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“Her pianism transcends technique and becomes great art”
Sussex Express
“Poetischste Künstlerin”
Süddeutsche Zeitung
“Formidable Interpreter”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Passion, sensitivity and amazing technical control are the words that sum up Luiza Borac’s performance”
BBC Music Awards
“Luiza’s completion of her Enescu series for AVIE - a 2 SA-CD set featuring the two Piano Sonatas and other key works (AV 2081) – established her as the supreme Enescu pianist of our time”
Avie Records
Winner of the BBC Award 2007 for the best solo CD recording of the year, and of more than 30 top prizes and distinctions, Luiza Borac has gained international recognition through her dazzling stage presence, her passionate interpretations and her sovereign technique.
Hailed as “a virtuoso of fantastic brilliance” and "poetic artist" (Süddeutsche Zeitung) by the international press, Luiza held a scholarship of the Chopin Society Hannover to complete her studies at the Hannover Music Academy, graduating both in Hannover and Bucharest with highest degrees.
Luiza Borac performed extensively in Europe and USA where her concerts were broadcasted by major radio/TV stations. She performed solo recitals at the Carnegie Weill Hall, Steinway Hall (New York and London), Cologne Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Athenaeum Bucharest, Puccini Hall Milan, Radio Hall Hamburg, Liederhalle Stuttgart and appeared in festivals including Aldeburgh Music Festival of Music and the Arts, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Oslo Grieg, Prokofiev at the Barbican Centre London, Enescu Bucharest, Chopin Festivals in Vienna and Milan, Bohemian Music Festival, Braunschweiger Classix, Young Artists International Festival Los Angeles.
She has performed as soloist with Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Nations, Bucharest and Cologne Radio Orchestras, Utah Symphony Orchestra and has worked with artists like Vladimir Jurowski, Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu among others.
She has recorded for the Radio Bucharest, Radio Bremen, ambitus, BMG Ariola and Avie Records as well as for many CD, radio and TV productions around Europe and the USA and has taught piano classes at Hannover Academy of Music, chamber music classes at Mozarteum International Summer Academy Salzburg as well as piano classes worldwide.
Luiza played in charity concerts for the homeless and orphan children in Romania. The 1991 UK Tour for the Romanian Relief featuring concerts in the Barbican Centre and Coventry Cathedral as well as the 2001 charity event of the German-Lutheran Church Melanchton Hannover enabled fund raising to be delivered directly in Romania.
Luiza Borac caused a critical stir as she was called at short notice to replace indisposed Sviatoslav Richter during 1991 Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. That same year she was a prize-winner of the Enescu International Piano Festival and was awarded the Romanian Critics Prize with the distinction “Young Artist of the Year”. She won first prizes at the Viotti-Valsesia (Italy) and Mendelssohn International Piano Competitions (Germany) as well as the Silver Medal of Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, the Prix d’Oslo, Grieg Prize and Audience Prize of Grieg International Piano Competition Oslo, as well as the East & West International Prize for a New York Debut Recital at Carnegie Hall, which received exceptional reviews.
Her 2003 recording of George Enescu’s Three Piano Suites for Avie Records of George Enescu’s Three Piano Suites was highly acclaimed throughout the world not only for her wonderfully idiomatic performances (“excellent playing” Gramophone “formidable interpreter” San Francisco Chronicle, “best performance” BBC Music Magazine), but also for the truthful quality of the recorded sound. For the German leading music magazine Fono Forum the recording was the “Star Of The Month” in December 2003 and a hybrid-SACD version was subsequently released about which What Hi-Fi magazine UK said - “Luiza Borac’s take on Enescu’s Piano Suites is a testing mix of rapid-fire notes, an uncluttered acoustic and moments of breathtaking subtlety.”
Her next CD recording for Avie ‘Wanderer’ with works by Schubert and Liszt released in 2005 was described as “impressive mastery” by the Gramophone, “player of much imagination and integrity” Musicweb‚ "mercurial readings and prismatic colours’ by the American Fanfare.
With her next Album, Double CD set George Enescu Vol. 2, Luiza Borac completed the recording of the piano works by George Enescu, a world premiere project. The CD “spectacularly played and recorded” (Los Angeles Times) was featured as Cover Story for the American CD magazine Fanfare and received a special Interview Feature in the German leading magazine Fono Forum.
The Album went on to win the coveted BBC Award 2007 for the best instrumental CD of the year. The BBC Award winning recordings including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic and Glyndebourne Opera were chosen among 1500 CDs by the jury and more than 38 000 public votes. In the Laudatio of the BBC Award the Jury wrote: “With this set Luiza Borac illuminates some extraordinary, richly inventive piano music with subtle but absolute mastery. This is a set to place Enescu among great composers, superbly, idiomatically played, vehemently recommended”."Borac's only substantial rival is Dinu Lipatti in the 3rd Sonata" (Gramophone).
In the same year Luiza Borac received Romania’s leading music magazine Music News Award for her promotion of the Romanian music on the international stage and was invited to perform a complete Enescu recital during the Enescu International Festival in Bucharest in September 2007. The Recital was broadcast Live on Romanian Radio and TV and was featured in the Film Portrait of Luiza, produced by the Romanian TV Cultural.
In July 2009 a new Album of Luiza Borac was launched, featuring the 24 Etudes and the Polish Songs by Chopin, which received a 4 star review in the TIMES for the "subtlety of touch and phrasing, ...recording of caressing depth".
For Luiza, this recital has musical as well as personal significance as it pays tribute to her long-time supporter and producer, the late John Barnes.
September 2009 Luiza Borac performed the World Premiere of the recently discovered composition “Ahnung” by Robert Schumann – the first unknown work by Schumann that has been discovered since the early 20th century.
2009 Luiza was included on the Steinway Wall of Fame, after 10 years of being a Steinway Artist.
In
2010 the latest album FRUEHLINGSGLAUBE (Spring Faith) by Luiza
Borac was released including piano transcriptions by Franz Liszt
and Sergej Rachmaninoff on works by Mozart, Schubert, Kreisler
and Tarrega. The new album is dedicated to the Romanian Charity
Project which supports orphans and
street children of Romania.
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