Rusanda Panfili is a Moldovan-Romanian violinist, actress, dancer,
singer, teacher, and arranger born (in Chisinau, Moldova – Chisinau is about 80
miles Northwest of Odessa, Ukraine) on November 1, 1988. She is known for her extreme versatility and
ease in performing in very different styles (genres) and for being one of very
few contemporary violinists who arrange music for their own performance and
their own style. Many violinists from
the past (to name a few: Cesar Thomson, Eugene Ormandy, Maud Powell, Paul
Kochanski, Arthur Hartmann, Elias Breeskin, Nathan Milstein, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha
Heifetz) used to do just that but the current generation has forgotten that
tradition. An indication of her diverse
interests in music can be understood by knowing that she has collaborated with
artists ranging from Aleksey Igudesman to Vadim Repin and everyone in
between. Panfili is also one of very (very)
few living violinists fluent in five languages – German, Russian, English,
Romanian, and Spanish. Panfili began her
violin studies with her mother at age 3 in Bucharest, Romania, where her family
had relocated after living in Moldova for a number of years. Though there were quite a few teachers
involved in her early training (at the George Enescu Music School in Bucharest),
her mother (who had studied violin but was not a professional violinist) remained
her main tutor and inspiration. At age
11, Panfili began studying in Vienna, Austria at the well-known Vienna
Conservatory with Alexander Arenkow, a pupil of David Oistrach. (None other than Dimitri Shostakovich worked
with Arenkow on his late string quartets - Arenkow was the leader of the Glinka
String Quartet.) Three years later, she
transferred to the University of Music and Performing Arts (in the same city)
to begin studying with Christian Altenburger.
She was 14 years old. By that
time, Panfili had already made her professional debut, at age 12. She had also already won a major violin
competition in Italy, at age 10, the age at which it can be said she began her
professional life. By her late teens,
she had already toured Europe, Russia, Japan, and Latin America. She has stated that she likes uniqueness – if
you see one of her YouTube videos, you will understand perfectly what that
means. Among the works in her extensive repertoire
is Piazolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a work full of extraordinary
difficulties for the soloist as well as the orchestra. Here is one of many YouTube videos with
Panfili in a performance of Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs. In addition to her solo career, Panfili leads
a group of musicians known as Panfili and Friends which has its own schedule of
concerts. Panfili’s violin is one
constructed (in 1927) by the French maker Rene Cunne (better known as Renato
Conni.) The photo is courtesy of StefanPanfili, photographer of (mostly) European Artists and Musicians.
