Our Live Musical Program Returns with an Exquisite Soiree

The Enescu Soirees of New York spring season kicks off with a superlative duo made up of virtuoso violist and professor at Yale School of Music, Ettore Causa, and acclaimed Romanian-American pianist and educator, Lorena Țecu. Join us on April 21st for an irresistible program featuring works by Romania’s ultimate maestro, George Enescu, and by two of the musicians he admired the most – his youth idol Johannes Brahms and his composition teacher and mentor, Gabriel Fauré. This soiree is dedicated to the memory of piano genius Radu Lupu, one of the greatest musicians of our times, who passed away age 76 this week.

Program:

Johannes Brahms - Sonata No. 1, in G Major, Op. 78

Gabriel Fauré - Andante, Op. 75

George Enescu - Konzertstück (concert piece)

warded both the “P. Schidlof Prize” and the “J. Barbirolli Prize” for “the most beautiful sound” at the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola competition in 2000, Italian-born violist ETTORE CAUSA is praised for his exceptional artistry, passionate intelligence and complete musicianship. He has made solo and recital appearances in major venues around the world, such as Carnegie Hall, Zurich Tonhalle, Madrid National Auditorium, Salle Cortot, Tokyo Symphony Hall, Teatro Colon, etc., and has performed at numerous international festivals, such as the Menuhin, Salzburg, Tivoli, Prussia Cove, Savonlinna, Launadire, and Norfolk Festivals. Also a devoted chamber musician, Causa has collaborated extensively with internationally renowned musicians such as the Tokyo, Artis, Brentano, Cremona and Elias String Quartets, Pascal Rogé, Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, Thomas Ades, Natalie Clein, Ana Chumachenco, Ani Kavafian, Alberto and Antonio Lysy, Liviu Prunaru, William Bennett and others. Having studied at the International Menuhin Music Academy with Alberto Lysy and Johannes Eskar, and later at the Manhattan School of Music with Michael Tree, then having taught both viola and chamber music for many years at the International Menuhin Music Academy, Causa joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music in 2009. He has recorded many highly-regarded CDs on the Claves label, including Romantic Transcriptions for Viola and Piano, on which he performs his own transcriptions and which was awarded a prestigious “5 Diapasons” by the French magazine Diapason. His latest CD of Brahms works with Clive Greensmith and Boris Berman for the Le Palais de Dégustateur label was given the distinguished “CHOC de Classica” award by France’s esteemed Classica magazine. Ettore Causa was one of the guests of honor at the 43rd International Viola Congress where he performed with enormous success his own arrangement of the Schumann cello concerto being awarded by the British Viola Society the Honorary Membership in recognition of his enormous contribution to the viola community. During 2020-2021, he was visiting professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

Romanian-American pianist LORENA ȚECU graduated from The National University of Music Bucharest, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Piano Performance. Lorena completed her Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano at Boston University, where she studied with Shiela Kibbe. She is a prize winner of the International Piano Competition Citta di Catanzaro and the International Piano Competition Citta di Marsala in Italy. She was awarded the Special Prize for Best Romanian Collaborative Pianist. Lorena has been an assistant professor at The National University of Music Bucharest. While holding this position, she was the pianist of many acclaimed artists. She was selected by Lord Yehudi Menuhin to be the pianist for the famous International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, where she performed concerts and toured with the Camerata Lysy Orchestra. She has been invited to perform at major festivals including: Mozarteum Festival in Salzburg-Austria, Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, Festival Lysy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dinu Lipatti Festival in Brasov, Romania, Music Festival in Estoril, Portugal, Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, M.A., Musicians for Europe in Sibiu, Romania and International Heifetz Music Institute in Wolfeboro, NH. Lorena performed a private concert with Camerata Lysy at the Castel Gandolfo, Italy for the Pope John Paul II. Her CD with violinist Alberto Lysy, “Romantic Pieces for Violin and Piano” was released under Dinemec Geneva, Switzerland. Since September 2009, she has been the official pianist at the International “George Enescu” Violin Competition in Bucharest, Romania. During the summers of 2011-2017 she has been invited to perform in Maxim Vengerov’s master classes during the “Rencontres Musicales” in Coppet, Switzerland. Since 2013, she has been the pianist of the String Academy at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland. In 2018 she joined the faculty as a pianist at the Academia Isola Classica in Italy. At present, Lorena is a staff pianist at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and the Boston University College of Fine Arts.