Violinist Maria Marica, the recipient of the first prize for the George Enescu International Competition, will hold a recital alongside pianist Daria Tudor on Wednesday, November 15th, 7 pm, at Sala Mare of the Romanian Athenaeum. The recital is part of the Radio România Muzical "The Heirs of Musical Romania" series, but also a part of the project "Top Young Performers", put forward by EBU (European Broadcasting Union), which incorporates the most valuable concert and recital recordings by young musicians at an international level.

The recipients of the George Enescu Competition, under the emblematic dome of the Romanian Athenaeum: project "The Heirs of Musical Romania", held by Radio România Muzical, together with Club Pipera, Artexim and the "Remember Enescu" Cultural Foundation brings forward the Romanian recipients of the George Enescu International Competition in 2023.

In September 2022, Maria Marica seized the first prize in the George Enescu International Competition; apart from countless other opportunities brought on by the award, Radio România Muzical granted her the offer to record special recordings, but also the invitation to be a part of the "Heirs of Musical Romania" series, which displays the most valuable Romanian young musicians with relevant national and international careers.

The recital's program for November 15th, 2023 consists of three fundamental opuses of violin and piano literature: Sonata No. 3 by Robert Schumann; 5 Melodies, Op. 35bby Sergei Prokofiev and Sonata in A major by César Franck.

Robert Schumann's Sonata No. 3is the last major piece that the famous German composer wrote. It is dated 1853, the year when Schumann and Brahms met, but it is also the year which marks a project proposed by a famous violinist of the times, Joseph Joachim, which became known as the F-A-E Sonata - written by Schumann, together with Brahms and one of his disciples, Albert Dietrich. For this sonata, Schumann contributed with the slow part (an intermezzo) and with the last one; Brahms supplied the Scherzo (the third part) and Dietrich took care of the first one. Schumann, instead, wanted to finish the project with his own third and first parts: this is how Sonata No. 3 for violin and piano came to be. It is one of the most fascinating and provoking opuses for the violin, where Schumann's dual nature and extraordinary melodist talent came forward.

Serghei Prokofiev also displays an extraordinary melodist affinity within the five melodies that he composed for the voice and the piano in 1920, which got a piano and voice version in 1925.

The recital ends with one of the most loved and well-known scores, dedicated to the chamber violin repertoire. It is a fundamental opus of the 19^th century: César Franck's Sonata in A major. This is the wedding gift that Franck gave to his friend in 1886, the famous violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, who played this piece for the next 40 years of his life, until his career came to an end. The Sonata is part of the repertoire of every great violinist within the 20^th and 21^st centuries. It is considered a true masterpiece, depicting a journey towards the heart of Romanticism, joining both Latin and German sensitivities.

The recital taking place on November 15th at the Romanian Athenaeum, 7 pm, will be broadcast live by Radio România Muzical and hosted by Cristina Comandașu.

Tickets are available at the ticket office of the Romanian Athenaeum, and also at www.fge.org.ro.

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Maria Marica was born in Cluj, 1998, to a family of musicians. She started learning to play the violin at the age of seven, under Vasile Socea's guidance, proceeding with her studies within the class of doctoral professor Nicușor Silaghi. At present, she is the student of violinist David Grimal at Hochschule für Musik in Saarland, Germany.

Maria Marica has held recitals both in Romania and other countries (Italy, France, Germany, USA) and has performed together with national philharmonic orchestras, collaborating with conductors such as: Bebeșelea, Sabin Păutza, Jozsef Horvath and Theo Wolters. She has been a member of Romanian Youth Orchestras since 2013 and The National Symphony Orchestra of Romania since 2018. These are orchestras that performed on the greatest stages of the world, including Musikverein Viena, Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Philharmonie de Paris. Moreover, in 2019 she received a scholarship from the Romanian Chamber Orchestra (conductor Cristian Măcelaru), and since 2020 she has been a member of Les Dissonances (artist director David Grimal), the only ensemble in the world which addresses a large-scale symphonic repertoire without a conductor.

