Alexander Bălănescu

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Alexander Bălănescu 2013

Alexander Balanescu (* 11. June 1954 in Bucharest ) is a Romanian violinist and composer and founder of the avant-garde - String Quartet Balanescu Quartet .

life and work

Artistic training and career

From the age of seven, Bălănescu attended a music school in Bucharest. Because of the anti-Semitic politics in Romania, his family emigrated to Israel in 1969 , where he attended the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem . He then moved to Trinity College of Music in London and from 1975 to 1979 attended the Juilliard School in New York City with Dorothy DeLay , where he took part in masterclasses with Pinchas Zukerman , Itzhak Perlman and others.

In 1979 Bălănescu took over the leadership of the Michael Nyman band and toured with this band worldwide for many years. At the same time he was a member of the Gavin Bryars Ensemble and for four years until 1987 a member of the Arditti Quartet .

The Balanescu Quartet

The Balanescu Quartet at the TFF Rudolstadt, 2013

In 1987 he founded his own ensemble with Clare Connors ( violin ), Bill Hawkes ( viola ) and Caroline Dale ( cello ), which has since formed under the name Balanescu Quartet . In 2013 the quartet consisted of Bălănescu itself, James Shenton (violin), Katie Wilkinson (viola) and Nick Holland (cello).

The ensemble not only published its own works. It also worked on numerous albums by artists from various fields. The spectrum of their collaborations ranges from Carla Bley , David Byrne , Grace Jones , Rabih Abou-Khalil , John Lurie , To Rococo Rot , Hector Zazou and Philip Glass to the Pet Shop Boys and Spiritualized or a homage to the Yellow Magic Orchestra East Meets East from 1997. The ensemble was very successful with an arrangement of pieces by the German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk on the album Possessed from 1992.

Film music and theater

Bălănescu composes - mostly for the Balanescu Quartet - film and theater music as well as music for dance theater . Under his own name he wrote the music for the 1995 film Angels and Insects by Philip Haas. With Michael Nyman, he worked on Peter Greenaway's films The Draftsman's Contract , Women’s Conspiracy and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover With. Phil Mulloy uses Bălănescu's music in many of his animated films .

In the field of dance theater he worked for Pina Bausch and Jochen Ulrich , with whom he performed in 2007 with the Bruckner Orchester Linz at the Landestheater Linz for the piece Lorenzaccio . In 2016, he himself took part in the world premiere production of the choreographic music theater Treibgut at the Ulm Theater as a violinist .

In 2005 the quartet released the album Maria T, a homage to the Romanian singer Maria Tănase - the " Piaf of the East". On their 100th birthday in 2013, the music served as the basis of a project under the same name, which was performed several times at the TFF Rudolstadt 2013 , among others . In addition to the Balanescu Quartet, the percussionist Steve Argüelles and the Austrian artist Klaus Obermaier with his video installations were also involved .

Bălănescu lives in London and is married to violist Katie Wilkinson.

Choice discography

Balanescu Quartet

  • 1992: Possessed
  • 1994: Luminitza
  • 1997: East Meets East
  • 2003: Sarajevo Suite
  • 2005: Maria T
  • 2011: The Island (with Ada Milea )
  • 2012: Cyclorama (composer: Jonathan Goldstein )

Michael Nyman Band

  • 1991: String Quartets 1-3

With other artists

  • 1992: Balanescu Quartet Play Byrne / Moran / Lurie / Torke
  • 1995: Pure Phase (with Spiritualized )
  • 2002: Arabian Waltz (with Rabih Abou-Khalil)

Film music

  • 1995: Angels & Insects
  • 2005: Il Partigiano Johnny

Individual evidence

  1. Theater Ulm ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / theater.ulm.de
  2. Program of the TFF Rudolstadt 2013, p. 44 f.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Bălănescu  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Balanescu Quartet  - collection of images, videos and audio files