Distinguished Romanian musician – pianist, organist, and harpsichordist, Nicolae Licareţ was both a recitalist and a chamber musician whose career took him all over Romania and overseas.

Born in 1943 in Bucharest, he had such celebrated teachers as Natalia Iacobescu, Muza Ciomac, Cella Delavrancea and Florica Musicescu. After graduating the Conservatory of Music, he pursued further studies in Weimar while also training with organist Iosif Gerstenengst. Concerts in Munich, Madrid, Barcelona, Leipzig, Vienna, Paris and Bucharest among other renowned cultural centres, and collaborations with famous conductors – Carlo Zecchi, Witold Lutosławski, Jean Martinon, Igor Markevitch and Sergiu Comissiona – brought him international acclaim.

With a wide repertoire featuring staples of Renaissance to contemporary music, Nicolae Licareţ recorded extensively for various labels as well as for the Romanian Radio while critics called him “a virtuoso of the harpsichord”, “an exceptional Baroque music artist” and “a brilliant pianist, attentive to tone quality and dynamic discretion”.

In 1968 Nicolae Licareţ joined the prestigious Bucharest Philharmonic whose Artistic Director he would be for almost half a century, from January 1, 1991 to his death in 2016.

Vice-president of the Solidaritatea Culturală Română ARS XXI Foundation, he was also awarded the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Knight grade, of the French Republic.

Larisa Clempuș