Maria Marica has also had the occasion to play chamber music together with renowned musicians, such as Marc Coppey, Philippe Cassard, Victor Julien-Lafferière, Solenne Païdassi, David Grimal, Yan Levionnois, Léa Hennino. She received a scholarship for the SoNoRo Interferences program, having the chance to study and play alongside Boris Brovtsyn, Sergey Malov, Thorsten Johanns, Diana Ketler and Frans Helmerson. In 2015, she took part in the Young performers program for the Music@Menlo (California) Festival, where she studied chamber music together with Clive Greensmith, Erin Keefe and Arnaud Sussmann, members of the Escher and Dover Quartets, among others. She also took part in masterclasses with violinists such as Leonidas Kavakos, Nora Chastain, Alexandru Tomescu and Gabriel Croitoru. In 2021, she was an active participant in the Kronberg Academy masterclass, working along with Kolja Blacher and Gerhard Schulz.

Daria Tudor (26 years) has had her debut in a concert when she was only nine years old, together with the Radio Chamber Orchestra in Bucharest. She is a winner of numerous national and international competitions and has held recitals and concerts on great stages, especially in Germany. In February 2015, Daria Tudor was accepted at Universität der Künste Berlin, in Pascal Devoyon and Rikako Murata's class. At present, she continues her master studies in solo piano, chamber music and Lieder accompaniment at the same university, under the guidance of prof. Björn Lehmann, Artemis Quartet, prof. Frank-Immo Zichner and prof. Eric Schneider. Since May 2015, Daria Tudor has been working at Universität der Künste Berlin as a docent for the contemporary Lieder classes of prof. Axel Bauni and Eric Schneider, but also as a pianist of the cello class - prof. Konstantin Heidrich. Since 2017, she has been an official accompanist of the Rutesheim Cello Academy, Germany. In June 2019, Daria was awarded the prize for best young artist - Enlight prize - at the Art of Piano Festival - Cincinnati, USA. She took part in many festivals in Finalnd, Germany and Austria:Alpenarte - Schwarzenberg, October 2018; Kissinger Sommer - Bad Kissingen, June 2017; Mozartfest - Würzburg, June 2016; The Crescendo Festival - Berlin, May 2016, 2017. In 2022, she was a semi-finalist in the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest.

As a part of the project "Heirs of Musical Romania", Daria Tudor was a recital partner of violoncellist Andrei Ioniță (June 13th, 2021), as well as a partner of violoncellist Ioana Cristina Goicea and the violoncellist Andrei Ioniță for the chamber concert held at Bruxelles (November 30th, 2022) and at Sala Radio (December 18th, 2022). Together with Ioana Cristina Goicea and Andrei Ioniță, Daria Tudor released two albums at the Casa Radio Record Label within the Radio România Muzical collection: Beethoven (2022) and George Enescu (2023).

Project "The Heirsof Musical Romania"

…organized by Radio România Muzical and Rotary Club Pipera has been developing in two directionswithin the last two years. The first one seeks to bring young and exceptional Romanian musicians on prestigious Romanian stages. These are artists that often perform abroad and that the Romanian public rarely gets the chance to listen to. The recitals coming from this project are targeted at a larger audience, with an accessible repertoire and last for an hour, without a break.

Since 2018 and until today, there have been almost 30 concerts and recitals: violoncellist Andrei Ioniță, violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea, violoncellist Valentin Răduțiu, and pianists Florian Mitrea, Adela Liculescu and Axia Marinescu are one of the few protagonists. Under the aegis of the same project, there have been two albums released at the Casa Radio Record Label, containing parts of recital performances.

The second development direction is the scholarship "Heirs of Musical Romania". In 2020, Radio România Muzical and Rotary Club Pipera commenced the scholarship "Successors of Musical Romania" for young musicians aged 16-24. The winners of the 4000 euros scholarship were pianist Cadmiel Boțac (2020), violoncellist Cornelius Zirbo (2021), pianist Kira Frolu (2022) and pianist Nil Mladin (2023).

In 2023, ARTEXIM has joined the organizers Radio România Muzical and Rotary Club Pipera, supporting projects dedicated to young Romanian musicians, winners of the George Enescu International Competition.

Organizers: Radio România Muzical, Rotary Club Pipera, Artexim, Remember Enescu Cultural Foundation, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.

Media partners: Radio România Actualități, Radio România Cultural, Rador, TVR, Agerpres, Dilema veche, the Cariere magazine, Observator cultural, Zeppelin, spotmedia.ro, news.ro, liternet.ro.