Biography 2023-24

“irresistible” -The Boston Globe

“…a gigantic spitfire of a player.  She tears into the most difficult passages with relish and pristine execution.

Even the most mundane passages bristle with excitement in her hands.” -TheaterJones.com

“Four Strings Around the World”

“On all levels, a very impressive release.  -Limelight–Australia’s Classical Music and Arts Magazine

“…quite stunning… …one of the best solo CDs I’ve heard.” -The Whole Note

Romanian-born violinist Irina Muresanu is equally in demand on both sides of the Atlantic, as she has appeared throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and South Africa. Ms. Muresanu has firmly established herself as a successful recording artist, and her adventurous programming and thematic concepts define her as a soloist and chamber musician.

A laureate and winner of top prizes in several prestigious international violin competitions including the Montreal International, Queen Elisabeth, UNISA International String, Washington International, and the Schadt String Competition, Muresanu achieved international acclaim early on. Muresanu’s awards also include the Presser Music Award, the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association, the Pro Musicis International Award and a New Music USA grant.

Ms. Muresanu’s 2023-24 season includes solo, recital and chamber music appearances in France, Serbia, the Cayman Islands, North Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova, as well as in renowned venues and festivals in the United States. As the recipient of the “Enescu Grant” from the Romanian Cultural Institute, this year she holds a three-months position as Artist-in-Residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Muresanu has recently been awarded the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar award and the Independent Scholarship, Research and Creativity Award from the University of Maryland for her project “Infinite Strings”: the creation of a platform designed to promote violin music by Romanian composers. She is also the recipient of the three-year National Science Foundation and an institutional “Grand Challenges” grant from the University of Maryland for the “Music Education for All through AI and Digital Humanities” research she is conducting at the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, where she has recently been named Affiliate Faculty.

Muresanu's acclaimed solo violin multi-media program “Four Strings Around the World - which celebrates the diversity of music cultures worldwide through works of composers from five continents - continues to steal the limelight. Released as a solo violin CD in 2018 by the Grammy-nominated Sono Luminus label, the CD has been called an "illuminating release" by the Boston Globe. The ever-evolving project includes staple masterpieces for solo violin such as the Bach Chaconne, alongside commissioned new works of Indian composer Shirish Korde and Native American composer Jerod ‘Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. Most recently, Nigerian composer Fred Onovwerosuoke and Iranian composer Sanam Gharacheh have dedicated new works to this project. The program was highlighted in a Virtual Reality collaboration with the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.

An active chamber musician and recitalist, Ms. Muresanu is a member of the Boston Trio and has appeared as guest artist in such festivals and venues as New York City’s Bargemusic, Massachusetts’ Rockport Festival, Maine’s Bay Chambers concert series and Bowdoin Festival, Colorado’s Strings in the Mountains and San Juan Music Festival, Hawaii’s Maui Chamber Music Festival, The Netherland’s Reizend Music Festival, Belgium’s Festival van de Leie, and the Rencontres des Musiciennes Festival in France and the Guadeloupe island.

Ms. Muresanu is an avid performer of new music, having had numerous works written and dedicated to her. Her most recent releases include “Irina Muresanu plays Violeta Dinescu” an album of solo violin works by Violeta Dinescu (September 2023) and “Hybrid, Hints and Hooks” of solo and violin/piano works by Romanian composer Dan Dediu was released in October 2021 on Métier label. Other recent recordings include Thomas Oboe Lee’s Violin Concerto (also dedicated to Ms. Muresanu) on the BMOP label, and works by Elena Ruehr for the Avie Records CD “Lift,” included on Keith Powers’ 13 Best Classical Music Recordings of 2016. She has also recorded the complete William Bolcom sonatas on the Centaur label with pianist Michael Lewin, funded by the Copland Recording Grant, and the Guillaume Lekeu and Alberic Magnard late Romantic Violin and Piano Sonatas with pianist Dana Ciocarlie for the French label AR RE-SE (“singing and soaring…[a] sizzling performance.” Fanfare). Of note among additional recordings is the world premiere recording of Marion Bauer’s Sonata for Violin and Piano  with pianist Virginia Eskin for Albany Records.

Irina Muresanu is Associate Professor in the School of Music and Affiliate Faculty in the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Maryland, and has been on the faculties of Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and in the Harvard and MIT Music Departments. She holds a prestigious Artist Diploma degree and a Doctor in Musical Arts degree from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with the legendary French violinist Michèle Auclair. Muresanu plays an 1849 Giuseppe Rocca violin and an Étienne Pajeot bow.

Website: www.irinamuresanu.com

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