Horia Mihail

At ten Horia Mihail made his concerto debut in Haydn's D major. Born in Brașov in 1971, he studied there with Stela Drăgulin, then at the National University of Music in Bucharest, and afterwards in the United States with Ian Hobson at the University of Illinois and Anthony di Bonaventura at Boston University, where he went on to teach for three years. He has been solo pianist of the Romanian Radio orchestras and a regular soloist with the Brașov Philharmonic, and has played across Europe, the United States and Asia, from the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 to Kuala Lumpur in 2014. Chamber music runs through the whole career — long partnerships with the violinists Gabriel Croitoru and Liviu Prunaru and with the flautist Ion Bogdan Ștefănescu, and the touring projects Vioara lui George Enescu and Duelul viorilor. His recordings include solo discs of Liszt and Beethoven, a Chopin anniversary album and chamber releases. Constantin Ionescu-Vovu was among his Romanian teachers, and he finished his Illinois degrees in 1995. He came back to Brașov in 2002, joining the Philharmonic and the Romanian Piano Trio with Alexandru Tomescu and Răzvan Suma; the touring work also takes in Pianul Călător, begun in 2011, and in 2025 he joined the piano faculty of the National University of Music in Bucharest.