Department of Music & Performing Arts Professions
present
Violin (Univ. of Illinois)
March 20-26, 2000
Mon., March 20th, 8.00 PM
Little Recital Room, #779
NYU Students readings
Thu., March 23rd, 8.00 PM
F. Loewe Theater
35 West 4th Street
CD Recording for Capstone Records: works by Violeta Dinescu, Gheorghe
Costinescu, Dinu Ghezzo, Zack Browning, Sever Tipei, Guy Garnett,
Ron Mazurek
One of the world's leading perfomers of George Enescu's music, Romanian-born Sherban Lupu began playing the violin at age seven. While a student at the Bucharest Conservatory, with George Manoliu, he concertized throughout Eastern Europe and perfomed on Romanian radio and television. Mr. Lupu left Romania to study in London at the Guildhall School of Music with Yfrah Neaman and he took lessons and masterclasses with legendary violinists Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szering and Nathan Milstein as well as with Norbert Brainin of the Amadeus String Quartet and Sandor Vegh. Lupu has won prizes in numerous competitions such as: Vienna International, Romanian National String Quartet, Jacques Thibaud in Paris, Carl Flesch in London, Royal Society of Arts and the Park Lane Group Contest. He has also been a member on the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the Mainz Chamber Orchestra. In 1976, Lupu came to the United States to study with Dorothy De Lay and, at Indiana University, with Josef Gingold and received chamber music coaching from Menahem Pressler.
Mr. Lupu has been associate concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera, founder and artistic advisor of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and artistic director of the Gubbio Festival in Italy.
Mr. Lupu is currently professor violin and head of the string department at the University of Illinois. Appearing frequently as soloist in Europe and the United States, Lupu has also performed the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas with Menahem Pressler. A versatile chamber musician he is also a member of the "George Enescu Chamber Players", of the "Chicago Ensemble" and has founded the "Enescu Ensemble".
Mr. Lupu specializes in the music of his native Romania and Eastern Europe as well as the virtuoso romantic repertoire. Equally at home in the contemporary repertoire he has worked with leading Romanian composers such as Theodor Grigoriu, Gheorghe Costinescu, Dinu Ghezzo, Violeta Dinescu who have dedicated works to him.
Recent solo appearances include: The Kennedy Center, Gstaad Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elisabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. John's Smith Square, Carnegie Hall, where in June 1998 Mr. Lupu has performed Enescu's Third Violin Sonata in a concert he organized in honor of the President of Romania. He has also performed the Brahms and Tchaikovsky violin concertos in live broadcasts with the BBC Orchestra.
Mr Lupu has collaborated with conductors such as Mendi Rodan, Sir Charles Grove, Harry Blech, Cristian Mandeal, Barry Wadsworth, Owain Arwell Hughes among others.
Sherban Lupu has recorded works by Ysaye, Bartok, Enescu, Wieniawski, Stravinsky, Ginastera for ASV, Arabesque, Continuum labels and for the BBC.
In collaboration with the composer Cornel Taranu, Mr. Lupu has finished and reconstructed the "Caprice Roumain" for violin and orchestra by George Enescu. That work is included in the recent CD recording of the complete music for violin by George Enescu, which Mr. Lupu has made in collaboration with Valentin Gheorghiu and the Bucharest Filarmonic Orchestra under the direction of Cristian Mandeal for the Electrecord Label.
Much in demand as a pedagogue, Mr. Lupu is a frequent member of international juries, has given numerous masterclasses and taught violin courses in England, Holland, Germany, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Italy, etc.
Mr. Lupu has collaborated with Dr. Dinu Ghezzo for over twenty years, at Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, at NYU, Univ. of Illinois and in Italy, at the Giornate Internazionali di Musica, at the Gubbio Festival (Italy) and at the Constanta International Music Days (Romania).