Trio Andrei
Adrian ANDREI was born on January 19, 1977, in Bucharest and received his first musical instruction from his brothers, who played the guitar. From 1991 to 1995, he attended the “Dinu Lipatti” High School in Bucharest, where he made his first stage appearances and composed his first pieces for guitar. From 1996 to 2001, he pursued his university studies at the “Gheorghe Dima” Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, under the guidance of Professor Constantin Andrei. His encounter with composer Dan Voiculescu was pivotal to his subsequent career.
Together with his brothers, Constantin and Aurelian, he founded a guitar trio in 2000, under the name "Trio Andrei". To date, they have released three CDs that are considered landmark recordings for chamber ensembles of this genre in Romania and beyond. During his graduation exam, he was allowed to perform his first guitar sonata in the Romanian composers section. The year 2002 marked his publishing debut with the release of the volume “Seven Works for Guitar” by the MPC publishing house in Cluj. Between 2001 and 2002, he taught at the “Sigismund Toduţă” Music High School in Cluj, then became a tenured professor in the guitar department at the Art High School in Oradea for the next four years.
In 2006, he emigrated to Canada and worked as a guitar teacher in Quebec at the École de Musique de Témiscouata. There, he had the opportunity to meet his Canadian publisher, who asked him to compose pieces for educational purposes. For 10 months (2007–2008), he taught guitar and music theory at the House of Arts in the United Arab Emirates. He arranged pieces for the school’s orchestra and launched an educational program that allowed beginners to learn in a group setting.
Upon his return to Romania, he became a tenured professor at Music School No. 3 in Bucharest in 2008, and the following year he published a guitar method for Romanian guitarists focused on Romanian tradition.
He is the founder of the Valahia Guitar Association, through which he organizes, as artistic director, the national competitions Treptele Chitarei and Toamna Muzicii Vechi. He has published more than 80 volumes in Romania, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, and the number of his compositions continues to grow. As a performer, he has collaborated with cellist Adrian Naidin, soprano Mihaela Andrei, guitarist Daniel Castravete, and actors Irina Movilă and Marius Bodochi.
It is worth noting that his interpretive mastery is complemented by his skills as a composer and arranger of most of the works performed by the ANDREI Trio.
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Constantin ANDREI was born on June 13, 1966, in Bucharest.
He is a graduate of the "G. Enescu" Academy of Arts in Iași, class of 1995.
He is currently a full professor with a habilitation degree in the guitar department at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca and at its Piatra-Neamţ branch. He has an impressive track record, having participated in various artistic events both in Romania and abroad.
Since 1990, he has served on the jury of prestigious festivals and competitions in Romania and has also been invited to give recitals and master classes in France, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Austria, Spain, Greece, and Georgia. In 2000, he founded the Guitar Ensemble of the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca, a group that has enjoyed widespread and prestigious acclaim from the very beginning and is today one of the most important chamber ensembles on the national and international guitar scene.
He has performed as a soloist under the direction of conductors including Horia Andreescu, Ilarion Ionescu-Galaţi, Petre Sbârcea, Robert Houlihan, Cristian Sandu, Lubnan Baalbaki and Gabriel Bebeşelea. In 2000, he formed the “Andrei Guitar Trio” with his brothers Aurelian and Adrian, giving numerous recitals on the stages of the country’s most important institutions. He is also associated with the establishment of the first National Classical Guitar Festival in Cluj-Napoca (2003), the TRANSILVANIA International Guitar Festival (since 2005), for which he is the artistic director, and the Transilvania Guitar Association (since 2006), of which he has been president since its foundation.
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Aurelian ANDREI was born on March 29, 1970, in Bucharest.
He graduated from the “G. Enescu” Academy of Arts in Iași in 1995, as part of the same graduating class of classical guitar majors alongside his brother Constantin. He currently heads the classical guitar program at the “Dinu Lipatti” National College of Arts in Bucharest. He has collaborated with Ovidius University in Constanța and UNMB, and is also an associate professor at the Iosif Sava Middle School of Arts in Bucharest. He has participated in most editions of the Classical Guitar Festival in Sinaia, winning three awards, the most significant being first place in the chamber music category in 1988, in a duo with Constantin ANDREI.
As part of a duo, he performs recitals with his partner at the following venues: the “M. Jora” Radio Hall in Bucharest, the Radio Halls in Iași and Cluj, the Romanian Athenaeum, and the philharmonic halls in Cluj, Iași, Satu Mare, Botoșani, Craiova, and Piatra-Neamț (as part of the “Musical Vacations” festival), the Bistrița Concert Society, and Corvin Castle in Hunedoara. She has recordings with Radio Bucharest (Cardex) and Romanian Television, as well as a CD recorded as a duo with Constantin Andrei in 1999.
Since 1993, he has participated in master classes led by guitarists Costas Cotsiolis, John W. Duarte, M. Sadanowsky, Claire Stancu-Deleure, and the Champagne-Ardennes Guitar Quartet (France). In 2000, he joined his brothers Constantin and Adrian to form the “Andrei Guitar Trio”, with which he has given numerous recitals and concerts; the trio has also released three highly acclaimed CDs.
He serves on numerous committees responsible for appointing teaching staff in pre-university education and at the National Music Olympiads. He also sits on the juries of prestigious guitar festivals and competitions throughout the country, where he performs recitals and delivers masterclasses. He is accredited by the Ministry of National Education to create music curricula for schools.