Soare Costin

Born in Romania in 1978, Costin Soare is one of the most active and committed guitarists of his generation. He gives solo recitals and chamber music recitals throughout Romania as well as abroad in France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Japan. He also teaches at two of the main music institutions in Bucharest. He works as a full-time teacher at the ‘Dinu Lipatti’ National College of Music, Bucharest and he is associate teacher at the National University of Music in Bucharest (Performance section – 2002-2006, 2008-2009 and present; Chamber Music – 2002-2006).

Costin Soare started playing guitar at the age of 15, graduating from the Brasov Faculty of Music (Transilvania University) with a diploma in Music Performance and Teaching (in the class of Corneliu Voicescu). Soon after, he was awarded a full scholarship for a Master in Music Performance at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he studied with Phillip Thorne and Allan Neave. During those years, he took part in masterclasses with renowned guitarists like Joaquin Cleerch, David Tanenbaum, Harvey Hope, Carlos Bonnell, Pablo Marquez, Zoran Dukic and Paolo Pegoraro; he won prizes in the National College and University Contests and in Craiova International Competition held in Romania. His Ph. D. work with the dissertation entitled ‘The Sonata for Guitar in 1920-1950 period – The Neoromantic Generation’ was awarded ‘Magna cum Laudae’ in June 2011, showing his interest in theoretical research.

He is the co-organizer of the Guitar Evenings in Bucharest, a project started in 2008-2009 season of the ACCUMM Foundation series of concerts held in Sutu Palace. So far the project run around 10 concerts, either solos or chamber music, involving special guests.

Costin himself performs regularly in two chamber music ensembles: with the flute player Ion Bogdan Stefanescu (since 2008) and with the mezzosoprano Claudia Codreanu (since 2010), covering a repertoire ranging from John Dowland (played on the lute) to contemporary music. He also appears occasionally in other ensembles: guitar duo, violin-guitar duo or guitar with string quartet. He was a co-director and performer in the play inspired by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s work for narrator and guitar ‘Platero y yo’, staged in Bucharest, Baia-Mare and Sighisoara by Petru Maier Bianu. His programs can be defined by a thematic concept – such as recitals dedicated to Leo Brouwer, Toru Takemitsu (solo guitar and flute-guitar), ‘A Spanish Evening’ (solo guitar and voice-guitar), ‘Musica Nocturna’ (nocturnals for solo guitar from the 20th century), ‘Italian 100%’ (flute and guitar) – or by the historical approach to the instrument conceived as a live performance of the music from the various eras (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical etc.)