The classical music concert series "Technopolis 20 Classics" return for the new season with three concerts, starting with the Romanian cellist Andrei Ioniță and Russian pianist Igor Andreev, who will perform together in a captivating piano-cello recital on Friday, 19th of September 2025, at 20:00 at the Markideio Theatre in Paphos. Ioniță, the winner of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, is celebrated as one of the most exciting cellists of his generation. Andreev brings his refined artistry and sensitivity to the duo and is also recognized for his creative contributions as an arranger, adding a distinctive voice to their collaboration.
The programme features a rich and expressive selection of works for cello and piano. It opens with the world premiere of the Sonata for Viola/Violin and Piano in D minor by Michail Glinka, which Andreev completed and arranged for cello in 2021—a significant artistic contribution that brings new life to this lesser-known early 19th-century work. The recital continues with Beethoven’s lyrical Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69, a masterpiece known for its balance of intimacy and grandeur. Two romantic miniatures by Alexander Glazunov—Chant du ménestrel and Sérénade espagnole—add charm and expressive flair. The evening concludes with Shostakovich’s emotionally powerful Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, a landmark of the 20th-century repertoire.
Technopolis 20 Classics are back—join us as we begin a new season of chamber music.
Entrance: 25 euro / 10 euro (under 18)
Tickets available online: www.technopolis20.com
Information: 70002420
Supporter: Paphos Municipality
Sponsor: Foto Larko
Hospitality Sponsor: Coral Beach Hotel
A few words about the musicians
ANDREI IONIŢĂ, CELLO
“…a fully individual musical personality…with a sparking technique and the priceless ability to respond to what is going on around him while he is displaying it.”
– The Guardian
The Gold Medal-winner at the 2015 XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, Andrei Ioniță is one of the most admired cellists of his generation, called “one of the most exciting cellists to have emerged for a decade,” by The Times of London. A versatile musician focused on giving gripping, deeply felt performances, Andrei has been recognized for his passionate musicianship and technical finesse. His debut album on Orchid Classics combined a Brett Dean world-premiere with Bach and Kodály, prompting Gramophone to declare him “a cellist of superb skill, musical imagination and a commitment to music of our time.”
Andrei made his U.S. debut in 2017 with recitals in Chicago and Washington, D.C., and gave his New York debut recital in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Previous season highlights include performances with the Chicago Symphony, Gewandhaus Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Münchner Philharmoniker, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, BBC Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He has worked with famous conductors including Herbert Blomstedt, Cristian Macelaru, Sylvain Cambreling, Kent Nagano, Omer Meir Wellber, John Storgårds, Joanna Mallwitz, and Ruth Reinhardt. He has given recitals at Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie, Zurich Tonhalle, LAC Lugano, and L’Auditori in Barcelona, as well as at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier, and Martha Argerich
Festivals. Andrei Ioniță’s exceptional talent makes him a versatile and sought-after performer of chamber music. In his concerts, he joins forces with Martha Argerich, Christian Tetzlaff, Sergei Babayan, and Steven Isserlis, among others.
Highlights of Andrei’s 2024-25 season include performances with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Geoffrey Robson, the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of Ruth Reinhart, and a collaborative trio performance with William Hagen and Anton Nel with Chamber Music in Oklahoma.
Prior to winning the Tchaikovsky Competition, Andrei won First Prize at the Khachaturian International Competition in June 2013, and Second Prize and the Special Prize for his interpretation of a commissioned composition at the International ARD Music Competition. In 2014, he received Second Prize at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in Berlin. He was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2016-18 and was the Symphoniker Hamburg’s artist-in-residence for the 2019-20 season.
Born in Bucharest, Romania in 1994, Andrei Ioniță first became a student of Ani-Marie Paladi and later of Prof. Jens Peter Maintz at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin. Andrei performs on a cello made by Filippo Fasser from Brescia.
IGOR ANDREEV, PIANO
Igor Andreev was born in Kaliningrad (former Soviet Union) and discovered his passion for the piano at the age of 5. After first musical impulses in Kaliningrad received from Vladimir Slobodyan, Igor was promoted at a young age at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg by Prof. Vladimir Suslov. He continued his studies at the University of the Arts in Berne in the class of Prof. Tomasz Herbut, where he devoted himself to the chamber music at the same time.
