Profile
©Ettore Causa
Liviu PRUNARU(Romania/Belgium)
Jury Member, Violin Section
Violinist Liviu Prunaru has won top prizes at the most prestigious International Violin Competitions including, Gold Medalist of the 1997 Dong-A, Silver Medalist at the 1998 Indianapolis, Silver (2nd Grand Prize) Medalist at the 1993 Queen Elizabeth, Gold Medalist at the 1991 Rodolfo Lipizer, and Gold Medalist at the R. Molinari.
Debuting in New York City with the Juilliard Symphony after capturing 1st grand prize in the Juilliard Mendelssohn Competition, he also won 1st grand prize at the 1999 E. Nakamichi Wieniawski Violin Concerto Competition resulting in performances with the Aspen Young Artists Orchestra.
Mr. Prunaru has performed as a soloist with: Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Belgium National Orchestra, Bucharest Radio-Symphony Orchestra, and Puchon Philharmonic Orchestra among others and collaborated with conductors including Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Fabio Luisi, Yuri Simonov, Andrew Litton, Cristian Mandeal, and Lukas Vis.
Recording many CDs with Camerata Lysy, his own debut CD features Strauss, Brahms, Gluck, de Falla, Saint-Saens, and Sarasate works with pianist Luc Devos, through Pavane Records.
Born in Craiova, Romania, he began violin studies at the age of 6 with Professor Oprisan. His teachers: Mr.Berbec, Ms.Mihaela Mailat, Ms.Adriana Carpen and Ms.Cornelia Bonzetti, guided him through his youth as he won seven national competitions and 1st prize at the International Kocian competition of Czechoslovakia. In 1990, violinist and Maestro Alberto Lysy invited him to study at the renowned Menuhin Academy of Gstaad, Switzerland, where he worked among great artists like Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Igor Oistrakh, Ruggiero Ricci, Nikita Magaloff, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Peter-Lukas Graf, and Pierre Amoyal. He completed studies with Dorothy DeLay in New York, where he also participated in Master Classes with Itzhak Perlman.
In 2006, after 14 years of teaching at the Menuhin Academy, Liviu Prunaru became concert master of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which in 2008 first received the title of the best orchestra in the world! In 2010, he became musical director of Menuhin Academy, continuing after his beloved Masters Yehudi Menuhin and Alberto Lysy! Besides teaching and being a concert master, he has an active solo career and performs recitals globally. Recent releases include the Integral of Grieg Sonatas for violin and piano, a live recording of the Duel of the Violins (Stradivari VS Guarneri) project released in Romania, and a chamber music project including the Octets by Svendsen and Bruch with his beloved colleagues, former students of the Menuhin Academy, who reunite yearly as “THARICE” for concerts and recordings!
He plays a 1694 Stradivari graciously offered by the Concertgebouw’s board of sponsors.