Events:
Liviu Prunaru, violin
Chih-Yi Chen, piano
Residence of the Romanian Ambassador
3003 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Violinist Liviu Prunaru is the Concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and gained international recognition through his participation at several prestigious violin competitions. He won Gold Medals at the Dong-A competition in Korea, the Rodolfo Lipizer in Italy, and the R. Molinari Violin Competition in Switzerland, in addition to Silver Medals at the Queen Elisabeth in Brussels in 1993 and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1998. After capturing First Grand Prize at the E. Nakamichi Wieniawski Violin Competition and the Juilliard Mendelssohn Competition, Prunaru made his New York City debut in 1999 with the Juilliard Symphony at Alice Tully Hall.
Liviu Prunaru has performed recitals in many of the world’s major cultural centers and has been a featured soloist with orchestras including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Philharmonic, the London Symphony, Belgium National, Bucharest Radio-Symphony, and the Puchon Philharmonic in Korea. His work has also been in demand at renowned festivals including the Menuhin, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Evian, Athens and Salzburg festivals.
Prunaru can be heard on CD with Camerata Lysy, as well as his own debut CD released by Pavane Records. The Swiss label Claves released all three violin concertos by Camille Saint-Saens, accompanied by the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, directed by Lawrence Foster.
Born in Craiova, Romania, Mr. Prunaru studied at the renowned Menuhin Academy of Gstaad, Switzerland and completed his professional studies at The Juilliard School where he was an assistant to Dorothy DeLay and actively participated in master classes with Itzhak Perlman. He previously held teaching posts at the International Menuhin Academy and the Amsterdam Conservatory.
He performs on the 1694 Stradivarius “Paschoud,” on generous loan by the Stichting Instituut Gak, and a Tourte bow from the Concertgebouw Foundation.
Dr. Chih-Yi Chen, piano, has been on the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music since 2003 and is the Associate Chair of the Chamber and Collaborative Music Department. Dr. Chen was a recipient of the 2023 Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award. She has also been on the faculty of the Indiana University Summer String Academy for more than two decades. Her versatile qualities as a collaborative partner, chamber musician, soloist and teacher have contributed to a distinguished career, nationally and internationally.
Chen has been performing with International Violin Competition of Indianapolis Laureates since 2003 when she was first invited to perform with Barnabás Kelemen. She has served as an official pianist for the competition since the 9th Quadrennial in 2014 and was awarded special recognition at the 2018 Competition for “Best Performances” of the Beethoven and Mozart sonatas. She has also served as an official pianist for the China International Music Competition in Beijing. Her early work with the talented young violinists of the Indiana University Violin Virtuosi directed by renowned pedagogue Mimi Zweig led to performances in France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Japan and throughout the United States.
Among the numerous musicians with whom she has collaborated are violinists Jaime Laredo, Mihaela Martin, Kyoko Takezawa, Sirena Huang, Richard Lin, Luke Hsu, Andrés Cárdenes, Liviu Prunaru, Augustin Hadelich, Clara-Jumi Kang, Kerson Leong and Svetlin Roussev, violist Atar Arad, cellists Sharon Robinson, Peter Stumpf and Bion Tsang, clarinetists James Campbell, Howard Klug and Gabor Varga, bassoonist William Ludwig and flutist Thomas Robertello. She has also performed with the Michelangelo, Pacifica, Rubens and Verona string quartets.
Born in Taipei, Chih-Yi Chen received her Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Music degrees from Indiana University where she studied with Lev Vlasenko, and with Luba Edlina-Dubinsky, pianist of the Borodin Trio.