Three young musicians from the Republic of Moldova/Romania, Luxembourg and Germany have qualified for the Final of the Cello Section of the George Enescu International Competition 2022

Dvořák and the Symphonie Concertante by George Enescu will be heard on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum in the Final concerts

The three finalists of the Cello Section of the George Enescu Competition 2022 have been decided. The young musicians will perform works by Antonin Dvořák and George Enescu in the three concerts of the Final. The results were announced by the expert jury on Tuesday evening.

The semifinals of the “George Enescu” International Competition 2022, Cello Section, took place on September 5 and 6, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. The expert jury decided on Tuesday, September 6, the competitors qualified for the Grand Final of the Competition for the Cello Section. In alphabetical order, they are:

Constantin Borodin (Republic of Moldova/Romania), Benjamin Kruithof (Luxembourg) and Constantin Siepermann (Germany)

The Jury of the Cello Section at the 2022 edition of the Enescu Competition consists of: David Geringas, (Jury President), Natasha Brofsky, Enrico Dindo, Reinhard Latzko, Leonid Gorokhov, Alexandra Guțu, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Marin Cazacu and Meehae Ryo.

The final of the Competition, the Cello Section, consisting of three concerts with orchestra, with the extraordinary participation of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Tito Munoz, will take place on September 8, from 18:00, in the Great Hall of the Romanian Athenaeum. Tickets for the Cello Final and also for the other concerts within the Competition, are available online at EVENTIM.

Constantin Borodin (Republic of Moldova/Romania) chose to perform in the Grand Finale of the Cello Section the Cello Concerto in B minor Op. 104 by Dvořák. Born in Chișinău, he is a laureate of several national and international competitions. He started studying cello at the age of 6, in his hometown, under the guidance of teachers V. Komissarova and B. Savici. He has performed as a soloist with the Alt-Hastedter Bremen Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Romania Chamber Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of the Republic of Moldova, the Dinu Lipatti Philharmonic, the Ion Dumitrescu Philharmonic. He also gave recitals in the Great Hall of the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, in Riga and in Chisinau. Constantin Borodin collaborated with the Brandenburgisches Orchester Eberswalde, the Geringas Chamber Orchestra and the Potsdam Kammerakademie.

Benjamin Kruithof (Luxembourg) will also perform the Cello Concerto in B minor Op. 104 by Dvořák in the Finale. He plays an 18th-century instrument made by the Italian luthier G.B. Guadagnini, which is made available to him by the University of the Arts in Berlin. He began studying the cello at the age of 5 at the Conservatoire du Nord, with Raju Vidali. Benjamin Kruithof has performed with the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra, Herford Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, in halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Gasteig München, Kings Place in London, Changsha Concert Hall, Renmin University Hall, Guangzhou Opera, Philharmonic in Luxembourg, Cortot Hall in Paris. He performed with Conrad van Alphen, Adrian Adlam, Vadym Kholodenko, Alena Baeva, Semion Gavrikov, Pascal Schumacher, Thomas Hell, Florian Krumpöck, Hartmut Haenchen and Vahan Mardirossian. In February 2020 he recorded his first CD with the Herford Philharmonic at Ars Production. In 2021 he was invited to attend the Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland.

Constantin Siepermann will perform the Symphonie Concertante in B minor for Cello and Orchestra Op. 8 by George Enescu on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, during the Final. He is from Germany and has been studying the cello since he was 5 years old. He won first prize at the 2016 federal edition of the Jugend Musiziert Competition in Germany, as well as the special WESPE Award from the German Music Council for the best performance of the Paul Hindemith Solo Sonata. He is also a laureate of the Competition for young talents of the Baltic Music Festival (2016), the Dussmann Competition in Berlin (2014 and 2017) and the Napolinova Competition (2020). In February 2022 he won the Grand Prize of the Gustav Mahler International Cello Competition (Jihlava/Prague). Constantin Siepermann has performed at Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin, Musikverein Vienna, Amati Festival in Maastricht, International Music Sessions in Holland, Bayreuth Festival, Young Euro Classic, Classic Summer in Usedom. He plays a Riccardo Antoniazzi cello (Cremona, 1890), which was made available to him through a private sponsorship.

The 18th edition of the George Enescu International Competition takes place in Bucharest between September 4 and 18. This year, the Enescu Competition marks the return to the concert hall, after two years when cultural events had to reinvent themselves and move partially or totally online. The message that the Enescu Competition sends this year is that of regaining hope: Music of hope | Music of Hope. Over 100 young musicians from all over the world signed up for the online stage of the Contest. Among them, 34 talented artists will have the opportunity to take the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, between September 4 and 18, in the Semi-Final and Final stages in the three interpretive sections: violin, cello and piano.

For more details, please visit: https://www.festivalenescu.ro

The official photographers of the Enescu 2022 Competition will make available to the media free of charge a series of images live from the events of the Competition, taken by the official photographer of the Competition. They can be accessed at this link. Also, at the request of the press, the organizers can offer free images from the artists’ archives or from the Contest’s archive.

Press contact:

Maria Ursică: [email protected], +40 728 832 180