In 2017, Igor completed his Master Specialized studies at the Bern University of the Arts and received the Tschumi Prize for the best graduate. Since then, he was developing artistically with Konstantin Lifschitz in Lucerne, where Igor is currently working as his assistant, and with Vovka Ashkenazy in Lugano.
As a soloist and chamber musician Igor performs in concert halls throughout the world. He gives concerts as a soloist with symphony orchestras such as Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, L'Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, L'Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, Zakhar Bron Festival Orchester, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Kaliningrad State Symphonic Orchestra, Kaunas Chamber Orchestra and others.
Igor was a participant of programs of the Rotary club and Lions club of Germany and different projects of Gartow-Foundation. He was supported by the Foundation "Russian Performing Arts", a Federal scholarship of the Swiss Confederation, a scholarship from the Hirschmann Foundation and the Fondation Clavarte. He was also awarded the promotion prize of the Kiefer Hablitzel Foundation and the Rotary Excellence Prize (Lugano).
The list of Igor's successes includes main prizes in the international piano competitions like Liszt Competition in Weimar (2005), Competition of the Rotary clubs in Spain (2009), “3rd Classics in the Streets” Competition in Bad Ragaz (2012), “6. Concours International de Piano de Lyon” (2014), “69. Concours de Genève“ (2014), “9. Hamamatsu International Piano Competition” (2015), “13. UNISA International Piano Competition” (2016), “1. Manhattan International Music Competition" (2016), “4. Baltic International Piano Competition”, “Prix du Piano Bern” (2018), “2. Brescia Classica International Piano Competition” (2018), “4. City Acquaviva delle Fonti” International Piano Competition (2018), “8. Verona International Piano Competition” (2018) and “25. Rina Sala Gallo International Piano Competition” (2018).
In addition to the solo repertoire Igor Andreev pays much attention to chamber music. He is a prize winner of the Sviridov International Competition in St. Petersburg (2005), Shostakovich International Competition in Moscow (2010) and the “Three centuries of classical romances” international competition in St. Petersburg (2012). He expands these multifaceted activities by collaborating with professors like Antonio Meneses, Gertrud Weinmeister and Tianwa Yang as an accompanist at the Bern University of the Arts where he works since 2015. From the autumn semester 2021, Igor is also appointed as an assistant in the piano class of Prof. Tomasz Herbut and as a head of accompaniment and correpetition section of the music department.
Moreover, Igor is constantly interested in historical performance practice and devotes a large part of his art to pianoforte. So, he regularly appears on pianoforte with Gertrud Weinmeister, former solo violist of the Concentus Musicus Vienna under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, for example at the professor’s concert at the Bern Conservatory in 2017 or at the Millstätter Music Weeks 2019 in Austria.
Due to his intense work and aspiration to historically informed interpretation, Igor was invited to prepare the long-awaited Urtext edition and completion of Michail Glinka's sonata for viola/ violin and piano commissioned by "Partitura" publishing house.
Published in February 2021, the work was awarded a grant from the Culture Commission of the City of Bern.
In 2022, together with Thomas Gerber, Igor successfully released his debut CD on NEOS with the world premiere recordings of works for two pianos by Joachim Raff (for his 200th birthday) and Paul Juon (for his 150th birthday). In 2023, another CD was released with premiere recordings of vocal works by Walter Furrer (1902-1978) together with Julia Frischknecht, soprano.
Igor also enjoys working as an event organizer. “He makes Bern a piano city” is how Der Bund and Die Berner Zeitung describe him. In 2019, Igor founded and directed the world's only piano trio festival Piano Trio Fest, in 2022 the Ensemble Sinfonietta Bern and from 2023 a piano series for young pianists at the Zentrum Paul Klee Bern, the Young Piano Series.
www.andreevpiano.com
www.pianotriofest.ch
www.sinfoniettabern.ch
www.bernertrio.ch
www.youngpianoseries.ch
You may also like the following events from Technopolis20 Classics:
Also check out other
Entertainment events in Paphos,
Music events in Paphos,
Arts events in Paphos.
