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The Romanian bass, George-Emil Crăsnaru, was born in a family of artists. He studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory (the current National University of Music) in Bucharest, having as Professors Petre Ştefanescu Goangă and Aurel Alexandrescu (Class of 1973). The decisive for his artistic career was the private study with the maestro Rina del Monaco, the wife and teacher of the great tenor Mario del Monaco.
George-Emil Crăsnaru started his solo career at George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest. In 1970 he debuted at the Romanian Opera where he worked as a first soloist until 1980. He has won many international competitions including: George Enescu Contest Bucharest 1970 - 1st Prize, J.S. Bach Contest Leipzig 1972 - 2nd Prize, s’Hertogenbosch Competition Holland 1972 - Second Prize of the Canadian Institute of Montreal 1973 and First Prize.
Since 1980 George-Emil Crăsnaru lives in Germany. Between 1980-1987 he was employed at the Wiesbaden State Theater where he created roles such as: Philip in Don Carlo, Landgraf in Tanhauser, Daland in Der fliegende Holländer, Moses by Rossini, Sarastro W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Mefisto in Charles Gounod's Faust and others. From 1987 to 1991 he was the first soloist at the State Theater in Saarbrücken where he played: Baron Ochs of the Der Rosenkavalier, Boris of Lady M., Fasold, Fafner, Wotan, Dame, Hagen of Der Ring des Nibelungen, Barak of the Shadowless Woman and others. From 1992 to 1994 he was soloist at the Oper der Stadt Bonn.
In 1991, George-Emil Crăsnaru debuted at the Milan La Scala Theater in Lady M., a co-production with Paris Bastille Opera under the direction of Myung-Whun Chung. At La Scala he sang in January 1993 in Don Carlo where he played the roles of the Grand Inquisitor and the monk in 10 shows directed by Riccardo Muti and staged by Franco Zeffirelli. In December 1993 he sang the Glagolitic Messa at La Scala directed by Riccardo Chailly. In January 1994 he played the role of Dr. Faust in the opera The Angel of Fire by Prokofiev at the same theater - eight shows under the baton of Master Riccardo Chailly.
In April 1994, George-Emil Crăsnaru received the title of University Professor and teach at the Robert Schumann Music High School in Düsseldorf. He served there until 2010.
During his artistic work George-Emil Crăsnaru played 140 roles from various operas of different styles: Baroque, classic, romantic, contemporary. Also in his vocal-symphonic repertory there are over 200 cantatas and oratories of all styles and countless lieders. Many of the works performed were in the first audition. He sang in opera houses in Hamburg, San Carlo Naples, Zürich, Geman Opera Berlin, Cologne, Bonn, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Bastille Paris, Budapest, and others. He sang at Elisabeth Hall London, Concertgebow Amsterdam, Gulbenchian Lisbon, Symphony in Bamberg, Symphony in Houston-Texas, Symphony in Denver Colorado, Symphony in Montreal and Toronto, Prague Philharmonic as well as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Russia, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Austria, Sweden, Argentina, Chile, Equator, Peru, Venezuela, China, Korea and Japan.
George-Emil Crăsnaru was invited to sing at many international festivals. The most important was the Salzburg Summer Festival in 1975, where under the direction of Herbert von Karajan he sang the role of the Grand Inquisitor in the Don Carlo opera by Verdi. He also sang under the baton of the conductors: Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Lawrence Foster, , Gianluigi Gelmetti, Jiri Kout, Herbert von Karajan, Igor Markevitch, Riccardo Muti, Waclav Neuman and others.
George-Emil Crăsnaru made radio and television recordings in: Buenos Aires, Lima, Caracas, Santiago de Chile, Beijing, Montreal, Lisbon, Berlin, Bucharest, Helsinki, Madrid, Sofia, Tokyo, Warsaw and others. He has many recordings of LP, CD, DVD, engraved in Europe, North America and South, Asia.
For his artistic and pedagogical activity George-Emil Crăsnaru received several distinctions: the Cultural Merit Medal 1969, the Cultural Merit Order, the third grade 1975, the honorary member of the Romanian Union of Music Interpreters and Critics, the Gottlob Frick Medal and the title of member of the 1996 homonym society , the title of Doctor honoris causa of Ovidius University in Constanta 2006. He currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany. |
