Two exceptional artists from the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, including the Young Musician of the Year 2014, come to Cluj-Napoca on 20 September 2024.

The Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography, a cultural institution subordinated to the Cluj County Council, will host, on 20 September, from 6 p.m., a concert by violinists Wonji Kim-Ozim and Ziyu He, two exceptional artists from the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, including the Eurovision Young Musician of the Year 2014 (Ziyu He), together with cellist Makcim Fernandez Samodaiev and pianist Monica Florescu, initiators of the Florescu-Fernandez & Friends Chamber Music Season, a reference project for classical music in Romania.

From the programme: Ludwig van Beethoven - String Trio op.9, no.3; Franz Schubert - Notturno in E flat Major op. 148; Gabriel Fauré - Piano Quartet no. 2 in G minor op. 45. Performers: Ziyu He, violin - Mozarteum University of Salzburg; Wonji Kim-Ozim, viola - Mozarteum University of Salzburg; Makcim Fernandez Samodaiev, cello - Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium and Monica Florescu, piano - Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium.

The event is free admission and will take place in the Reduta Hall of the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania, 21 Memorandumului Street, Cluj-Napoca. The number of seats is limited (120), and people wishing to attend are asked to book their place online: bit.ly/xyzconcertcluj. The concert offered by the four artists in Cluj-Napoca is part of the Classics with XYZ Gen. tour, which takes place in four cities and includes, in addition to recitals, a series of masterclasses for young musicians. The project continues in the coming days with new masterclasses, followed by concerts in Sibiu (21-22 September), Miercurea Ciuc (23-24 September) and Brasov (25-26 September). Participation in the masterclasses is free of charge and is based on the completion of an application form and a pre-selection, by 13 September, online: bit.ly/masterclass_xyz

MAKCIM FERNANDEZ SAMODAIEV, a Belgian cellist of Russian-Cuban origin, is also the initiator of the International Masterclass programme for young musicians. He has lived in Sibiu for 9 years, where he founded, together with pianist Monica Florescu, the Florescu-Fernandez&Friends Chamber Music Season, one of the most important classical music projects in Romania. He is a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, Belgium. He has performed in countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Romania, Cuba, Mexico and China. Since 2015 he has been instrumental soloist of the Sibiu State Philharmonic. In addition to his work in the philharmonic, Makcim Fernandez Samodaiev gives chamber music concerts as a guest performer and organiser. In the course of his career he has interacted with musicians such as Renaud Capuçon, Denis Shapovalov, Tomas Kakuska, Alban Berg Quartet, Alexander Ivashkin, Mikhail Kugel, Mark Drobinsky, Natalia Pavlutskaja, Lluis Claret, Torleiff Teiden, Philippe Herreweghe, Mikhail Bezverkniy and has collaborated with recognised conductors such as Ovidiu Bălan, Valentin Doni, Ilarion Ionescu-Galați, Victor del Torro, Valentin Uryupin, Werner Gabor and Alexandre Myrat. Since 2017 she has been collaborating with the Sibiu Ballet Theatre where, together with choreographer Aleisha Gardner, she has created original contemporary ballet performances such as "Peer Gynt" (2017) with music by Alfred Schnittke, Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as her own arrangements and compositions (2017), and in 2018, the centenary year, she created a second original production entitled "Fragile", based on the music of George Enescu.

ZIYU HE began studying the violin at the age of five in his native China. At 25, he is already one of the youngest soloists ever to perform with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He was 18 when he made his debut with this world-class orchestra under the baton of conductor Adam Fischer at the Musikverein in 2017. In the previous year, the young violinist had won both the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition in London, and in 2014 he was named Eurovision Young Musician of the Year. Ziyu He uses a violin made by Andrea Guarneri in 1688 and a Giuseppe Guadagnini violin dated 1797, two precious instruments made available to him by private sponsors, in his concerts. WONJI KIM-OZIM was born in Seoul, South Korea. She is currently a lecturer at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, where she has been teaching her own violin class since 2003. Until then, he taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna and the Hochschule für Musik in Bern as assistant to Prof Igor Ozim. His teaching portfolio also includes the University of Arts in Graz and the Gustav Mahler Private University, with whom he collaborated as an associate professor. WONJI KIM-OZIM is the laureate of several national competitions and winner of the Migros Cooperative Federation Award. She has performed as a soloist with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Fedosejev, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra conducted by Howard Griffiths, the National Chamber Orchestra of Hungary, the German Chamber Academy Neuss, the Slovenian Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, WONJI KIM-OZIM has performed at festivals such as Herbsttöne Salzburg, Mattseer Diabellisommer, Ljubljana Festival and Thomas Mann Festival in Lithuania, etc.

MONICA FLORESCU Born in Bucharest, the pianist Monica Florescu has a broad trajectory in the field of musical interpretation, known as a concert pianist, but also as a chamber musician, performing concerts all over the world. She debuted on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum at the age of 8, as a winner of national competitions. A graduate of two music universities (in Bucharest and in Antwerp, Belgium), she has performed over the years in several countries such as Belgium, Romania and Mexico. She is the laureate of several international competitions including the Lorry Wallfish International Competition and the George Enescu Prize for the best interpretation of a work by G. Enescu, as well as the "Remember Enescu" Prize in the "Mihail Jora" Competition. She is finalist of the Maria Canals 55th International Competition in Barcelona. Between 2012-2014 she is invited to Mexico as a member of international juries for piano and chamber music competitions. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Sibiu State Philharmonic Orchestra, as an instrumental soloist. Classics with XYZ Gen. is a project organised by the Florescu - Fernandez & Friends Association, co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN). Partners: the German Forum Sibiu, the Multicultural Centre of Transylvania University of Brasov, the Ciuc Chamber Orchestra Association, the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania, the National Academy of Music "Gheorghe Dima". Media partners: Radio Cluj Details: Cristina Bobe: 0 743 928 328