performers

duo hesperus

Costin Soare – Ioan Bănescu

Costin Soare, one of the most active and acclaimed Romanian musicians, and Ioan Bănescu, one of the most talented guitarists of the young generation, performed together for the first time in August 2020 at Sommerfest Rădăuți. Since 2022, the two guitarists have been performing on various stages under the name Duo HESPERUS: the International Guitar Evenings Festival, Musica Barcensis Festival, Meridian International Festival, the “Iosif Sava” Season of the ACCUMM Foundation (Suțu Palace), the Brașov Philharmonic, the Evangelical Church of St. Margaret in Mediaș, the Tecuci Athenaeum, the Marcel Guguianu Pavilion in Bârlad, the Anglican Church in Bucharest, and many others.

Since their founding, the two musicians have aimed, on the one hand, to explore contemporary repertoire and commission new works for this instrumental ensemble, and on the other hand, to present established works as well as original transcriptions. In the past three years, they have commissioned and premiered works by important Romanian composers of different generations, such as Dan Variu, Andrei Petrache, Alexandru Murariu, George Păiș, Oana Vardianu, and Vlad Ghinea.

Costin Soare

Costin Soare (b. 1978) is one of the most acclaimed and active Romanian artists, successfully combining a distinguished performing career (as guitarist and lutenist) with a teaching career (professor at the National College of Arts “Dinu Lipatti” in Bucharest and associate lecturer, PhD, at the National University of Music Bucharest between 2002 and 2023). He is also the artistic director of the International Guitar Evenings Festival, a highly successful project that brings leading guitarists from around the world to perform in Romania.

With the experience of 12 (inter)national tours (over 80 concerts in Romania and abroad—in Hungary, Denmark, China—both as a soloist and alongside musicians such as flutist Ion Bogdan Ștefănescu, violinist Valentin Șerban, violist Marius Ungureanu, mezzo-soprano Claudia Codreanu, and actress Daniela Nane), 3 solo CDs—his debut album Nocturnes and Dances (2014), followed by Mirrors (2020), and Invisible Cities and Imaginary Beings – Contemporary Romanian Music for Guitar (2021)—as well as a chamber music CD, Twenty Shades of Music (2017, with Ion Bogdan Ștefănescu), and with over 250 concerts performed in Romania and abroad, guitarist Costin Soare is a tireless advocate of classical music through an instrument whose intimate voice and repertoire are deeply appreciated by audiences.

Passionate about contemporary music, he launched a unique project in the Romanian guitar world, entitled Musica…, part of the International Guitar Evenings Festival, aiming to encourage new works for the guitar, an instrument long overlooked by most distinguished Romanian composers. Since the project’s debut in 2012 at the “George Enescu” National Museum, he has performed in 9 recitals, premiering over 25 works written by composers such as Dan Dediu, Carmen Cârneci, Violeta Dinescu, Gabriel Almași, Gabriel Mălăncioiu, Șerban Marcu, Cătălin Ștefănescu-Pătrașcu, Sebastian Androne, and Sebastian Țună.

In 2013 and 2014, he was invited as a teacher at the summer courses of the Sighișoara Academy, alongside distinguished musicians from Romania and abroad. Since 2016, he has been giving masterclasses and concerts every summer for 10 days at the prestigious ICon Arts Transilvania Academy.

Ioan Bănescu

Ioan Bănescu (b. 1998) is a doctoral student at the National University of Music Bucharest and one of the young Romanian guitarists with an intense performing activity, equally passionate about the traditional repertoire of the instrument and contemporary music. In 2020, he was awarded an Erasmus scholarship, which allowed him to study at the “Béla Bartók” Faculty in Szeged, Hungary, with Prof. David Pavlovits. He is also a scholarship recipient of the “Young Talents” program of the Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation.

He has participated in numerous national and international competitions, winning important prizes, among them: First Prize at the King’s Peak International Music Competition (USA), Second Prize at the 10th International Music Competition Belgrade (Serbia), First Prize at the Kitharalogos Scholarship Competition, First Prize at the Les Etoiles de Paris International Festival (France), First Prize at the National Competition “Ada Ulubeanu” organized by the “George Enescu” Foundation, First Prize at the National Competition “Dan Cumpătă” organized by the “George Enescu” Foundation, and First Prize at the George Georgescu International Performance Competition in Tulcea.

He has given solo recitals as well as chamber music concerts in Romania, on important stages such as the “George Enescu” National Museum (Bucharest and Sinaia), Peleș Castle, Thalia Hall in Sibiu, Suțu Palace, and others, as well as abroad (Switzerland and Hungary).

He has also taken part in numerous masterclasses under the guidance of some of the most renowned professors and performers in the world, including Marcin Dylla, Reinbert Evers, András Csáki, Matteo Mela, Lorenzo Micheli, Pablo Márquez, David Pavlovits, Susana Prieto, Alexis Muzurakis, Rémi Jousselme, Carlo Marchione, and Rafael Aguirre.