Object of National Heritage-Treasure Category, Stradivarius Elder Voicu 1702 Violin will be played for the next five years, by Violinist Alexandru Tomescu.
Following the competition organized by the Bucharest "George Enescu" Philharmonic and the Ministry of Culture on Friday, November 17, 2023, violinist Alexandru Tomescu won the right to play on the Stradivarius Elder Voicu 1702 Violin until the year 2028.
"I am honored and I thank the jury of this contest for all the trust I received and the chance to play another term on the most beautiful and valuable instrument that Romania has - Violin Stradivarius Elder Voicu 1702, which for 20 years was in the hands of the great virtuoso Romanian artist, Master Ion Voicu. At the same time, it is a great joy to be able to carry on and share the story of the Stradivarius Elder Voicu Violin with the world public until the year 2028, to delight all music lovers with the magical sound of this instrument. The Stradivarius tours will continue both in the country and abroad, with new premiere concerts, which will take classical music further, where it belongs: in the hearts of those who vibrate to beauty. I have a lot of unique, challenging projects in the pipeline that I can't wait to share with you, this wonderful audience. I'm waiting for you at the concerts!", declares Violinist Alexandru Tomescu.
The Jury of the competition included prominent personalities of Romanian classical music, Master Violinist Varujan Cozighian, Musician and Minister of State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Mădălin Voicu, Conductor of the "George Enescu" Bucharest Philharmonic Choir, Iosif Ion Prunner, Violinist- Prof. Univ. dr. and Rector of the National University of Music Bucharest, mrs. Diana Moș, Conductor of the Bucharest National Opera Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Bucharest National Opera and university associate. doctor of the National University of Music Bucharest, Tiberiu Soare.
The musical program prepared for the competition was a complex one, both due to the difficulty of the works, but also due to the time allocated to the interpretation of parts of works by Johann Sebastian Bach - Second Sonata in A minor and Second Partita in D Minor, Niccolo Paganini - Capriciile 22 and 24, Ludwig van Beethoven – Sonata no. 9 "Kreutzer", George Enescu - IIIa Sonata in Romanian Folk Character, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Concerto No. 5 in A Major, Piotr Ilici Ceaikovsky - Concerto in D Major, and at the end the artistic performance of the violinist Alexandru Tomescu was highly appreciated, being rewarded with the jury's applause.
The violinist Alexandru Tomescu is on an international tour, together with the pianist Sînziana Mircea, holding concerts from the "REMEMBER ENESCU" series in Milan, London, Madrid, Vienna, Budapest, Ljubljana, a project that is part of the "Timișoara European Capital of Culture" program 2023", realized by the "Remember Enescu" Cultural Foundation in partnership with the West University of Timișoara, Faculty of Music and Theatre. The concert series will continue with Beijing/China, Turkey and the United States of America.
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Alexandru Tomescu – Violinist – Concert Soloist of the Radio Romania Orchestra. His fruitful musical career has been building since his debut in 1985, giving successful concerts all over the world in venues such as Théâtre des Champs Elysées – Paris, Carnegie Hall – New York, Metropolitan Arts Center – Tokyo, or on the Cadogan Hall stage together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of masters such as Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur or Christoph Eschenbach. The commitment that the violinist assumed in 2007, when he received the Stradivarius Elder-Voicu violin, was to familiarize as many Romanians as possible with the sound of the splendid instrument. After an almost uninterrupted series of concerts held in Romania and around the world, the names of the violinist and his violin have become perfect synonyms.
The artist believes that the unconventional, as a combination of professionalism and innovation, is the key to reach the general public, right for which he became the protagonist of pilot events in the Romanian musical world: he played the Stradivarius violin in a subway station, to prove that there is a significant receptivity to quality music; sang in a forest to campaign against the irrational exploitation of forest land.
Alexandru Tomescu does not limit himself to singing in front of his audience, but cultivates an intense dialogue with them either on stage, explaining what he sings, or through the interviews he gives on specialized television and radio stations and not only that. He is an ambassador of the Radio Romania Muzical campaign - "Listen to 5 minutes of classical music" and is a permanent elite concert soloist of the Radio Romania Orchestra, an ensemble with which he performed dozens of concerts in the country and abroad. Following the competition organized by the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and the Ministry of Culture, Alexandru won again in November 2023, the right to play the Elder-Voicu Stradivarius Violin, Object of National Heritage, Treasure Category until 2028 and will continue the tours International Stradivarius.
