(MUSICIAN) Violinist Sherban Lupu has died, aged 71. He was considered one of the leading Romanian violinists of the last century and a champion of Enescu’s compositions.
Born in Brasov, Romania in 1952, Lupu studied at the Bucharest Conservatory with George Manoliu, going on to study in London at the Guildhall School of Music with Yfrah Neaman. He took lessons and master classes with violinists including Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szering and Nathan Milstein as well as with Norbert Brainin of the Amadeus Quartet and Sandor Vegh.
Lupu enjoyed competition success, including prizes at the Vienna International, Romanian National String Quartet, Jacques Thibaud in Paris, Carl Flesch in London, Royal Society of Arts, and the Park Lane Group competitions. He went on to study with Dorothy DeLay and, at Indiana University, with Josef Gingold and receive chamber music coaching from Menahem Pressler.
He held the position of professor emeritus of violin at the University of Illinois, has been artistic director of the Gubbio Festival in Italy and associate concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera. As a soloist, he performed at The Kennedy Center, Gstaad Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elisabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Berlin Philharmonic Hall and Carnegie Hall. He also performed the Brahms and Tchaikovsky violin concertos in live broadcasts with the BBC Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Northern Israeli Symphony Orchestra.
