ORCHESTRA
Città di Cantù 32nd International Piano and Orchestra Competition - ORCHESTRA AND CONDUCTOR
”Mihail Jora “Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau
Since the day of its first public appearance on 16 October 1956, the Mihail Jora Philharmonic has been growing qualitatively constantly, thanks to the great musical activity of the members of the orchestra under the direction of such well-known Maestros as Eugen Pricope and Igor Ciornei.
Today the orchestra has 75 members, many of them members of various chamber ensembles such as “Tescana”, the renowned “Trio Syrinx” winners of six international Prizes in famous Competitions, “Fagotissimo” (bassoon quartet), “Consonante” string quartet, and “Capriccio” Duo.
The orchestra's repertoire includes symphonies, symphonic-vocal music and chamber concerts from all eras and styles, from baroque to classical, from romantic to contemporary.
In addition to the weekly concerts of the Music Season, the Philharmonic organizes various international festivals such as the "Enescu-Orfeo Moldavian Festival", the “Contemporary Music Festival”, the Young Composers' Workshop, Conducting courses, etc.
In the last 20 years, the orchestra has continuously participated in numerous international events,
accompanying semifinalists and finalists of competitions for piano, violin and wind instruments (Italy - Città di Cantù, Valsesia Musica, Barletta, A.M.A. - Calabria, Racconigi, Brescia; France - Floraisons Musicales, Aix-en-Provence; Spain - Madrid; USA - Altamura Music Festival on the Greene etc.).
For the high artistic quality, the orchestra has been invited to collaborate with various record companies such as Electrecord (Romania), Edi Pan, Musica Insieme, Exess (Italy), Cadenza Music Production (Germany) and has performed more than 1000 concerts in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Gibraltar, Greece, USA, Malta, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Korea.
The orchestra was invited to participate in the “Altamura Music Festival On The Greene” and to the 20th anniversary of the “L. v. Beethoven” festival (Long Island, USA - 2001).
M° Ovidiu Balan - Conductor
Maestro Ovidiu Balan, the “honorific manager” and conductor of the philharmonic orchestra “Mihail Jora” of Bacau, belongs to the generation of dedicated and famous leaders of orchestra whose merits are internationally acclaimed.
He studied in Bucharest with Maestro Iosif Conta and attended courses in Holland, France, USA with Jean Fournet, Marius Constant, Fernand Quatrocchi, Eugene Ormandi, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Georg Solti, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel.
He has conducted important orchestras (USA, Cuba, Italy, Germany, France, Hollland, Bulgaria, Yougoslavia, Russia, Portugal, Poland, Hungaria) and received the A.T.M. Prize for the interpretation of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the prize of the art critics for the interpretation of contemporary music and the prize awarded by the newspapers in Bacau.
For his artistic activity he received the “Cultural Merit” award (1982), the title of “Master of Arts” (1994) in the Moldovian Republic, of Honorary Citizen of Bacau city and district, “Puncetto d’Oro” of the city of Varallo - Italy and Honorary Citizen of city of Cantù - Italy