I first met pianist Mihai Ritivoiu in 2010, when I was organizing the National Piano Competition as part of the Lipatti Days festival. We wanted to invite the most talented young pianists of the moment to participate in the competition, and the recommendations from professors at the National University of Music Bucharest were unanimous: Mihai Ritivoiu, then a student in the class of Professor Viniciu Moroianu, Ph.D. Mihai Ritivoiu took part in the competition and won First Prize in his age category. I will never forget the emotion he conveyed when I listened to him at the Radio Hall, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, accompanied by the Romanian Youth Orchestra conducted by Maestro Cristian Mandeal. In 2011, Mihai Ritivoiu confirmed his high artistic level by winning Third Prize and the Prize for the Best Performance of a Sonata by George Enescu at the prestigious George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest. A year later, he performed one of the recitals in the piano marathon at the Romanian Athenaeum, during the second edition of the Lipatti Days festival alongside Nikolai Lugansky, Alfredo Perl, and Andrei Licareț. At the end of that event, in a statement for Radio Romania Music, musicologist Valentina Sandu-Dediu said: "I liked Mihai Ritivoiu very much. Every time I listen to him, I appreciate his type of pianism, balanced, solid, with a beautiful and refined sound. He has great powers of concentration and an inner balance that allow him to carry through everything he sets out to do and that's something remarkable." The years have passed. Mihai Ritivoiu has made London his second home, but he has gladly returned to Romania to give recitals and concerts.

This summer, I was delighted to learn that the George Enescu Philharmonic selected him as the Artist in Residence for the 2025-2026 season. The chamber season at the Romanian Athenaeum opened with a Liszt-Chopin recital by Mihai Ritivoiu. I rediscovered him as just as balanced and self-assured in his artistry, impeccable in his rendering of the Romantic repertoire, for which he has a particular gift. I joined the audience, standing, in applauding him enthusiastically in the celebrated concert hall. That was also the moment when I invited him to come to the Radio România Muzical studio and share his story with us.

Sundays, November 9th, 16th, and 23rd, at 1:00 p.m., with a rebroadcast at 11:30 p.m.