The Enescu Society Scholarship is part of the Romanian Cultural Institute's programme to develop awareness in the UK of George Enescu's outstanding music heritage. Launched in December 2008, the scholarship is offered anually to a student at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) - our partner in the project. The first winner for the academic year 2009/10 was Karim Said.
The winner of the Enescu Society Scolarship, for the academic year 2010/11, is Florian Mitrea. He will be awarded GBP 3.145 in support of his annual tuition fee at the RAM.
The winner has been selected on the basis of the RAM recommendations of two talented young musicians: Florian Mitrea and Irina Gheorghiu.
Jury members: Noel Malcolm - historian and biographer of George Enescu; Remus Azoitei - violinist and professor at RAM, and Evan Dickerson - music critic and board member of the Enescu Society.
Florian Mitrea was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1989. He studied piano at the "Iosif Sava" Music School and at the "George Enescu" Music High School, being one of the top pianists of his generation. Florian won the First Prize in the Romanian National Music Olympics (three years in a row), the Grand Prize in the "Ada Ulubeanu" Piano Competition, the Prize of Excellence in the J.S. Bach Competition in Cluj and many other distinctions. In 2005, he won the Third Prize in the "Jeunesses Musicales" International Piano Competition.
Since September 2008, Florian has been studying at the Royal Academy of Music, under Professor Diana Ketler. He is a laureate of the Lilian Davies, Harriet Cohen, Frederick Delius and Harold Craxton RAM Competitions and he was the runner-up in the Jaques Samuel RAM heat 2009. Florian has also worked with internationally acclaimed pianists Angela Brownridge, John Lill and Boris Petrushansky and performed along the famous artists Alexander Sitkovetsky and David Cohen. He is member of a prize-winner ensemble of the Royal Academy of Music (the Mitrea Piano Quartet) and co-founder of the "Impeto" Duo.
