Born: May 5, 1955 - Roman, Romania
Died: April 29, 2004 - Reggio Emilia, Italy

The Romanian conductor and cellist, Emil Klein, began to the study of the violoncello when he was four years old under the guidance of his father. He followed with studies at the Liceo di Musica di Iasi (Romania) and then began at the Conservatorio "Ciprian Porumbescu" in Bucharest. In 1978 he moved to Hamburg in Germany, where he finished his studies, graduating himself with the maximum marks with maestro David Geringas, of whom he became assistant from 1985 to 1988. They play together in the "Geringas Baryton Trio". He was a member of the trio "Lipatti" and the quartet "Sonare" in Frankfurt. The critics gave the quartet 1^st Prize for their recording of complete works of Ernst Krenek for quartet.

Emil Klein's career as a soloist opened for him the door to play with the most prestigious symphonic orchestras (Berlin, Vienna, London, Philadelphia, Great Canarian, Magdeburg, Bucharest, etc), in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Africa, in most renowned concert halls around the world. He participated for several years (from 1993 to 1996) as a teacher of violoncello and chamber music in courses of the Accademia Internazionale Estiva di Cervo (IM).

In 1995 Emil Klein founded in Hamburg the chamber orchestra Hamburger Solisten, then toured with them around the world, as conductor and soloist. The orchestra still works, under the direction of the cellist Boris Matchin. The orchestra has recorded over 80 CD's with wide-ranging repertoire, from Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Donizetti, Boccherini, to Paul Hindemith and Ernst Krenek. Prize of the critics in Germany was given to them for recording "Vivaldi - The Four Seasons".

A serious disease hit Emil Klein in 1998 and in spite of several surgeries he continued his participation in series of concerts. The last one, on March 11, 2004 in Brescia, with impressive performance of the Cello Concerto by Friedrich Gulda. Only a month later, his brilliant but short career came to an end, when he was only 49.

Source: Wikipedia; English translation by Aryeh Oron (December 2005)
Contributed by: Olga Klein (December 2005)

Emil Klein: Short Biography | Hamburger Solisten | Recordings

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Emil Klein (Wikipedia) [Italian]

Emil Klein (Wikipedia) [Rumanian]

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