About

Cristian Fatu, violin
Victoria Fatu, piano

We are a violin and piano duo blending musical and cultural traditions from Russia and Romania. Our mission is to present performances which are filled with energy, generosity of expression, confidence, communication and to connect with our audiences.

Throughout the years we have performed extensively in Europe and Russia, as well as in the United States in some of the most prestigious concert halls and festivals as soloists and as a duo. We have a wide repertoire spanning baroque to present day literature including folkloric music from our native countries. Our debut album titled New Beginnings (Tzigane Music Label) which features masterpieces by Tchaikovsky, Bartok, Khachaturian, Debussy, Liszt and Ravel gained great acclaim and has been played on the radio all over the world.

Please scroll down for individual bios...

--
Victoria Fatu - Martirosyan, piano

Pianist Victoria Fatu has been recognized internationally for performances of deep musical expression, charismatic temperament and sparkling technique. She has scored victories in numerous international competitions and has received multiple grants from major music foundations. In 1998 she won First Prize at the AMSA World Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Cincinnati, a prize that included a solo recital performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In 2001 she was a grant recipient from both the Vladimir Spivakov International Foundation and the Aram Khachaturyan International Scholarship Foundation. She was awarded the Excellence Prize by the President of the Russian Federation in both 2001 and 2002, and in the latter year she also received the "Youth of the Century Award" as Young Classical Musician of the Year. Recent awards include Second Prize at the 2007 Young Concert Artists Competition (New York City), the Sviatoslav Richter Prize at the Vladimir Krainev Competition (Ukraine), Diploma Prize at the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition (Russia), Special Prize at the Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition (Ukraine), Laureate of the World Charity Program "New Names"(Russia) and Winner of the Concerto Aria Competition (Kansas City, Missouri), among others. Currently Victoria holds the position of Adjunct Piano Faculty at West Virginia State University.

Victoria was born in 1984 in Baku, Azerbaijan. She showed an early interest in the arts and she began singing at age three, wrote poetry at age four and started studying piano at age eight at the "Young Talents" Music School in Moscow. The following year she entered the Moscow State Conservatory's Central Special Music School where she studied for nine years under Professor Elena Rikhter. In 1995 at age 10 she performed Mozart's D minor Concerto K. 466 in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with Vladimir Fedoseev conducting the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra. In 2008 she earned a Bachelor's and a Master's degree from the Moscow State Conservatory. In 2010 she was awarded a Graduate Certificate in Piano Performance at the International Center for Music at Park University in Missouri, where studied under the 2002 Van Cliburn Piano Competition Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudentich. In 2013 Victoria earned a Performance Certificate in Piano Performance from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance where she studied under Dr. Robert Weirich.

In addition to her formal studies, Victoria has taken part in master classes with renowned masters such as Vladimir Spivakov, John Lil, Vladimir Krainev, William Grant Nabore, Joanna McGregor, Martino Tirimo and Dang Thai Son among others. She has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Japan, China, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Kuwait, Poland, Romania, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Armenia, Tunisia and the United States. In addition to Spivakov and Fedoseev, Victoria has collaborated with conductors such as Vladimir Ziva, Dmitri Liss, Valeriy Yarmoshkin and Murad Annamammedov, performing with the Moscow Virtuosi, the Russian National Orchestra, the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic and the Yaroslavl Philharmonic, among others.

She has also performed and taught at many prestigious international festivals including the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Gala (France), the Oxford International Piano Festival (UK), the "Russia Engages the World" Festival (USA), the Festival International de Colmar (France), the Russian Seasons in Paris (France) and the International Festival "At Aivazovskiy"(Ukraine). Victoria's concerts and competition appearances have been recorded and mentioned by the worldwide press. She has appeared on television and radio in numerous countries around the world and has been featured in CD and video recordings. Her name name has been added to the "Golden Book of the Russian Federation".

Victoria has also pursued a career as a jazz singer and between 2004 - 2008 she was under Russian Management. Currently, she makes Los Angeles her home together with her three kids. She is also managing her daughter Sophie Fatu's career and  creating viral social media content with over 130 million views worldwide.


--  
Cristian Fatu, violin

Cristian Fatu is recognized as one of today's most exciting young violinists, praised for his virtuosity, technique and bright artistry. He has won prizes at more than twenty-five national and international violin competitions, including First Prize at the 2008 Kingsville International Competitions, the Grand Prize and First Prize at the 2000 "Remember Enescu" International Violin Competition in Romania. He was also a quarterfinalist at the 2012 Queen Elisabeth International Competition, the 2010 Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, the 2009 George Enescu International Violin Competition, the 2006 Premio Paganini International Violin Competition and the 2005 Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition. He has toured and performed at many prestigious festivals around the world including the International Music Academy (Fryeburg, Maine); the International Summer Academy Prague-Wien-Budapest (Austria); and the Kyoto International Music Students Festival (Japan), among others. The Murnauer Tagblatt in Germany praised his "wonderful virtuosity as well as perfect technique".


Born into a family of musicians in 1983, Cristian began studying violin at age four and made his debut at age sixteen in a performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto with the Bucharest's National Radio Chamber Orchestra. Subsequently he appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Romania and the United States, including the Iasi Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. In 2001, the Romanian Union of Musical Critics awarded him its annual "Young Musician Debut" prize. Most recently he has performed with the Charleston Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, NYC and the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC where he premiered a West Virginia Violin Concerto by composer Matt Jackfert.

Throughout his career, Cristian has been afforded multiple opportunities to study and perform under the guidance of great masters such as Gil Shaham, Stefan Gheorghiu, Eric Rosenblith, Shmuel Ashkenasi and Vladimir Spivakov, among others. Following formative studies at the "George Enescu" Music Lyceum in Bucharest, Cristian earned a Bachelor's degree from the National Music University of Bucharest (Romania), a Master's and an Artist Diploma degree from the International Center for Music at Park University (USA) where he studied with Prof. Ben Sayevich.
Chamber music has always been part of Cristian's life and he performs regularly in the Fa2 Violin Piano Duo with the Russian pianist Victoria Fatu who also happens to be his wife. He is a past member of the Park Piano Trio where he served together with the 2009 London International Piano Competition Gold Medalist and Decca Artist Behzod Abduraimov and award winning cellist Serafim Smigelskiy. He has studied chamber music with members of the Accorda String Quartet, the Parker String Quartet and the Borromeo String Quartet, among others. 

Beside his performing career, Cristian is also a passionate violin teacher. Between 2015-2019 he taught violin at West Virginia State University. Previously he served as teaching assistant under Professor Ben Sayevich at Park University between 2006 - 2010, where his responsibilities included teaching applied violin to undergraduate performance major and non-major students. He has also pursued other teaching opportunities such as violin instructor at Saint Paul's Episcopal Day School in Kansas City and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (Michigan). Currently he serves as Violin Instructor at Pierce College, Woodland Hills, CA and does studio work in Los Angeles. 

His critically acclaimed debut recording in the United States titled "From Bucharest to Kansas City"(self-released) was described as "a sort of musical travelogue, telling the story of Fatu's own life-journey" in a review by the Independent of Kansas City. Recent releases include the album New Beginnings (Tzigane Music Label) with pianist Victoria Fatu - Martirosyan and the album Treasures from Home featuring a wide and colorful selection of encore pieces for violin and piano

Cristian is a single father and has three children, Vivienne, Mark and Sophie who at only 5 years of age became the youngest contestant int he history of NBC's America's Got Talent delivering memorable performances of Sinatra's top hits. In his spare time he enjoys photography, literature, high-tech gadgets and cycling.



Popular Posts