Liviu Prunaru
Born in Craiova, Liviu Prunaru began studying the violin at the age of six. Early in his musical training, he won seven national competitions as well as first prize at the Kocian International Competition in Czechoslovakia. Then, in 1990, he was invited by the violinist and maestro Alberto Lysy to study with him at the renowned International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) in Switzerland, where he worked alongside great artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Igor Oistrakh, Ruggiero Ricci, Nikita Magaloff, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Peter-Lukas Graf, and Pierre Amoyal. Prunaru completed his professional studies with Dorothy DeLay in New York, where he also actively participated in master classes with Itzhak Perlman.
The Romanian violinist has earned an international reputation at the world's most prestigious violin competitions: he won the first prize in 1997 at the Dong-A International Violin Competition in Korea, second prize in 1998 at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in the United States, second prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1993, first prize in 1991 at the Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition in Italy, and first prize at the R. Molinari Violin Competition in Switzerland, among others.
He made his New York debut with the Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center after winning the Grand Prize at the Juilliard Mendelssohn Concerto Competition. In 1999, Prunaru won the Grand Prize at the E. Nakamichi Wieniawski Violin Concerto Competition.
Prunaru has been invited to perform as a soloist with leading orchestras around the world: the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Westdeutsche Sinfonia, the Athens Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bari Symphony Orchestra, the Romanian Radio National Orchestra, the Mayo Orchestra of Buenos Aires, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, and the Puchon Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea, among others.
He has collaborated with numerous renowned conductors, including Yehudi Menuhin, Fabio Luisi, Andris Nelsons, Daniele Gatti, Myung-Whun Chung, Emmanuel Krivine, Arthur Arnold, Alexandru Lascae, Georges Octors, Dmitry Liss, Alexander Dmitriev, Peter Oundjian, Yuri Simonov, Andrew Litton, Peter Braschkat, Cristian Mandeal, Lucas Vis, Horia Andreescu, Mario Benzecry, Park Eun Seong, and many others. He has participated in numerous major festivals, including the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad (Switzerland), the George Enescu Festival (Romania), Incontri in Terra di Siena (Italy), the SESC in Brazil, Verbier in Switzerland, and the Salzburg Festival.
In addition, Prunaru has recorded several CDs with the Camerata Lysy, as well as his first solo CD featuring works by Strauss, Brahms, Gluck, de Falla, Saint-Saëns, and Sarasate, alongside pianist Luc Devos, released by Pavane Records. The Swiss label Claves released Saint-Saëns's three violin concertos, recorded with violinist Liviu Prunaru alongside the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and renowned conductor Lawrence Foster. In 2005, three additional recordings were released: the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Beethoven, with Dana Protopopescu on piano, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the Lviv Virtuosi, conducted by Serhiy Burko and Dvořák's Violin Concerto, with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Angus. His most recent recordings include the complete Grieg sonatas as well as the sonatas by Franck and Lekeu, both with Dana Protopopescu.
In September 2006, after 14 years of teaching at the International Menuhin Music Academy, Prunaru became concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, which was named the world's best orchestra in 2008. He held this position for 18 years, playing a Stradivarius violin known as the "Pachoud," made in 1694.
In October 2010, Prunaru reached another significant milestone by accepting a two-year appointment as music director of the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, thereby continuing the tradition of his beloved mentors Yehudi Menuhin and Alberto Lysy.
Prunaru maintains a very active career as a soloist. He frequently receives invitations to perform as a soloist from Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Korea) to the Americas, as well as throughout Europe. At the same time, he gives numerous recitals and records in professional studios almost every year.
Since 2025, he has devoted himself to his work as a soloist and educator, giving national and international masterclasses in Romania, Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, and Korea. He appears every year at the Verbier Festival, where he prepares the Festival Orchestra and works individually with participating students.
He is also invited annually to serve on the jury of highly prestigious international competitions such as the George Enescu Competition, the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, the Prague Spring Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition and more.
His career as a soloist has taken him back to numerous stages in Japan, Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Colombia, Argentina, Bulgaria, Korea as well as in Romania, including an ambitious project to present a different concert every month of the year with the "Moldova" Orchestra of Iași throughout the 2025–2026 season.
His latest initiative, Concertmaestro, brings him back to Romania for a series of solo violin recitals. Now in its second edition, it will be held annually in Romania and abroad.
Prunaru plays on a violin made in 2018 by Samuel Zygmuntowicz, graciously loaned by the board of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
