Ana Diaconu has graduated in both Law and Musicology, the latter under PhD. Prof. Valentina Sandu-Dediu’s tutelage at the National University of Music Bucharest. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the same institution with a research focusing on The Romanian Diaspora Composers in France in the Second Half of the 20th Century. During the academic year of 2016-2017 she has studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris through an Erasmus scholarship. Throughout her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees studies, Ana has authored the programme notes for The Romanian Radio Orchestras and Choirs’ concerts and has worked as an editor and radio host at Radio România Muzical. Starting with the 2017 edition, she is the program editor of the George Enescu International Festival and Competition and she currently works at the Research, Innovation and Information Unit (National University of Music Bucharest).

Costin Filipoiu, born in 1979 in Bucharest, began his piano studies with Liana Lungu. Between 1998 and 2003 he trained at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Martin Hughes and Rainer Becker. Pursuing further studies at the Musikhochschule in Lübeck with Konstanze Eickhorst (2003-2007), he was awarded a special prize in the 2005 European Piano Contest Bremen. In 2019, Costin Filipoiu received a doctorate in music from the National University of Music Bucharest (UNMB). Since 1993, his mentor is Professor Dinu Ciocan (UNMB), with whom he studies musical performance and analysis. As orchestral soloist he played with the George Enescu (Bucharest) and Mihail Jora (Bacău) Philharmonics and with the National Radio Orchestra from Bucharest. As a recitalist he performed in Bucharest, Berlin, Namedy. In 2009, Costin Filipoiu was appointed Associate Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg.

Mihai Măniceanu (b. 1976) is associate professor at the National University of Music Bucharest, where he also studied piano (1995-2000) with Viniciu Moroianu and composition (2000-2005) with Dan Dediu. In 2011, he completed his doctorate in music with summa cum laude. He received an Erasmus scholarship at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre, Leipzig (2003-2004), and UNMB scholarships at Musikfest, Hamburg (2001), Junger Künstler Festival-Filmmusik, Bayreuth (2002), Internationale Sommerakademie, Murzzüschlag (2007), Metric – Free Improvisation Programme, Tallinn (2016). He was awarded with the First Prize at Icon Arts Competition (2003), Romanian Academy Prize (for the work Sus, 2011), and with four prizes of the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists. His compositions have been played by George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, National Radio Orchestra, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy University Orchestra, Profil, Propuls, opus.art, devotioModerna, Swinepearl and Traiect ensembles, Accoustic and I. C. Danielescu choirs.

Mihai Murariu (b. 1984) has studied piano at the George Enescu Music Highschool in Bucharest. In 2003, he started studying composition at the National University of Music Bucharest, with Dan Dediu, Doina Rotaru, Octavian Nemescu, Nicolae Coman and Dan Buciu. Since then he has won several prizes at national and international competitions and his works have been performed in some of the most important festivals in Romania (International New Music Week, Meridian, IconArts) and on many other stages, including abroad (Rome, Helsinki, Vienna, Belgrade etc.). He has also collaborated with several of the most important orchestras and art institutions in the country (George Enescu Philharmonic, National Radio Orchestra, National Radio Chamber Orchestra, Bucharest National Opera, Bucharest National Theatre). Mihai Murariu is currently a lecturer at the National University of Music Bucharest, and since 2012, he is an organist at the St. Joseph Roman Catholic Cathedral in Bucharest.

Dan Racoveanu is associate professor at the National University of Music Bucharest where he teaches Organ, Basso continuo and Baroque stylistics. After graduating organ and orchestra conducting at the same university, he won a postgraduate scholarship at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He participates to masterclasses with famous musicians such as Michael Radulescu, Harald Vogel, Christoph Krummacher, Jesper Christensen, Ludger Lohmann, Helmuth Rilling. In 1992 he sets up the Baroque Ensemble Continuo specialised in baroque performance practice based on historical sources. As organist of the Lutheran Church and conductor of the Martin Luther Choir he organizes concerts regularly. In 2000, he gives the first performance in Romania of Bach’s Neumeister Chorals (discovered 1984), at the Atheneum, and also gives many organ recitals in Germany, Switzerland, France, Finland, Italy, Austria, UK. He received his PhD degree with “Summa cum laude” in 2005 with the thesis Basso continuo – o practică redescoperită [Basso Continuo – a Rediscovered Performance Practice], recently published at Editura UNMB (2019).

Richard Taruskin is a world renowned American musicologist, critic and music historian, Emeritus Professor at the University of California-Berkeley. He developed a particular interest on Russian and Soviet Music during his career, using together politics, music and history, to illustrate the ways in which a national identity can be shaped and represented. In his critical studies on this subject he proposes the understanding of the concept he entitles “the powerful myth of Russia’s national character” through music. A selection of his most important books includes titles such as: Defining Russia Musically: Historical and Hermeneutical Essays (Princeton University Press, 1997), The Oxford History of Western Music (6 vols., Oxford University Press, 2005, 2009; 2nd ed., 5 vols., 2010), On Russian Music (University of California Press, 2009), The Danger of Music: And Other Anti-Utopian Essays (University of California Press, 2009).
Richard Taruskin’s approach, both in terms of critical discourse and performance, is one of the most original of 21st-century musical thought.