At St Germain-en-Laye, Paris, she was unanimously awarded first prize at the 1974 Claude Debussy Piano Competition presided over by the composer Georges Auric. Her international career spans four continents and her performances include concertos with the philharmonic orchestras of Romania and the former Soviet republics, the Salzburg Mozarteum Ensemble, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the European Community Chamber Orchestra as well as orchestras in the Far East and the USA. She worked with such conductors as Pascal Tortelier, Sian Edwards, Barry Wordsworth, Victoria Zhadko and Lim Yau. Several of her overseas concerts have been promoted by the British Council. Broadcasts have included BBC Radio 2's Saturday Gala Night, live recitals and recordings for the French National Radio and live orchestral concerts for the Romanian National Radio and Television.

In 1989, Anda Anastasescu founded the London Schubert Players chamber orchestra and, in 1991, she established in Romania the Constantin Silvestri International Festival and Concerto Competition for Young Musicians (patron Lord Menuhin) in memory of the celebrated Romanian-born British conductor and composer Constantin Silvestri. She is also president of the Silvestri International Foundation.

Anda has given a number of first performances of works by Romanian composers, Dinu Lipatti and Silvestri, and was invited in 1999 to premiere Lipatti's Sinfonia Concertante in a performance conducted by Yehudi Menuhin in London's Queen Elizabeth Hall.

She has recorded for Cressidia Classics in Britain and for Electrecord in Romania. She performs Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 K414 and Turina's Rapsodia Sinfonica for Piano and Orchestra on CD A World of Music with the London Schubert Players obtainable by mail order or special offer.

In 2000 she gave a series of concerts featuring Silvestri's music at London's South Bank, in Paris, Rome, Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Norway and Israel, and she was awarded The Music Critics' Prize in Romania for promoting the maestro's music.

Piano Concerto repertoire:
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Ravel, Turina, Lipatti, Malcolm Williamson, Lennox Berkeley.

Reviews

"Brilliant: dark and dramatic, romantic and dreamy - pianist Anda Anastasescu gave a tremendous performance."

Tronder-Avisa, Namsos, Norway.
 

'Yet another pianist!' you may think. No, of this calibre the world can never have enough.

French National Radio
 

An absolutely wonderful performance of Mozart Piano Concerto No 21 by pianist Anda Anastasescu . . . immensely exciting playing. Her execution of the Dinu Lipatti cadenzas was sensational. . . Anastasescu was just as brilliant in Shostakovich's quirky First Piano Concerto.

Sheffield Telegraph
 

A delightful rendition of Mozart's Piano Concerto K414 by pianist Anda Anastasescu and three folk-inspired pieces by Constantin Silvestri. His 'Three Pieces for Strings' are full of vigour and culminate in a finale of stunning percussive velocity.

The Strad
 

The recital opened with a stylish and uncompromising performance of Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales which was marvellously assertive and expansive. Anastasescu has a commanding technique, but there was no ostentation in her performance. Her playing was extremely persuasive and she also handled the intricacies of Franck's piano writing with great delicacy.

Glasgow Herald
 

A performer approaching the opening bars of Debussy's Clair de Lune must feel like the actor hearing his cue for 'To be or not to be'. Everyone knows it, and how it should sound, but this performance was neither banal nor contrived, flowing limpidly to a ghostly end.

The Scotsman
 

With Anda Anastasescu as the soloist in the ebullient Three Romanian Dances by the pianist Dinu Lipatti, the Bartokian energy was projected with bite, and moments of plangent lyricism evoked Hindemithian harmony.

Musical Opinion
 

Scintillating sounds ... superbly sparkling concert ... breathtaking dexterity ... myriad musical colours ... riveting effervescent finale ...

Cambrian News
 

She proved a delightful performer, with spirited playing in Lipatti's concertante piece.

Bournemouth Echo
 

The atmosphere of the concert was enhanced by Anda Anastasescu's dignified romantic performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto K491.

Züri Woche, Zurich
 

A magnificent recital ... a performance of Schumann's Carnival which did not make us envy other versions with top world pianists.

Ritmo, Madrid
 

Quite apart from her pianistic skill, Anda Anastasescu - living in England, unfortunately (for us !) - was very moving in Mozart's Concerto K595 with her range of deep inner moods, passion, dynamism and intelligent phrasing, which conferred on this concert a symbolic dimension.

Tineretul Liber, Bucharest.

Contact details and further information

E-mail Anda Anastasescu

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