'A European Musical Odyssey in Sixty Minutes,’ featuring Adrian Mantu (cello), Andreea Banciu (viola) and Marco Ramelli (guitar)

The Romanian/Irish/Italian world-renowned musicians Adrian Mantu (cello), Andreea Banciu (viola) and Marco Ramelli (guitar) combine the deep and authentic European tradition of chamber music with an innovative approach. Their concert presents an artistic fusion of different European musical styles where the works of Bach, Paganini, Elgar, Schubert, O’Kelly, Dimitrescu, Falla, Trimble and Saint-Saens are reimagined for cello, viola & guitar.

ADRIAN MANTU (cello)

Dr Adrian Mantu is the cellist/founder of the ConTempo String Quartet (1995), the Fellows String quartet at the Royal Academy, London (1999-2003), Galway’s Ensemble-in-Residence since 2003, and the RTÉ National Quartet of Ireland since 2013, and has been the producer of the CelloVision multimedia project since 2016.

Adrian is the winner of sixteen international prizes (London, Munich, Berlin, Prague, Bucharest, Hamburg, Rome), and has performed over three thousand concerts in forty nine countries, in venues such as The Wigmore Hall in London, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Tel-Aviv Opera, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Gedai University, Tokyo, and the National Concert Hall in Dublin. He has performed in front of great personalities, including the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, King Charles III, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Nobel Prize winners & Hollywood stars.

Adrian had the privilege to hold the Artistic Director positions of prestigious Festivals and Art Organizations, including Enescu Festival Dublin; Romania100, Ireland; CelloVision Project; Luminosa Orchestra; and the Galway Music Residency. He arranged and recorded the music to many films, including Lucian Pintilie’s Trop Tard,which was selected for the Cannes Festival in France, and recorded the music for Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ Band of Brothers series. He has also recorded for Universal, Sony, Quartz, Deutsche Schallplatten and NMC CD labels.

In 2016, Adrian was awarded a Degree of Doctor of Music (honoris causa) by the National University of Ireland, and this year, 2023, was conferred by University College Dublin with a degree of Doctor in Music Performance. He has taken part in various EU projects, both as a soloist and in cross-over ensembles, with the ConTempo Quartet and the CelloVision Project.

On the 6th January 2022, on the order of Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania, Adrian and his ConTempo Quartet colleagues - Bogdan Sofei, Ingrid Nicola and Andreea Banciu - were conferred with the Ordinul Meritul Cultural / Order of Cultural Merit, in the rank of Knight, for their talent and their enrichment of universal culture, and for promoting the positive image of Romania in Ireland.
Adrian’s cello is funded by Music Network, the Arts Council of Ireland, and Ireland’s Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

ANDREEA BANCIU (viola)

Dr Andreea Banciu is the violist/founder of the ConTempo String Quartet (1995), which was the Royal Academy of Music London’s Quartet-in-Residence between 1999 and 2002 and has been the Galway Ensemble-in-Residence since 2003 and RTE’s Irish National String Quartet-in-Residence since 2013. Since 2017, she has been lecturing in viola and chamber music at the TU Dublin Conservatoire and was founder, in 2018, and is violist of the Con Anima piano/viola duet.

Andreea studied viola with Bruno Giuranna, David Takeno, Piero Farulli and Valeriu Pitulac at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the University of Music in Bucharest, the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, the European Music Academy in Aix-en-Provence and the Academia Chigiana in Siena. She has won fourteen international prizes in chamber music competitions, including in London, Munich, Berlin, Prague, Graz, Hamburg and Rome.
She has performed over three thousand concerts around the world in forty two countries, in venues such as The Wigmore Hall in London, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Tel-Aviv Opera House, Gedai Hall in Tokyo, the Théâtre de Chatelet in Paris, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, the Auditorium Brussels, the Konserthuset in Stockholm, the LA Beverly Hilton, the Atheneum in Bucharest, and Waterfront Hall in Belfast. Her performing repertoire has included the works of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Bartok and the Shostakovich String Quartet Cycles, as well as viola concertos of music by Bach, Telemann, Mozart, Weber, Elgar, Spohr, Williams and Howells.

Andreea has had the honour to perform in front of great personalities, including the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Nobel Prize Winners, EU Ministers and Hollywood stars. Her connections with the film world include appearances in two movies as a supporting actress (Lucian Pintilie’s Trop Tard having been selected for the Cannes Festival in France) and recording the music for Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ Band of Brothersseries. Her latest album, New Airs, went straight to No. 3 in the iTunes classical charts and her recordings can be found on the Universal, Sony, Quartz, Deutsche Schallplatten and NMC labels.

In 2019/2020 Andreea celebrated the 20th Anniversary of ConTempo Quartet through over one hundred concerts in Ireland and abroad, including appearances at the NCH and The Wigmore Hall, as well as on tours in the UK, Romania, Ireland, Italy, Finland, Northern Ireland and Sweden. Her latest album, New Airs, went straight to no 3 in the iTunes classical charts. Her recordings can be found on the Universal, Sony, Quartz, Deutsche Schallplatten & NMC labels.
On 10th June 2016, Andreea was awarded a Degree of Doctor of Music (honoris causa) by the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). On the 6th January 2022, on the order of Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania, Andreea and her ConTempo Quartet colleagues - Bogdan Sofei, Ingrid Nicola and Adrian Mantu - were conferred with the Ordinul Meritul Cultural / Order of Cultural Merit, in the rank of Knight, for their talent and their enrichment of universal culture and for promoting the positive image of Romania in Ireland.

MARCO RAMELLI (guitar)

Born in Milan in Italy, Marco Ramelli is a guitarist, composer, artistic director and lecturer at TU Dublin Conservatoire of Music. He has performed all over the world to great acclaim at major concert halls, including performances at several international music festivals, including the Festival Paganini (Parma), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Big Guitar Weekend in Glasgow, the Aberdeen International Festival, the Festival Castello Sforzesco (Milano), the Veria Festival (Greece), the Istanbul Guitar Festival (Turkey) and the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

During his career, he has been awarded various first prizes in important international competitions in Italy, Spain, UK, France and Serbia. As a composer, Marco won the prestigious "World Guitar Composition Competition" and his music is performed by internationally acclaimed soloists. He is regularly invited to give lectures, workshops, and masterclasses at universities worldwide, including the Royal Conservatory of Scotland, the RNCM Manchester, the Hong Kong Symposium, and the Conservatorio Boccherini Lucca.

Marco has recorded on the labels Nimbus Alliance, Brilliant Classics, Pilfink Records, Naxos, and Dynamic Records. In 2018, he released an album with Brilliant Classics featuring the complete solo music by Federico Mompou and Roberto Gerhard. But his dedication to music is not only confined to his performances. He is also Artistic Director of a number of music festivals in Italy and Ireland, including the Festival Corde d'Autunno in Milan and TouchTheSound Project. In 2019, Marco obtained a doctorate in performing arts from the University of St Andrews (UK).

www.marcoramelli.com
www.cellovisionproject.com
www.thegalwaymusicresidency.ie
www.Facebook.com/CelloVisionProject
www.facebook.com/ConTempoQuartet
www.YouTube.com/CelloVisionProject