Irina Muresanu
Violin

Irina Muresanu has won international acclaim as an outstanding young soloist, recitalist and chamber musician having already achieved top prizes in numerous international violin competitions. These include the Montreal International, Queen Elizabeth Violin, UNISA International String, Washington International, and the Schadt String Competitions. She is the winner of the Pro Musicis International Award, the Presser Music Award and the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association. The Boston Globe has come to praise her as "not just a virtuoso, but an artist", and the Los Angeles Times has written that her "musical luster, melting lyricism and colorful conception made Irina Muresanu's performance especially admirable," while Strad Magazine called her Carnegie/Weill Hall performance "a first-rate recital."

Recent engagements as soloist include concerts with the Boston Pops, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the Syracuse Symphony, the Metropolitan Orchestra (Montreal), the Transvaal Philharmonic (Pretoria), the Orchestre de la Radio Flamande (Brussels), the Boston Phiharmonic, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, and the Miami Symphony Orchestra among others. Irina Muresanu's talents have been sought out for collaboration with such noted performers as Kim Kashkashian, Cynthia Phelps, Sharon Robinson, Ronald Thomas, Andres Cardenes, Ilya Kaler, and Nathaniel Rosen. Irina Muresanu's performances have been frequently cited as among the "Best of" classical music performances by the Boston Globe, and her recital in the Emerging Artist BankBoston Celebrity Series was named one of the Top 10 musical events by TAB Magazine. She often can be heard on Boston's WGBH and other NPR radio stations.

An active chamber musician, Ms. Muresanu is a member of Mistral, and has appeared in such festivals and venues as Bargemusic in New York; the Rockport Festival in Massachusetts; Bay Chambers concert series and Bowdoin Festival in Maine; the Strings in the Mountains festival in Colorado; Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, Reizend Music festival in Netherlands; Festival van de Leie in Belgium; and the Renncontres des Musiciennes festival in France.

Ms. Muresanu's discography includes the recently released Guillaume Lekeu and Alberic Magnard late Romantic violin and piano sonatas (with the pianist Dana Ciocarlie) for the AR RE-SE French label. The artist has also recorded the world premiere recording of Marion Bauer's Sonata for Violin and Piano (with pianist Virginia Eskin) on Albany Records, a CD with works of Andy Vores, and a CD featuring chamber works of Erich Korngold released by the VPRO Radio Amsterdam. The 2005 Copland Fund Recording Grant will enable the artist, along with pianist Michael Lewin, to record the integrale of Willam Bolcom's violin and piano sonatas for the Centaur label. Adding to her other competition laurels, Ms. Muresanu has been granted a Special Commendation award for her recording of Schoenberg's Fantasy for violin and piano at the 3rd International Vienna Modern Masters Performers Recording Competition.

Irina Muresanu currently serves on both the faculties of the Boston Conservatory and the Music Department at MIT. She was appointed Artist-in-Residence as a member of the Lewin-Muresanu Duo at the Boston Conservatory, as well as at the New England Conservatory's Preparatory Division as a member of the Boston Trio. A native of Bucharest, Romania, she received the prestigious Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory in 1999, where she is currently a candidate for her Doctorate in Musical Arts.

Irina Muresanu plays an 1856 Joseph Rocca violin and a Charles Peccat bow, courtesy of Mr. Mark Ptashne.