VASILE MARTINOIU, baritone
editBorn in a family of musicians in Tîrgu Jiu (2nd april 1934), - which is also the native town of Constantin Brâncuşi, the famous Romanian sculptor, - Vasile Martinoiu discovered his vocal soloistic gift since his high-school period, singing with various school-choirs.
Right after finishing his hight-school studies, he became student of the Cornetti Conservatoire in Craiova. Three years later he moved to the Music Academy in Iaşi (Romania), from wich he then graduated in 1958.
In 1959, Vasile Martinoiu made a successful debut at the Musical Theatre in Galaţi as Count di Luna in Il Trovatore.
Due to his outstanding vocal and interpretative qualities as well as to the Grand Prize which he won at the Erkel International Competition in Budapest (Hungary), the Romanian Opera in Bucharest offered the young baritone the opportunity to become a permanent soloist of the top lyrical stage of our country.
His remarkable artistry and vocal technique got a finishing touch during the special studies which he carried out with baritone Carlo Tagliabue in Milano and at the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome between 1967-1968.
His artistic career took an ever higher and richer course on the main opera or concert stages both in the country and abroad, in Europe and overseas, singing for instance numberless times so far at the New York City Opera, Philadelphia Grand Opera, Baltimore Opera or the Kennedy Centre in Washington.
Beside his presence in several international festivals of music, Vasile Martinoiu participated in 12 international canto competitions which brought him as many important prizes:
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• The 1965 GRAND PRIZE at the Erkel Competition in Budapest, Hungary; • The 1966 SECOND PRIZE at the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, Spain; • The 1966 LAUREATE TITLE at the P.I. Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia; • The 1966 SECOND PRIZE at the s’Hertogenbosch International Competition in Holland; • The 1967 FIRST PRIZE for Bulgarian composed lieder, and THIRD PRIZE for canto at the International Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria; • The 1967 SECOND PRIZE at the International Canto Competition in Toulouse, France; • The 1967 SECOND PRIZE at the Francesco Viñas Competition in Barcelona, Spain; • The 1968 SECOND PRIZE at the Voci Verdiane Competition in Busseto, Italy; • The 1968 THIRD PRIZE at the Giuseppe Verdi Competition in Parma, Italy; • The 1968 SECOND PRIZE at the International Competition in Verviers, Belgium; • The 1969 FIRST PRIZE at the Achille Peri Competition at Reggio Emilia, Italy. |
All along his career Vasile Martinoiu made countless tours abroad Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovacia, Thailand, Turkey, U.S.A.
Singing in the company of such great artists as:
Theo Adam, John Alexander, Irina Arkhipova, Carol Bayard, Bianca Berini, Tito del Bianco, Montserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras, Lili Chookasian, Luisa Maria-Cioni, Georgette Cooleman, Joan Diener, Placido Domingo, A. Gulin Dominguez, Juna Fiske, James Fleetwood, Joseph Galiano, Marika P. Galler, Nikolai Ghiuselev, Flaviano Labo, Leonore Lanzilotti, Natale De Lazzari, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Barry Morell, Angelo Mori, Nikola Nikolov, Luigio Ottolini, Claudia Parada, Leo Postrel, William Powers, Aldo Protti, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Will Roy, Luciano Saldari, Beverly Sills, Filippo De Stefano, Sass Sylvia, Gerda Tilman, Richard Tucker, Patricia Wise, Virginia Zeani…..
