The unique combination of vivacious playing, highest technical finesse and lyrical talent makes Mihaela Ursuleasa, the laureate of Clara Haskil Competition , one of the most remarkable young pianists of her generation.

Michaela Ursuelasa was born in Brasov, Romania in 1978. At the age of seven she had already given several public concerts and at eight she made her first recording. Shortly afterwards, she won second prize at the International Piano Competition in Senigallia. Upon the advice of Claudio Abbado, Mihaela Ursuleasa went to study with Prof. Heinz Medjimorec at the Vienna Conservatory. She reaped the fruits of this decision in 1995, when she won the Clara Haskil Competition at the age of only 16. Alongside further study, carefully selected engagements followed: Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto under Claudio Abbado in Vienna, Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor at the International Festival in St. Petersburg, Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor in Hanover and Munich, as well as several recitals in Rome, Frankfurt, Vienna, Davos and at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. In June 1999, she graduated with a diploma cum laude.
Since then, Mihaela Ursuleasa’s concert career has developed at the highest calibre. In recent years she has appeared in various young artists’ series as well as recitals in some of the most important musical capitals of the world, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Cologne Philharmonie, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Zürich Tonhalle and Carnegie Hall in New York. She performed the Ravel Piano Concerto with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by Hugh Wolff and Mozart’s Piano Concerto G major K453 with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra under Kurt Sanderling. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchestra in 1998 playing Mozart’s K271 „Jeunehomme" Piano Concerto and went on her first tour in January 1999 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Meanwhile, Mihaela Ursuleasa has established herself in the musical world as an exceptional talent with great emotional depth. In January 2000 she stepped in at short notice as soloist for the German tour of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Sir Neville Marriner and in March 2003 her next German tour followed with the Gothenburg Symphoniy Orchestra and Neeme Järvi. Highlights of the last two seasons included invitations from the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin with Marek Janowski who invited her to Monte Carlo in April 2004, her debut with the RAI Orchestra Torino, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. During the season 2003/2004 she will play with the Dresden Philharmonic and the Hallé Orchestra. Mihaela Ursuleasa will add Brahms’ first piano concerto to her repertoire and will perform the work in Bremerhaven with Stefan Tetzlaff in January 2004.
Michaela Ursuleasa made her debuts with brilliant success in London in the Harrods International Piano Series at the South Bank Centre. She has also played at the Schubertiade and the Schwetzinger Festspiele. She regularly gives piano recitals in Vienna’s Konzerthaus. In the USA, Mihaela Ursuleasa applies as one of the most interesting young pianists. As well as her work with the Ravel Concerto at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with Hugh Wolff, she has also featured at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with Paavo Järvi and played several recitals in Miami and St. Paul.
In December 2000 the artist was awarded Listener of 2nd Programme Polish Radio Award for the most eminent personality of the 13th Piano Chopin Competition in Warsaw.
A keen chamber musician, she performs frequently with the cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, violinists Mirijam Contzen and Patrizia Kopatchinskaja, as well as the Hugo Wolff Quartet and the Belcea Quartet. In the summer of 2003, she returned to the International Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger, to Lars Vogt’s “Spannungen” festival in Heimbach and to the Marlboro Music Festival in the USA. She was invited to Marlboro again in the summer of 2004 and, for the first time, to the festival of chamber music in Delft/Holland. In January 2204 there were her duet evenings with Patricia Kopatchinskaja at Radio France in Paris. In August 2004 she is going to play at the Salzburger Festspiele.