Alexandru Tomescu
One man. One violin. These two components are enough to create a universe. And, when the man is Alexandru Tomescu and the violin is a Stradivarius, what is born is a universe populated by fascinating acoustic creatures shaped out of phonic colour and density, all meant to enthral the audience in the room.
Alexandru Tomescu has proven that he is capable of taming any kind of music, especially after the ‘Paganini – Angel or Demon’ project, which marked a milestone in his career. That was the moment when the violinist transformed his identity, a radical turning point in the path he started on a few years ago, the path towards changing the Romanian public’s current perception of classical music. Indeed, ever since his return to Romania after studying with Tibor Varga in Switzerland and Eduard Schmieder in the USA, Alexandru has sought to prove that classical music is a window towards harmony with oneself and others, a world open to all, that each person deserves to have the chance to explore.
Having built a more than fruitful career in Europe and the world and given a number of successful performances on stages such as the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York or the Metropolitan Arts Centre in Tokyo, under the baton of maestros including Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur or Christoph Eschenbach, Alexandru returned to his home country, where he became involved in organising national classical music tours relying exclusively on private funding. He understood that the key to attracting the masses lies in the unconventional, with a combination of professionalism and innovation, so he became the main player in certain pilot events in the Romanian musical world: he played his Stradivarius in a metro station to prove that there is significant openness towards high-quality music, he played in a forest to fight against the irrational exploitation of trees. He played in front of a house in ruins to stop the destruction of National Heritage buildings. He played to raise funds for the Association of the Visually Impaired in Romania and to provide hearing aids for hearing-impaired children. He is one of the first artists to have made it their clear mission to carry the message of classical music into Romanian towns without a philharmonic orchestra. It only takes his name on a poster for tickets to be sold out days before the event.
Alexandru Tomescu does more than play before his audience – he cultivates an intense dialogue with his listeners, either from the stage, by explaining the pieces he plays, or through the interviews he gives to specialised television and radio channels, among others. Whether it is Radio Romania Music or Radio Guerrilla broadcasting his voice, whether it is Dilema Veche or Viva! magazine printing his words, he explains what it means to be an artist in 21st-century Romania, where he gets his inspiration and why classical music deserves a chance.
The commitment he made on receiving the Elder-Voicu Stradivarius violin in 2007 was to make sure that as many Romanians as possible would become familiar with the sound of that splendid instrument. After a nearly uninterrupted series of concerts in Romania and the world, the names of the violinist and of his violin have become almost perfectly synonymous.
Let us conclude with a relevant quote which, although referring to a particular concert that Alexandru Tomescu gave in New Zealand, can be applied to his entire career: ‘Alexandru Tomescu makes uncommon music out of Paganini’s Caprices, playing up contrasts, letting each phrase live and breathe. I expected a night of champagne bubbles. Tomescu serves up whiskey’. (David Larsen – Metro Magazine, New Zeeland).
