Ioana Balasa
Born in 1989, the Romanian flutist Ioana Bălaşa is currently a member of the “George Enescu” Bucharest Philharmonic. Previously she held the flute position at the “Mihail Jora” Bacău Philharmonic.
As a Principal Flute player she has worked with important conductors including Alexandre Bloch, John Axelrod, Leo Hussein, Cristian Măcelaru and with leading Romanian orchestras as the “Romanian Youth Orchestra” and the “Romanian Royal Camerata”.
Beside the work she has been part of in Romania, she had been invited by maestro Gustav Kuhn to play with Tiroler Festpiele Erl Orchestra in 2016.
She commenced her musical studies in her hometown at the age of 8 and in 2012 she graduated with Bachelor’s Degree the Bucharest National University of Music. During her studies, she has been for one year an Erasmus student at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg under the guidance of Mario Caroli. In the pursuit of developing her flute performance, she attended masterclasses with renowned flutists including Kersten McCall, Walter Auer, Jean-Claude Gerard, Michael Kofler, Erwin Klambauer and many others. Since 2018 she holds a Master Degree in Chamber Music at the Bucharest National Univerity of Music.
Ioana Balaşa has appeared as a soloist from the age of 15 with the “Mihail Jora” Bacău Philharmonic. As a chamber music player she performs in places like the Romanian Atheneum, Suțu Pallace, “Dinu Lipatti” House, “George Enescu” Museum and she is open to new experiences and musical encounters. More recently she is collaborating with Laurențiu Sima on tuba, with whom she founded “Limite” Ensemble, where she plays the piccolo-flute.