For Andrei Ioniță, life, music and the arts are never direct, but pave their own way of expression. The British Gramophone describes him as 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.

Among the highlights of the 23/24 season are concerts with the Opéra National de Lorraine conducted by Marta Gardolińska, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the Newbury Festival conducted by Jonathan Bloxham, the Mexico Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ludwig Carrasco, and his collaboration with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the baton of Paavo Järvi. 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.