Biography

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For Andrei Ioniță, life, music and the arts are never direct, but pave their own way of expression. The Times of London calls him “one of the most exciting cellists to have emerged for a decade”; the British Gramophone “a cellist of superb skill and musical imagination and a commitment to music of our time.”

 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 is also the prize-winner of ARD, Khachaturian 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. Followed by that, Andrei held performances with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

 Andrei Ioniță has collaborated with an extensive network of international orchestras, among them the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra (DSO), the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

 He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Herbert Blomstedt, Paavo Järvi, Susanna Mälkki, Cristian Macelaru, Joanna Mallwitz, Manfred Honeck, Sylvain Cambreling, Kent Nagano, Michael Sanderling among many others.

 Andrei Ioniță’s exceptional talent makes of him a versatile and sought-after performer of chamber music. In his concerts, he joins forces with Martha Argerich, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Igor Levit, Christian Tetzlaff, Sergei Babayan, and Steven Isserlis. He is often invited to world-class concert venues and festivals within the world of classical music, such as the Verbier Music Festival, the Kissinger Sommer, the Aspen Music Festival, the Wigmore Hall and the Carnegie Hall. “The music magically develops and flows out to the audience where it speaks directly to the soul”, says Ioniță.

 Orchestral highlights of the 25/26 season include his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali at the prestigious Enescu Festival to which he returns as soloist. Further orchestral engagements include the New Japan Philharmonic, the Hofer Symphoniker, the Orchestra dell`Istituzione Sinfonica Abbruzese, the Transylvanian State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Satu Mare Philharmonic Orchestra, the Iasi Philharmonic Orchestra. As well as engagements in the USA with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Richardson Symphony Orchestra.

 As a sought-after chamber musician, Andrei is invited to perform at the Moritzburg Festival, the Instituzioni Universitaria dei Concerti Roma, the Ascoli Piceno Festival, the Stresa Festival, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Grünwalder Konzerte, the Intonations Festival, the Konzertverein Schwerin, the Synagoge Fellheim, Hörtnagel Konzerte (München Musik GmbH), and the Utah Chamber Music Festival.

 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.

 Andrei himself remarks, “the instrument will eventually find the musician who is destined for it”. He plays a violincello by Filippo Fasser from Brescia, Italy.

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