Cello: Andrei Ionita
For Andrei Ioniță, life, music and the arts are never direct, but pave their own way of expression. The Times of London calls him “one of the most exciting cellists to have emerged for a decade”; the British Gramophone “a cellist of superb skill and musical imagination and a commitment to music of our time.”
The artist himself remarks, “the instrument will eventually find the musician who is destined for it”. Ioniță plays a violoncello built in Brescia, Italy, by Giovanni Battista Rogeri in 1671 with a characteristic design. It is a famous loan by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, in which he is a scholarship holder.
Ioniță was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1994. He first became a student of Ani-Marie Paladi and later of Prof. Jens Peter Maintz at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin. In 2015, he won the Gold Medal at the internationally renowned Tchaikovsky Competition. He became a laureate of ARD, Hachaturian and Feuermann competitions. From 2016 to 2018, the BBC of London awarded him the title of "New Generation Artist", which promoted his popularity in the UK. Followed by that, Andrei held performances with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Andrei Ioniță has collaborated with an extensive network of European orchestras, among them the Munich and Dresden Philharmonic, the German Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as his appointment to “Artist in Residence” with the Hamburg Symphonic Orchestra in the season of 19/20.
His musicianship led him on tours through the US, where he performed with the National Youth Orchestra of Romania, the Detroit, San Diego and Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestras. Over the span of his career, he worked jointly with famous conductors such as Cristian Macelaru, Sylvain Cambreling, Kent Nagano, Omer Meir Wellber, John Storgårds, Joanna Mallwitz and Ruth Reinhardt.
Andrei Ioniță’s exceptional talent makes of him a versatile and sought-after performer of chamber music. In his concerts, he joins forces with Martha Argerich, Christian Tetzlaff, Sergei Babayan, and Steven Isserlis among others. He is often invited to world-class concert venues and festivals within the world of classical music. “The music magically develops and flows out to the audience where it speaks directly to the soul”, says Ioniță. Among the highlights of the 23/24 season are concerts with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the baton of Paavo Järvi, the Mexico Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ludwig Carrasco, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ruth Reinhardt, the Opéra national de Lorraine conducted by Marta Gardolińska, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the Newbury Festival conducted by Jonathan Bloxham. A further season’s special is Ioniță’s status as “Artist in Residence” of George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in Bucharest and the town of Timișoara, Europe’s cultural capital in 2023.
On his highly acclaimed first solo CD "Oblique Strategies", Ioniță presents a world premiere by Brett Dean alongside pieces by Bach and Kodály. His interpretations create an immense range of timbres, registers and techniques that showcase the cello. These “Oblique Strategies” are necessary to make music and the arts shine.
