Ionel Ungureanu

Ionel Ungureanu was born into a family of musicians and received his first violin lessons from his parents at the age of four. After his pre-college studies with Marco Rizzi in Mannheim, he earned his bachelor’s degree under Nachum Erlich in Karlsruhe, where he developed in diverse musical areas: he began to compose, played in various types of ensembles, and founded the Balkan/Jazz/New classic band Borsch4Breakfast. This is where his urge for artistic autonomy and his passion for the unconventional found expression – a quest that includes, above all, the combination of classical music, traditional folk music, and improvisation as well as the development of new concert formats. At the same time, he also had his first experiences as a violist in the Erlich Quartet.

Fascinated by the sound of the viola, he moved to Munich to study the instrument with Roland Glassl. In addition to his studies, he received valuable inspiration from master classes with Hartmut Rhode and Nobuko Imai, performed as a section leader in the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, gained an academy position with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, and was awarded scholarships from the Villa Musica Foundation and the German Music Competition. In 2023, he won the third prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work at the ARD Music Competition in the viola category.

He currently performs as principal violist with the MDR Symphony Orchestra and, in addition to Borsch4Breakfast, appears in different chamber music ensembles with outstanding musicians of today and tomorrow. Ungureanu’s music is characterized by a deep dedication to instrumental playing and the determination to question conventions. As a lecturer at the University of Music and Theater Munich, he passes on his experience to the next generation.