Renowned Romanian pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa dead at 33
BERLIN — Internationally renowned Romanian pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa has been found dead in her apartment in Vienna. She was 33.
The musician’s agent, Andreea Butucariu, said in a statement Friday that Ms. Ursuleasa died Thursday from the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage and asked for her family’s privacy to be respected. Police in the Austrian capital confirmed the cause of death.
Butucariu told Romanian media that Ms. Ursuleasa had recently canceled two concerts in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on unspecified health grounds.
Ms. Ursuleasa began playing the piano at 5 years old under the guidance of her Gypsy jazz musician father in then-communist Romania. She obtained a grant to study in Vienna at 12, a year after communism collapsed.
She went on to play at New York’s Carnegie Hall, with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester in Berlin, the Orchestre National de France, and
the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Romanian soprano Felicia Filip on Friday reminisced about Ms. Ursuleasa’s debut.
“In my mind’s eye I see the child lost in the immensity of the piano,’’ she told Romanian news agency Mediafax, referring to one of the pianist’s first public performances. “I recall a child who couldn’t reach the piano pedals.’’
Ms. Ursuleasa leaves a 5-year-old daughter.
Butucariu, in a statement released from Berlin, said Ms. Ursuleasa’s funeral will be held next week but provided no details on where she would be buried.
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