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Interview with George Dumitriu

Monday, 11 November 2024 , ora 10.32
 

The Romanian jazzman George Dumitriu performs in the Netherlands for over two decades. Recently, he launched a new album with his band North Sea String Quartet, which he also promotes in Romania. There will be three concerts in the next few days: in Cluj-Napoca, on the 10th of November during Transilvania Jazz Festival, in Bucharest on the 11th of November at the Romanian Athenaeum at 7 p.m and in Sibiu on the 12th of November, at Astra Library from 6:30 p.m. More on this in the interview with George Dumitriu, by Viorel Grecu.


North Sea String Quartet from the Netherlands comes back to Romania for the promotion tour of the new album called Splunge. We can say about the North Sea String Quartet that it has as member a Romanian musician, the violinist George Dumitriu. He is here with us now at Radio România Muzical. Lovely to see you, George.

Likewise.


You come back to Romania with this band of yours, North Sea String Quartet, which we ask you to introduce to those who haven't heard of it yet. Who are the members, what do you sing. It seems like you are a classical string quartet, but this is not exactly true.

Indeed, as a formula, instrumentally speaking, we are a classical quartet but we prefer to compose our own music and to improvise, which is atypical for a string quartet. With this aspect comes a certain language that I've discovered spending time with my colleagues, a personal language I could say. If I could describe our music, it is full of rhythm and contrasts, energy and character, and spontaneous.


It is a multinational quartet, actually, even though it's tied to the North Sea. Could you tell us who your colleagues are?

It's about Pablo Rodriguez, who is actually a violinist from the Canary Island, from Las Palmas, but he has been living in the Netherlands for a long time. Yanna Pelser is the violist and the cellist is my colleague Thomas van Geelen.


You have a fresh new album, which you are also promoting in Romania. Where are your next concerts? You had a section of your tour, this autumn, but you are coming back at the end of this week for other performances.

As you mentioned in the beginning it's about a launching tour of the album Splunge. We already had five concerts in the west part of the country, from Zalau, to Oradea, Timișoara, Bistrita and Brasov, and on Sunday we are returning to Romania for three concerts. It's about the Transilvania Jazz Festival in Cluj, a very nice festival. On the 11th of November we will close this mini-tour with a concert at the Astra Library in Sibiu. I would also like to mention that we had the support of the UCIMR for this tour.


The concert at the Athenaeum is part of a jazz season, hosted in the Small Hall. This is the second concert in this series, the one with you.

Exactly.


I'd like you to tell us a bit about yourself outside of the North Sea String Quartet. I know you graduated from the Conservatory in Bucharest and then studied in the Netherlands, where you've stayed for some time.

Yes, that's right. It's been 18 years now. I'm a resident in Amsterdam. I came to study jazz guitar at the Conservatory in Groningen. Later, I completed a master's degree in Amsterdam and also received a scholarship to study in New York. My main instrument, however, is the violin. I studied classical violin at the National University of Music in Bucharest, and I am currently a professor at the Conservatory in Utrecht. I teach violin and guitar, improvisation on both, and I have a passion for the string quartet that comes from classical music; I enjoy the string quartet in all its forms.


You're actually a multi-instrumentalist. You play violin, guitar, viola. Do you have other projects outside of the North Sea String Quartet? I saw that you recently recorded a solo album with the music of Thelonious Monk on viola.

It's an album I made in 2023. It received very positive reviews. It was mentioned as one of the best albums of the year, alongside Ambrose Akinmusire and Kris Davis. It was also named one of the most creative albums of 2023, alongside Sylvie Courvoisier and Steve Lehman, with reviews in New York Jazz Record, Jazziz, All About Jazz, and other similar publications. This is one of my main projects at the moment, and next year I'll be performing at the Setúbal Jazz Festival and Novara Jazz in Italy, among others.


Translated by Sorana Andreea Dumitrescu,
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I
Corrected by Silvia Petrescu