Tokyo festival celebrates Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti

Dinu Lipatti – Tokyo Music Festival, an event celebrating the Romanian pianist and composer, is scheduled to take place starting this weekend at the Min-On Cultural Centre in Tokyo.

The event will bring together musicians Ryugo Yoshino, the Japanese-born pianist who will open the event; tenors Liviu Indricău and Andrei Petre; pianist Constantin Sandu; violinist Diana Jipa and pianist Ștefan Doniga; the Pitești Philharmonic String Quartet; FilJazz & Anita Petruescu; and Doina Argeșului Ensemble.

In addition to the music program, the festival covers a documentary exhibition dedicated to the pianist’s life, created with the support of the Dinu Lipatti Memorial House Museum in Fundățeanca, Argeș County.

Born into a family of musicians, Lipatti completed his musical training in Bucharest with Florica Musicescu and later in Paris under Alfred Cortot, Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger. At 15, he received the Paul Ciuntu Prize at the Bucharest Conservatory. In 1932, he won prizes for his compositions (Piano Sonatina and Sonatina for Violin and Piano) as well as the Grand Prize for his symphonic suite Șătrarii / Les Tziganes. In 1933, at the age of 16, he won the second prize at the International Piano Competition in Vienna. That same year, he won the second prize of the George Enescu Composition Competition. In 1934, he won first prize at the same Enescu competition for Șătrarii. In 1942, he was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit, Knight Class II. His final public concert, a recital in Besançon on September 16, 1950, became legendary: weakened by illness, he ended the recital not with the waltz listed in the program, but with Bach’s Jesus bleibet meine Freude.

The festival takes place from October 10 to October 12.