One of the emblematic figures of Romanian culture, George Enescu was a composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He is considered the most important Romanian musician.
George (Gheorghe) Enescu was born on August 19, 1881 in Liveni-Vârnav (today the village is named after the musician) in Botoșani County (northern Moldavia) and died on May 4, 1955 in Paris, France, at the age of 73.
Since childhood, he has shown a tremendous inclination for music, playing violin at age four, and at the age of five he participated in his first concert and began composing studies.
Between 1888 and 1894 he studied at the Conservatory in Vienna, taking both violin and composition classes. He was widely acclaimed by the public as well as by the press in his concerts in Vienna, although he was only 12 years old.
After graduating the Vienna Conservatory with a silver medal, George Enescu continued his studies at the Conservatory in Paris between 1895 and 1899.
On February 6, 1898, during a concert held in Paris, George Enescu debuted as a composer when his Romanian Poema symphony suite was performed in first audition. The composer was only 17 years old and the composition was written a year earlier.
From the first years of the XXth century dates its most famous compositions, of which we now recall Rhapsody Romanian no. 1 in A major (1901), Rhapsody Romanian no. 2 in D major (1902), Suite No. 1 for orchestra op. 9 (1903) and Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, op. 13 (1905).
A rather busy period followed, when his musical activity was manifest in Bucharest and Paris, but also in tours in other European capitals where he performed in concerts.
In 1913 George Enescu composed the Symphony no. 2 in A major op. 17, and in 1915 the Orchestra Suite no. 2.
