​Tonight, after the semi-finals, which took place on September 10 and 11, the three finalists of the violin section of the George Enescu Competition 2022 were announced. In the final on September 13, three young musicians will perform two musical masterpieces on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, two of the most beloved and valuable violin concertos of all time , written by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The expert jury announced the results on Sunday evening.

Two of the violinists who made it to the finals, Štefan Aprodu and Maria Marika, chose as their repertoire the Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra op. 77 by Johannes Brahms, one of the most famous violin concertos in the history of music. The third contestant, Gregoire Torosyan, will perform the Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra op. 35 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, one of the most famous violin concertos, but also one of the most technically difficult.

12 contestants took part in the semifinals of the George Enescu International Competition 2022, violin section, which took place on September 10 and 11 at the Romanian University in Bucharest. On Sunday, September 11, a specialized jury determined the qualified participants for the Grand Final of the Violin Competition. They are in alphabetical order:

Stefan Aprodu (Romania), Maria Marica (Romania) and Gregoire Torosian (France)

The jury of the violin section of the 2022 Enescu Competition includes: Dmytro Sytkovetskyi (president of the jury), Remus Azoytzei, David Grimal, Frank Huang, Simon James, Paul Kantor, Silvia Markovici, Ihor Petruszewski, and Krzysztof Wegzyn.

Final of the competition, violin section, consisting of three orchestral concerts, with the extraordinary participation of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Wilson Guermanto, will take place on September 13 from 6:00 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Romanian Athenaeum. Tickets for the Violin Finale, as well as for other concerts within the Competition, are available on the EVENTIM network.

Stefan Aprodu chose to perform in the grand finale of the violin section the Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra op. 77 by Johannes Brahms. He studies at the Dino Lipatti High School of Arts in Bucharest with Professor Magdalena Ursa and has already performed with several symphony orchestras and conductors (Concerto Ad Honorem Ivry Gitlis with David Stern at the Chair; Gabriel Bebeselea – Junior Orchestra; Sabin Pauca – Royal Camera, Yasuo Minami – Takasaki Youth Orchestra, Japan). He recently won first prize at the Vasko Abadjiev International Violin Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria, and has a number of international awards to his credit. He is also passionate about young composers, and since 2020 he has been participating in the online composition course Dåsele Vådår Sevaidå at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. One of his compositions is Concert no. 3 for violin and orchestra in E minor – will be performed this fall, with Stefan Aprodu as soloist.

Maria Marica from Romania will also perform the Concerto for violin in D major with orchestra op. 77 of Johannes Brahms in the grand finale for violin group. She has been studying the violin since the age of seven and is currently taught by David Grimal at the University of Music in Saarbrücken. She has given solo recitals and concerts both in Romania and in France, Italy, Germany and the USA and is a laureate of several competitions in Romania. He performed in chamber ensembles with such famous musicians as Marc Coppi, Philippe Cassard, David Grimal, Frans Helmerson, Boris Brovtsyn, Serhii Malov, Victor Julien-Laferriere and Solenn Paidassie. She is a member of Les Dissonances Ensemble, and was also a member of the Romanian Youth Orchestra, with which she had the opportunity to perform in such halls as Musikverein Vienna, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie in Paris, Konzerthaus Berlin. In the past, Maria was supported by the Constance et Andrei Rhoe Foundation and MOL Romania, and is currently financially supported by a German state scholarship.

Gregoire Torosyan will perform the Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra in the final. 35 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Grégoire Torossian, born in 2000 in Boulogne-Billancourt, began learning to play the violin at the age of 4. In the early years, he worked with Maya Lazko in Paris, then at the Tour Conservatory with Pierre Ivanovych, where he received a Diploma in Music Studies with the unanimous approval of the jury. In 2018, he was accepted to the National Superior Conservatoire in Paris in the class of Professor Ami Flammer, and two years later he graduated with a B.A. Currently, Gregoire is studying at the Paris Conservatoire’s master’s degree in the class of professors Svetlin Roussev and Pierre Colombe. In 2018, Gregoire Torossyan won the first prize at the Leonid Kogan competition in Brussels. In chamber music, he performed with the Mobius Quartet at the “French Spring” festival in Ukraine (July 2021) and at the Ozawa Academy in Switzerland (July 2022). Attended master classes by Serhiy Khachatryan, Julia Fisher, Kyryll Trusov, Sara Nemtsana, Lewis Kaplan, and Patrice Fontanarosa.

The 18th George Enescu International Competition takes place in Bucharest from September 4 to 18. This year, the Enescu competition marks a return to theater after two years in which cultural events were forced to reinvent themselves and move partially or entirely online. This year, the Enescu competition sends a message of the return of hope: the music of hope Music of hope. More than 100 young musicians from all over the world have registered for the online stage of the Competition. Among them, 34 talented artists will have the opportunity to perform on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum from September 4 to 18 in the semifinals and finals in three interpretive sections: violin, cello and piano.

For more information, visit: https://www.festivalenescu.ro