Guitarist Dragoș Ilie will give an extraordinary recital on Tuesday, October 8th, within the series "Heirs of Musical Romania", a Radio România Muzical project. About this event taking place at the Romanian Athenaeum, as well as about other aspects related to his artisitic work, we find out more in the first part of an interview with Ioana Țintea.

Dragoș Ilie, I would like to begin by discussing your musical background. After graduating from highschool, you decided to go to the United States to continue your studies. Could you tell us a bit about what this experience was like and the impact it had on your development as an artist?

I had intended to further improve myself ever since the end of highschool. I had already started to take part in international festivals and competitions, so the idea of leaving the country for my studies came almost naturally. I knew Andrew Zohn, the professor from the United States, who was also the one to invite me to apply for University there. So, there I was, boarding a plane, leaving behind my family and all of the friends and colleagues I had known for the last 18 years, and going to Georgia, in the United States, where I finished my four years of bachelor's degree studies.

After graduation, I wanted to continue my studies in the United States, but this time I moved to Austin, the capital city of Texas, where I went to the University of Texas at Austin and had the chance to study with the great professor and recording artist Adam Holzman. I did my master's and doctoral studies there, and I was also an assistant - the professor liked me and told me "Look, come for the master's and you will be my assistant, and you can work as an assistant throughout your PhD as well".

It was a very special experience to me. America is, indeed, the land of all possibilities. I got in touch with many, many cultures, many young artists from all around the world - China, South America, Central America, every country in Europe, even Africa. This global musical dimension helped me very much, it truly shaped me. Besides that, the assistant position prepared me very well from a didactic perspective.

During your almost 10 years of study in the United States of America, what did you miss most when thinking about Romania?

A lot of things, of course. Even the usual stuff at first. We could mention the air, the climate. For instance, the climate where I studied during my first four years is very humid, so humid, that one could think that time, seasons, space no longer exist. And I really missed winter, the four, very well-defined seasons. And the traditions, the customs typical of each of the four seasons, which are so well delimited in our country. I missed that very much. And, of course, along with that, the culture, the food, my family, and... the music too. During my stay in the States, Romanian music appealed to me. It was a very interesting thing. I reconnected with Romanian music while living there.

And all this time, you have won over 40 prizes at some of the most famous international competitions. Yet, of all these accomplishments, is there a particular moment you would deem defining for your musical training?

As you said, competitions were extremely important for my musical training. One defining moment... hard to say. There were, indeed, several bigger competitions for which I had practised a lot - and here I would like to mention the competition in Tokyo, the competition in Changsha, China, and even the last competition I took part in, Guitar Foundation of America, GFA, which is considered to be the most prestigious for us, guitarists. But, to tell you the truth, what trained me more than the competition itself was the preparation preceding such an event, the months before it, the endless hours of study, the mental training, and giving many, many recitals and concerts to prepare myself for them. That is why I say it is very difficult for me to point out one single event, but if I were to choose some, there would indeed be key moments of the greater competitions.