MIHAELA URSULEASA

Mihaela Ursuleasa was born in Brasov, Romania in 1978.  As a teenager she won second prize at the International Piano Competition in Senigallia. Upon the advice of Claudio Abbado, Mihaela studied with Prof. Heinz Medjimorec at the Vienna Conservatory. She reaped the fruits of this decision in 1995, when she won the Clara Haskil Competition aged 16. Selected engagements followed: Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto with Claudio Abbado in Vienna, Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor at the International Festival in St. Petersburg, Chopin's Piano Concerto in F minor in Hanover and Munich, and recitals in Rome, Frankfurt, Vienna, Davos and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. In June 1999, she graduated with a diploma cum laude.

Mihaela Ursuleasa has made impressive debuts with the Concertgebouw under the direction of Kurt Sanderling, her Paris concerto debut with the Orchestre National de Paris with Sir Colin Davis, her Salzburg debut with the Mozarteum Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, her US concerto debut with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Hugh Wolff, after which performances with the Cincinnati and Minnesota Orchestras have recently followed with Paavo Järvi and Osmo Vanska respectively.   Her first tour of Germany was undertaken with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie under Paavo Järvi. She has also toured with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Sir Neville Marriner, and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with Neeme Järvi.