We’re thrilled to welcome Florian Mitrea to the Finchcocks teaching team. Described by Martha Argerich as ‘an outstanding young pianist’, British-Romanian pianist Florian Mitrea was a double-laureate at the 2017 Scottish, 2015 Hamamatsu, and 2014 ARD Munich International Piano Competitions. He won the 2018 Royal Overseas League Piano Competition, and was a major prize winner at the 2018 Harbin – China, 2017 St Priest, and 2016 James Mottram-Manchester International Piano Competitions. He was the top prize winner at the 2018 New York International Piano Festival, and consequently gave his debut performance at Carnegie Hall. He was a Making Music 2017-19 Young Artist, a Kirckman Concert Society artist, and was selected to perform in the historic Manchester Mid-Day Concerts series.
The performance credits and rave reviews continue! Florian’s debut performance with the RSNO was awarded a 4-star review by the Edinburgh Guide and the Edinburgh Music Review, and was described as ‘absorbing and masterly’. Previously, reviewers have praised Florian’s playing as having ‘stupendous virtuosity’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2017), ‘phenomenal precision throughout’ (The Herald, 2017), and presenting ‘a mixture of phenomenal technique and ravishing musical intelligence’ (The Cambridge Independent, 2018). His solo debut CD has received a 5-star review by the Piano News Magazine in Düsseldorf, was highly recommended by the Cross-Eyed Pianist blogger, was featured on BBC Radio 3 multiple times, and won the Most Popular CD of 2018 prize, awarded by the national classical music radio station in Romania. His second solo recording project, a CD of music by Beethoven and his contemporaries, is due to be recorded in August 2020 and released by the end of the year.
As you can see, Florian’s performance experience and knowledge of his instrument knows no bounds. He trained with Flavia Moldovan and Gabriela Enasescu at the George Enescu National Music College in Bucharest, before winning a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Diana Ketler. He graduated with First Class Honours and the DipRAM Distinction, and he is now a teacher himself within the Piano Department. He gives regular masterclasses in Tokyo and Bucharest, where he runs his own start-up music festival. In 2016 Florian was appointed a Kawai Global Artist, and in 2018 an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. He continues his own studies at the Imola Piano Academy under Boris Petrushansky.
To find out more, you can visit his own website here.