Virgil Popa

Virgil Popa

Virgil Popa (born October 8, 1975 in Romania ) is a Romanian-Spanish conductor . He is the founder of the Madrid International Orchestra. His repertoire includes works of classical and contemporary music. He is currently the Artistic Director and Music Director of the Stradivari Symphony Orchestra .

Life

Virgil Popa was born on October 8, 1975 in Romania to a family of amateur musicians. He started playing the piano at the age of eight. At the age of fourteen he took up double bass studies at the Institute for Art Ștefan Luchian , which was reopened shortly after the fall of the dictatorship. At this school he received lessons from the teacher Gigel Sobachi. In 1993 he won first prize at the National Competition of Musical Interpretation Timișoara , Romania. He continued his studies at the George Enescu University of Art and received his PhD in music in the double bass in 1999. He took part in master classes with Klaus Trumpf and Wolfgang Güttler in Berlin and attended international orchestral courses, including in Bayreuth in the International Youth Festival Meeting and in Switzerland in the Jeunesses Musicales by Sornetan .

During his studies he worked with the Moldova Philharmonic Orchestra and was part of the Romanian Opera Isi . In 1999 he joined the Black Sea Philharmonic and then the Constanta Opera . He was part of the Jeunesse Musicales World Orchestra in Berlin under the direction of the conductor Yakov Kreizberg and played with musicians from fifty countries both in the Musikverein Vienna and in the hall of the Berlin Philharmonic . He has lived in Spain since 2001, where he was a permanent employee of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra of the Teatro Real and the Orchester de la Comunidad Valenciana and gave concerts under the direction of the conductors Zubin Mehta , Roberto Abbado , Jesús López Cobos or Omer Meir Wellber and alongside the Soloists Placido Domingo and Angela Gheorghiu gave. He also belonged to two other orchestras: the Orquesta Fialarmonía , with which he appeared on the television program El Conciertazo by the musician and presenter Fernando Argenta, and the Orquesta Académica de Madrid , which was founded by the conductor Iñigo Pírfano .

Virgil Popa studied conducting with Jorma Panula , Konrad von Abel and Enrique García Asensio . From the latter he learned musical phenomenology and the technique of Sergiu Celibidache . He was a guest conductor of the Philharmonic of Sibiu, the Philharmonic of Timisoara and the Joaquin Turina Youth Orchestra. In 2005 he founded the Madrid International Orchestra, with which he performs in Spain.

His highlights as a conductor include the performances of the operas Don Pasquale , La Traviata and La Bohème and the classic ballets La Esmeralda and Giselle . He conducted Miserere by Hilarion Eslava, the Requiem (Mozart) and the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 by Beethoven with great success . Virgil Popa is also committed to contemporary music and has interpreted works by the composer Manuel Lillo Torregroso in Premiere.

He is currently the Artistic Director and Musical Director of the Stradivari Symphony Orchestra based in Madrid. This orchestra has performed Mozart's Requiem in San Jerónimo El Real 1 , the Basílica San Francisco El Grande , the Cathedral of Burgos and the Old Cathedral of Salamanca .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ La Opinión de Zamora: "Ojalá podamos volver para montar la ópera Carmen" - La Opinión de Zamora. In: www.laopiniondezamora.es. Retrieved June 2, 2016 . 
2. ↑ 20minutes: La Orquesta Internacional de Madrid actúa en el Auditorio 'El Batel' de Cartagena con un programa de clásicos - 20minutos.es. In: 20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias. Retrieved June 2, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Interviu cu Virgil Popa, dirijorul “Stradivari Symphony Orchestra” din Madrid care pe 22 to 23 decembrie va susţine “Concertului Extraordinar de Anul Nou” din capitala Spaniei. In: Romania Expres. December 17, 2014, accessed June 2, 2016 (ro-RO). 
4. ^ The World Orchestra - The World Orchestra. In: www.theworldorchestra.org. Retrieved June 2, 2016 . 
5. ↑ FILARMONICA DE STAT SIBIU - Detaliu eveniment. (No longer available online.) In: www.filarmonicasibiu.ro. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016 ; accessed on June 2, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Irene Feito: JOT 2015-16. ¡Ampliación de plazas! Con Virgil Popa. September 30, 2015, accessed June 2, 2016 . 
7. ↑ 20minutes: La Orquesta Internacional de Madrid actúa en el Auditorio 'El Batel' de Cartagena con un programa de clásicos - 20minutos.es. In: 20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias. Retrieved June 2, 2016 . 
8. ^ Antonio M. Ocaña Serrano: 3 de enero: Gran Concierto de Año Nuevo. In: martos.es. Retrieved June 2, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Martes 26 de enero de 2016. In: iVoox. Retrieved June 2, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Noticias | Congreso de fotografía, pintura y escultura | Art Open House Salamanca. (No longer available online.) In: www.artopenhouse.es. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016 ; accessed on June 2, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ^ Concierto de Navidad - SIB Cabildo Catedral de Salamanca. (No longer available online.) In: SIB Cabildo Catedral de Salamanca. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016 ; Retrieved June 2, 2016 (European Spanish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.