Luiza Borac, Romanian National Radio Orchestra Bucharest & Horia Andreescu
Biography Luiza Borac, Romanian National Radio Orchestra Bucharest & Horia Andreescu
Luiza Borac
Acclaimed by the international music press as a “virtuoso of astonishing brilliance” , a “thoroughly poetic artist” (Joachim Kaiser, Sueddeutsche Zeitung), and as the first Romanian female pianist to perform in the famous Walt Disney Hall Los Angeles Luiza Borac has established herself as one of the most charismatic artists of her generation.
Based in Germany, Luiza Borac has won over 30 prizes and accolades, including First Prize in the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin and the Viotti-Valsesia International Music Competition in Italy, the Silver Medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, the Debut prize at Carnegie Hall New York, the Prix d’Oslo, the Grieg Prize and the audience prize in the International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition in Oslo.
Her pioneering project to record the piano works of GEORGE ENESCU won the much-sought-after BBC Music Award in 2007 as “superbly, idiomatically played, vehemently recommended” (BBC Music Magazine), while the International Record Review described it as “a benchmark for future interpretations“.
Luiza Borac regularly performs in Europe and the USA. She has given concerts at the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Konserthus in Stockholm, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Oslo Music Festival and London’s Barbican Centre, and she has worked with such artists as Vladimir Jurowski, Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu.
Luiza Borac has been celebrated as “a dream of a pianist” (Rondo), a 'formidable interpreter' (San Francisco Chronicle), “a worthy ambassador for a genius” (Music & Vision) and a pianist of “subtle but absolute mastery” (BBC Music Magazine). Gramophone has commented that “Borac’s only substantial rival is Dinu Lipatti in the Third Sonata” and Hi-Fi has noted that “Luiza Borac creates an extraordinary sense of identification with the music ... a revelation”. The music journal Fono Forum made this recording its “Star of the Month”.
Luiza Borac works closely with various internationally recognised charities. Such projects include Music In Our Schools, run by the Bachauer Foundation, the MENORAH project for the Jewish victims of Schaumburg-Lippe in North Germany and a Romanian charity that supports orphans and street children in the artist’s native country. The UNESCO city of Albi has awarded her the honorific title of “Ambassadrice de la Cité épiscopale” and also its medal of honour in recognition of her involvement in PolioPlus, an international project run by Rotary with the aim of eradicating polio.
Her double CD release, featuring compositions by the legendary pianist Dinu Lipatti, forms part of her collaboration with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and includes the first ever recordings of several works. This release received a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine and, with the highest possible score of 18 stars, was rated best CD in the bimonthly publication Piano News.
In 2014 Luiza Borac attained her doctorate following research into the piano works of George Enescu and she graduated in musicology from the National University of Music in Bucharest with the highest distinction summa cum laude.
In 2016 Luiza dedicated a number of commemorative concerts in Germany and Switzerland to the memory of the legendary Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest world pianist and Holocaust survivor who died in London at the age of 110. Luiza met Alice Herz-Sommer in London during her recording of the 24 Chopin Etudes.
2017 Luiza Borac toured Germany, Holland, Romania, Switzerland and Italy in a series of 30 concerts dedicated to the memory of her compatriot pianist and composer Dinu Lipatti on his 100 aniversary. The concerts received highest praise in the international press.
In June 2017 Luiza was awarded the Paul Harris Honorary Medal of The Rotary Club in Cuxhaven in recognition for her dedication to the humanitary cause End Polio Now.
