piteşti, and appeared in solo or chamber recitals in Romania, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and the Republic of Moldova. She collaborated with important Romanian and international names such as Cristina Anghelescu, Verona Maier, Georgeta Stoleriu, Iancu Văduva, Aurelian Octav Popa, Dorin Gliga (Romania), Anton Niculescu (Germany), Damayanti Colpa (Holland), Elisabeth Gunther (Switzerland), Şerban Lupu, Robert Gutter (USA). She sits in the juries of important piano competitions and often offers masterclasses. Mihaela Spiridon is also the author of many important works on piano teaching methods as well as the theory and history of music. She has initiated the “Carl Czerny” International Piano Competition, the ”Ion Voicu” International Violin Competition and is the artistic director of "Musical Vacations" at Piatra Neamț International Festival.
Recording by Ovidiu Ungureanu and Chromatique Studio.