Events

Leonor Leal (dance) and Andrei Kivu (cello)

The Cervantes Institute in Bucharest organizes, in collaboration with the I.L. Caragiale National Theatre, on February 13th, 2019 from 8.00 p.m. in the NTB Painting Hall, a recital for cello and flamenco dance. Its protagonists are the dancer Leonor Leal (for the third time in Romania), along with cellist Andrei Kivu.

The show is a very daring cross-over experience, born out of the passion of the two artists for Bach's music, but not only, as the programme shall also feature transcripts from works by Claude Debussy and Gaspar Cassado.

Tickets can be purchased online or from the IL Caragiale National Theatre box office.

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Leonor Leal (Jérez de la Frontera, Spain) is a dancer who has been studying classical and Spanish dancing and then flamenco, being asked to dance in renowned companies such as Masters Antonio El Pipa Andrés Marín, Javier Barón or Cristina Hoyos, among others. Over time, the passion for flamenco dancing and her constant training in this genre made her name appear alongside great artists such as Joaquín Grilo, Antonio Canales, Rafael Campallo, Alejandro Granados, pianists Mie Matsumura, Dorantes, Rosa Torres Pardo or Camerata Flamenco Proyect, guitarist Jose Antonio Ruiz or Rafael Bonavita (baroque guitar).

The premiere of her first solo show, "Leoleolé", took place in 2008 at the Jerez Festival, where she was extremely well received by flamenco criticism, both national and international. Starting from 2008, she combines both the work as dance teacher and the one as soloist and creative choreographer. In 2011, with the second show, "eLe eLe", she is granted the award for Best Artist - Revelation at the Jerez Festival, a show that tours Germany next year at the Dusseldorf festival, in Luxembourg, in different cities in Belgium and the Netherlands. Also in 2012, the premiere of the "Mosaicos" show takes place in the famous Cánovas Theater in Málaga and she tours with it in France (Paris), United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan.

At the Sevilla Biennial, 2012, she presents a "La mujer Habitada" street dance piece directed by Víctor Zambrano, with whom she pursues the creation process until the 2013 Jerez Festival, featuring the show "Naranja Amarga." In order to enrich her stylistic range, she creates various short, experimental pieces such as "El verbo en tu Boca" (premiere at the Sevilla Biennial in 2014), "Frágil" - Dusseldorf Festival 2015, and Vídeodanzas, created in collaboration with video artist Félix Vázquez. Also in 2015, she presents the JRT performance in collaboration with the dancers Ursula and Tamara López, directed by Pedro G. Romero, which premiered in February 2016 at Jerez de la Frontera and develops the play "Frágil" which she presents at the Dusseldorf Festival in the company Michio, Maura Morales and Ana Lessing Mengibar. In 2018, she presented the show "Nocturno" with the dancer María Muñoz and the musicians Antonio Moreno (percussion) and Alfredo Lagos (guitar).

She participates annually, either as a guest professor or as a soloist at International Flamenco Festivals such as the Ibérica Contemporánea Festival at Querétaro, the Berlin Festival, private dance centers in Frankfurt, Fribourg, Rome, Bologna, France or Russia. She completes her artistic career with university studies on Visual Practice and Visual Culture in the Master's offered by the Reina Sofia Museum.

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Cellist Andrei Kivu was born on July 26th, 1970 in Bucharest. He studied cello with Anca Vartolomei in Bucharest, musical analysis with Aurel Stroe, phenomenology with Iancu Dumitrescu and harmonic singing with David Hykes in New York, Paris and Bucharest. He performed as a soloist accompanied by the Royal Orchestra of Wallonia (Mons, Belgium) New York University Orchestra, Romanian Radio Orchestra, Radio Romania Chamber Orchestra, Philarmonia Orchestra, Musicales Francaises Orchestra Traditions, New Music Orchestra in Katowice and many others.

His concerts were broadcast live on numerous radio and television stations worldwide: ABC Australia, Radio France, Radio Suisse Romande, ORF, TVR, Radio Romania ...

He was invited to teach on numerous occasions at the New York University, the Givat Ram Music Academy in Jerusalem, the University of Minnesota, Cal Arts, the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, the Université de Montreal and the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.

Throughout her career, she has received many awards and distinctions, including the „2003 International New Music Consortium Award for Outstanding Activities as a Performer, Teacher and Researcher on the New Music”, and the “Uchimura 2002” Prize awarded by UNESCO.

Andrei Kivu is the first Romanian cellist to perform the Bach Suite Integral in a single concert (Paris, 2009), the only cellist who made and sang transcripts for cello after JS Bach Sonatas and Violin Scores by J.S. Bach (Paris, 2017), as well and various other parts for flute, lute or clavecin. He is also the first Romanian cellist invited to perform at the Royal Festival Hall, the Lincoln Center, the Merkin Hall, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Onassis Cultural Centre, Berghain, and at major international festivals such as Wien Modern, Warsaw Autumn, Parramasala (Sydney, Australia), World Music Days (Switzerland), Japan Expo (Paris), SPARK (Minneapolis, USA), CTM Festival for Adventurous Arts (Berlin) and Sacrum Profanum (Cracow, Poland).

His current repertoire (solo and piano accompaniment) includes more than 30 hours of music, with a wide variety of stylistics: from Bach Suites to contemporary, avant-garde and experimental music.

He appears as a soloist and / or guest of various ensembles on more than 30 CDs and DVDs with a wide international distribution, among the most honored collaborations being those made with the prestigious Mode Records label (New York) .

Since 2009, he has been living in Paris. Since 2001, he is a member of the International School of Ki, and since 2007 he is a member of the Harmonic Presence Foundation (New York / Paris).

Translated by Simona Nichiteanu