Born in Braila, Romania, graduate of the University of Music in Iasi - canto class tutored by professor Visarion Hutu, he made his debut while still an undergraduate as a lied performer and then in 1975, accompanied by the Iasi Philharmonic (in The Seasons by Haydn). In the following year he performed his first opera part (in La Boheme by Puccini at the Iasi Lyrical Theatre). He is a laureate of several national and interna - tional competitions - Iasi (1976), Sofia (1978), Francisco Viñas, (1979), Oostende (1980). He received a scholarship at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome where he practiced with Gino Becchi and another scholarship of the La Scala Theatre in Milan (1980). He was a soloist at the Ia si Opera (1976 - 1982)and a soloist of the National Opera in Bucharest (1982 - 1997). He toured Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, the f or - mer USSR, South and North Korea and Japan. His repertoire includes works by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Mascagni, Bellini, Mozart, Delibes, Saint - Saëns, Bizet, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, R Strauss, as well as Enescu, Nottara, Negrea, Porumbescu, Vieru, Jora, D. Popovici, Trailescu, Bretan and others. To this should be added vocal - symphonic works signed by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Gounod, Mendelssohn - Bartholdy, Liszt, Dvorak, P Constantinescu, D. Popovici and others. He also approached the vocal miniature primarily performing Romanian lieds as well as works by Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Liszt, Loewe, Schumann, Schubert, Mussorgski, Rachmaninov. He has been a professor of canto with the National Music University in Bucharest since 1992. He is a member of several prestigious inter - national juries and a founder of the canto section in the " Darclée " competition in Braila, a competition designed for art college stu - dents as well as young performers. He is an Honorary Citizen of his birth city and a holder of the " George Enescu " Gold Medal (1998), of the Gold Medal - Darclée (1999), of the Musical Critics Award (2001), and is Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit (2004).

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