Cristian Mandeal - born at Rupea, Romania, he studied the piano, composition and conducting at the Music High School in Brasov and graduated from the National Music University of Bucharest. He attended the master classes directed by Herbert von Karajan in Berlin and by Sergiu Celibidache in Munich. After a short period as co-repetitor at the National Opera of Bucharest, Cristian Mandeal had his first appointments as Resident Conductor of the Philharmonics in Târgu Mures and Cluj, and of the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra since 1987.

From 1999 to 2002 he was also Artistic Director of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel and Resident Conductor of the "Haydn" Orchestra in Bolzano e Trento - Italy. He has conducted in 31 countries and 24 capitals on 4 continents.

As conductor of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic Orchestra, he has undertaken over 20 international tours. He has been repeatedly invited to Dresden Staatskapelle, Münchener Philharmoniker and Hessisches Rundfunk Orchester in Frankfurt, Santa Cecilia - Rome and RAI - Milan, to the Catalan National Orchestra - Barcelona, and the Hallé Orchestra - Manchester, where he has been permanent Guest Conductor. He has conducted prestigious orchestras including Royal Symphony Orchestra and Rias Orchester in Berlin, Bayerisches Rundfunk Orchester of Munich and Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, CBSO and Royal Liverpool Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague, the Portuguese National Orchestra of Lisbon, Orchestre Nationale de Belgique - Brussels, the Israel Philharmonic - Tel Aviv, the Göteborg Symphony, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Tokyo, Helsinki, Monte Carlo, Sofia, Belgrade, Zagreb, etc. He has also conducted ballet and opera performances (Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Verdi’s Stiffelio, respectively) at the Wiener Staatsoper.

Cristian Mandeal has collaborated with many celebrated personalities including Radu Lupu, Ivo Pogorelich, Krystian Zimerman, Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Gerhard Oppitz, Yefin Bronfman, Alicia de Larrocha, Maxim Vengerov, Shlomo Minz, Victor Tretiakov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ileana Cotrubas. He has also given preformances in renowned concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Neues Gewandhaus-Leipzig, Wiener Staatsoper, Alte Oper - Frankfurt, Gasteig and Herkulessaal - Munich, Grosses Festspielhaus - Salzburg, Beethovenhalle-Bonn, Victoria Hall-Geneva, Tonhalle - Zurich, Symphony Hall - Birmingham, Bolshoi Theatre - Moscow, Santory Hall - Tokyo.

Cristian Mandeal has participated in numerous international festivals in Istanbul, Ankara, Athens, Salonica, Lisbon, Santander, San Sebastian, Brescia-Bergamo, Ravelo, Belgrade, Ohrid, the "Hannover 2000" Festival, the Janacek Festival in Ostrava and Brno, the Bloomington Festival-the USA (where he directed conducting master classes), the "George Enescu" Festival in Bucharest. In August 2002, Cristian Mandeal performed the British première of Enescu’s Oedipe with the BBC Scottish Orchestra in the programme of the Edinburgh Festival. Cristian Mandeal has conducted world premières of over 50 symphonies and operas. He has peformed the whole concert repertoire from Vivaldi into contemporary music, in particularly the music of the 19th century and the first half of the last century. He has widely recorded for Electrecord, MBG Classics (Arte Nova) and Claves.

Highlights of his recordings are the complete Bruckner symphonic cycle, Brahms’ symphonic and vocal-symphonic music (released on nine CDs to celebrate the composer’s centenary in 1997), and above all the complete symphonic works of Enescu on 7 CDs.

He is General Director and Principal Conductor of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic Orchestra of Bucharest, Artistic Director of the Symphony Orchestra in Euskadi - Spain. He was Art Director of the "George Enescu" Festival and Competition - Bucharest (2001-2003)