From her début, aged 15, as a soloist with the Arad Symphonic Orchestra (Romania) to the obtaining of five international Prizes in France, Germany and Italy, Clara Cernat’s musical evolution was quick and brilliant, leading to an intense activity of concerts and CD recordings.

A representative of the great Romanian violin school, Clara Cernat was a disciple of Stefan Gheorghiu in the Bucharest Music Academy, obtaining the highest awards in numerous disciplines: violin, of course, but also chamber music, analysis, harmony, counterpoint, aesthetics, history of music, study of folklore and pedagogy. She won several scholarships and she could deepen her art of violin, first of all at the Bonn’s International Music Academy, Germany, winning the diploma of the special program « Europe’s greatest talents » (professor Igor Ozim), then at the Ecole Supérieure de Violon Tibor Varga in Sion, Switzerland.

After winning, among others, the 1st Prize in the «Città di Andria» and «J.S. Bach» International Competitions, the 2nd Prize and Mozart Special Prize in the «Kloster Schöntal» International Competition, Clara Cernat began a career as a soloist, playing the main violin concertos (Tchaïkovsky, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Mozart, etc.) with the Romanian Philharmonic Orchestras (Romanian Radio-TV Bucharest, Sibiu, Oradea, Constanta, Cluj, etc.)

She played recitals (violin solo or violin and piano sonatas) in Romania, Austria, Germany, USA, Argentina, Great-Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Malaysia, Ivory Coast. Great concert halls regularly welcome her : Salle Gaveau, Théâtre du Châtelet, Great Hall of the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest (she played for the inauguration in 1995, as a soloist with the Romanian Radio-Television Chamber Orchestra). She appears on radio (BBC, Radio Suisse Romande, Romanian Radio, Deutsche-Welle, France-Musiques, France-Inter, RTL,...) and on television.

Clara Cernat is also a much sought-after chamber music player, as a violinist and as a violist. Together with Thierry Huillet, pianist and her partner in life and on stage, she founded a duet, playing worldwide and regularly recording successful CDs, unanimously praised by the critics. She is particularly recognized as a favorite performer of Georges Enesco’s music.

Clara Cernat is a professor at the Conservatoire National de Région and at the Centre d’Etudes
Musicales Supérieures of Toulouse (France).


« Let’s begin with my special favorite... a violin that cries, a violin that trembles,
a violin that shudders, that vibrates, a violin that prays, a marvelously musical violin. »
(Alain Duault, Classic Hebdo, RTL)

« From an enchantment to a wild joy of living... A marvellous interpretation,
like an unforgettable breath…So much greatness and calm... »
(Obersteiriche Volkszeitung, Austria)

« An incredibly spiritual penetration of the works... Sounds of an bewitching sweetness... »
(Jugend Musiziert, Austria)

« Clara Cernat astounds…From the very first notes of her repertory, she flees in the heart of a world
that only she knows. Passionate, dynamic,...She is not playing, but vibrating. »
(La République du Centre)