Under the direction of well known conductors such as:
P.Herman Adler, Jean Bobescu, Anton Coppola, Manno W.Ferrari, Heinz Fricke, Lamberto Gardelli, Anton Guadagno, Robert Hanell, Peter Maag, H. Märzendorfer, Giuseppe Morelli, Carlo Moresco, Asen Neidenow, F. Molinari Pradelli, Argeo Quadri, Julius Rudel, Nello Santi, Kurt Wöss………
With such top Symphony Orchestras as of:
Baltimore, Barcelona (Teatro Lirico), Milano (Conservatoire), Moscow (Philharmonic), Stockholm (Philharmonic), Berlin (Rundfunk), Brussels (Radio), Moscow (Conservatoire), Parma (Teatro Reggio), Sofia (Philharmonic)
Enjoying Radio and T.V. broadcasts in:
Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Dresden, Goerlitz, Leipzig, Pecs, Sofia, Moscow, Warsaw
Opera Repertoire
| Bizet: Carmen-Escamillo
Donizetti: La Favorite- Alfonse,Lucia di Lammermoor-Lord Ashton Giordano, U.: Andrea Chénier-Carlo Gerard Gounod: Faust -Valentin Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci-Tonio, Silvio Mascagni: La Cavaleria Rusticana-Alfio Puccini: Madama Butterfly-Scharpless,La Bohème-Marcello,Tosca-Baron Scarpia Ravel: L’Heure espagnole-Ramiro Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia-Figaro Verdi: Aida-Amonasro, Un Ballo in maschera-Renato, Don Carlo-Rodrigo, La Forza del destino-Don Carlo, Nabucco-Nabucco, Otello-Iago, Rigoletto-Rigoletto, Stiffelio-Stankar, La Traviata-Germont, Il Trovatore-Conte di Luna |
Romanian Opera Parts:
| Enesco: Oedipus-Creon
Lerescu, E.: Ecaterina Teodoroiu-Dobre Petri, N.: Trandafirii Doftanei-Bogdan Trăilescu, C.: Dragoste şi jertfă-Lazăr |
Vocal-symphonic works and lieder (alphabetically) by:
Beethoven, Borodin, Brahms, Donaudi S., Enesco, Fauré, Gluck, Grieg, Haendel, Haydn, Leoncavallo, Massenet, Mendelssohn-B, Mahler, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Respighi O., Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Thomas A., Wolf H.
And Romanian composers: Brediceanu T, Constantinescu P., Drăgoi V.S., Eliade A., Gheciu R., Monţia E.
Press comments:
The New York Times, City Opera, U.S.A.
Martinoiu won their hearts!
“To say the audience fell over backwards for the baritone singing Papa Germont would be telling only half of the story. And to describe Vasile Martinoiu’s voice would require an almost endless list of superlatives – richest, warmest, smoothest, combining a tenorlike Italianate sob with the darkness of a Russian bass. This Romanian singer’s interpretation of the role was traditional and impeccable…The way he used his hands throughout was amazing. During his aria “Di Provenza..” he scolded, coaxed, and pleaded at turns, making complete dramatic sense of an aria that is often so hackneyed in performance..”. Peter Wynne
Sächsisches Tageblatt, Leipzig, Germany
“Höhepunckt dieses Opernabends der eindrucksvollen Stimmen, Vasile Martinoiu has einen schweren Bassbariton von strenger Kraft so dass Vater Germont imponierendes Format, eine in dieser Weise selten erlebte dramatische Intensität erlangte…”
Vecer, Kosice, Czechoslovakia
« … Dans le rôle de Germont, Vasile Martinoiu a remporté un succès extraordinaire. Sa voix est aisée, naturelle, ayant une unité parfaite, avec une grande chaleur et capacité de s’intérieuriser… Son chant est un échantillon de la perfection du belcanto. »
New York Times, City Opera, U.S.A.
“ Rigoletto is one of the sure-fine roles in opera, but that in no way lessened the fine impact V. Martinoiu made.. He has a big voice…, effective by the size and colour he could bring to it, as he sneered at Monterone, snarled at the courtiers, or remembered in anguish the curse put on him.The voice was used for acting, and this contributed more to his portrait of the jester…”
Raymond Ericson
România liberă – Bucharest
“V. Martinoiu – in the complex role of the unhappy jester – succeeded to convincingly blend the warmth of his voice with a highly emotional stage acting.” Doru Popovici
Nea Politia, Athens, Greece
“..but also Vasile Martinoiu as Rodrigo has been admirable from all points of view – voice and stage deportment-, best of all being the death scene…”
Nieuwe Gazet, Mollekens, Holland
“Vasile Martinoiu (Rodrigo): voix bien timbre, d’une belle égalité, aïgu sonore, legato chaleureux. L’expression également était excellente et la compréhension du personnage, sobre et virile.” Olivier
Tasvir, Ankara, Turkey
« Martinoiu as Rigoletto is able to render Verdi’s dramatic music not only by means of his voice but also by his spirit, expressing intensely the action. »
Il Resto del Carlino – Italy
…Il baritono romeno e veramente eccezionale…
..He has a big voice he uses fosr acting in sure-fire roles...” Raymond Ericson, The New York Times
“His baritone voice was flawless...” Martha H. Schoeps, The Sun – Baltimore
“...Martinoiu dió la nota sensacional con sus vibrantes actuaciones...” Manuel R. Dellauder , El Noticiero Universal – Spain