A new star is rising in Romanian music

Andreea Moldovan
“What do I wish for? Good health and good marks at school”

With a very special voice and with a violin which she plays absolutely marvellous, the 15 years old girl from Baia Mare is ready for success.
If you make your debut in pop-dance music at the age of 20 it is said that you’re already old; at 25 you fail and at 30 everybody has already forgotten you. Now “the big battle” is given in the 14-15 years category of age, but unfortunately at this age you cannot steer much controversy and you have little experience.  That’s why it is a very  pleasant surprise to discover that a girl that has the age that we mentioned before can sing clear and fair pop music, but she can also play the violin as if she were Paganini’s grandaughter. She really is in a way… Andreea Moldovan from Baia Mare has a very promising career, for which she has already built a solid base with a lot of hard work and dedication. Attention! a new star is rising  In the Romanian musical universe.
She studies at the Art High School, where she has studied violin since first grade. She started her artistic activity when she was three years old and a little later, her  parents have subscribed her to a musical course led by music teacher Adriana Diaconu, at the Children's Palace in Baia Mare. The Famous children festival “The Golden Bear” held in her home town, gave her the first place for seven editions between 1996 and 2004.  As well as other  children  festivals such as: „Mamaia Copiilor”, „Delfinul de Aur” - Navodari, „Micul Print” - Bucuresti, „Floare de lotus” - Oradea, „Ti Amo” - Onesti,  The National Festival of Music for Children and Youth,” the international festival  „The Golden Star” – Bucuresti, culminating last year  with the first place at the International Festival “Sun Flower” in Serbia.
The violin,the instrument that she studies in school ,brought her many prizes for the virtuosity of her interpretation at all the national competitions (five) at which she  participated until now. She had collaborated for many years with “Teatrul de Revista” in Baia Mare and she had numerous TV appearances, radio recordings and interviews in the local and national newspapers. She sang in the opening of Paula Seling’s concerts  and the recent performance she gave at the telethon “A smile for Asia” with an instrumental song that made a great impression.  She also gave a great performance at Horia Moculescu’s  show “Atentie, se canta!” on TVR2, a channel of the national television, where she interpreted a song with both voice and violin, a song composed by Calin Ionce „Lumina din inima mea”.(The light in my heart). A videoclip will be made for another song of the well known composer from Baia Mare,  (Calin Ionce is a “source” of hits for another  two  artists from Baia Mare: Paula Seling and Narcisa Suciu) will be filmed this summer and her debut album will be lunched in autumn. But there’s no hurry; when you’re only 15 years old you must do the things slowly and not in a hurry as you would be tempted at this age.
 “It all started when I was three years old.”La oglinda”(At the mirror)with the lyrics of George Cosbuc was the first song that I interpreted at home, a capella with all the elegance of which I was capable of at that age :” „Azi am sa-mi crestez in grinda/ Jos din cui acum, oglinda”. Then I participated to a song contest organized in my home town at the “dwarfs category”, where I sang the song “Un actor grabit”. It was the first song that performed on a scene and I was so convincing in expressing  the pain and the desperation of a woman that had been left even if I was only three years old that jury formed by teachers of the Children Palace who organized the contest to discover new talents, was so amazed that they  immediately noticed me and took me under their protective “wing”. Since then I work very hard, I study light and classical music on the violin, but I have good marks at the  other school subjects too-over 9.50 since the first grade until now-. The price? I had no childhood. Or at least not that kind of childhood that other kids have,  my parents also made great sacrifices, especially my mum, who comes with me everywhere I go. I inherited her voice too. She sang when she was a student (she always tells us, to me and my brother, that if she wouldn’t got married, and wouldn’t had us so soon she certainly would have had a career in light music) but also from my grandmothers, one from Maramures and the other one from Salaj. I inherited the talet for the violin from my grandfather on my mother’s side. He learned  to play the violin on his own and he made a violin all by himself and played it in the band of his village, Oarta, in Maramures. Got forgive gradfather, who passed away last yearhe was very prud of ushis grandsons. I have a very special song and I will dedicate it to him every time I’ll step on a scene. I think that from him I have my authentic resources. We are a musical family, my brother also studies the violin at the Art High School in Baia Mare.
At first, I’m telling you, I had a very rough time wuth the violin: I thought that once I start and play it, I would create a sing, like magic. I use to have a very tiny violin for kids, it was like a toy violin and I use to cry everytime something didn’t turn out the way I wanted in a song. I was very lucky because I never gave up. Even though I’m a Libra (born on the 28t of November) I know very well what I want. I wake up at 7 a.m. and until 10 p.m.  I work very hard: I study the violin, I make my homework, I go to school,at the light music classes at the Children Palace, ( I think I’m a veteran at the Children Palace in Baia Mare,I go there daily since I was 3 and a half years old,just imagine!) then I come home, I eat something and I have some rest for half an hour, then I study the violin for another couple of hours and I study a bit more for school. Twice a week I have rehearsals with the instrumental orchestra of the music High School in Baia Mare, where I’m a concert-master at the first violin.
How did I end up in the Capital? In 2003, Narcisa Suciu had an extraordinary recital at the “Golden Bear” as an ex laureate of the festival. She saw me there and called her manager, Paul Nanca :” I have discovered an extraordinary girl. What do we do, shouldn’t we give her an award from the foundation?” she said. I was “baptized” by the Phoenix Foundation and I came, with their help in Bucharest, where I stared to participate at TV shows, radio programs, articles in the newspapers and I received invitations at international festivals (in Egypt and Serbia). I’ve always wanted to make my performances on stages like a combination between classic and modern and my composer, Calin Ionce understood very well what I want. So that  his songs show the value not only of my voice, but also of the instrumental interpretation and the violin. All the songs that I released until now are compose by Calin Ionce and the texts are written  by my mother Sorina Moldovan, who’s a journalist in Baia Mare. The song  “Why?” propelled me, and I won the first place at the international festival “Sun flower” in Serbia and I performed at various TV shows in the winter holydays period. Three of my songs were part of a compilation edited by the Children Palace in Baia Mare and this year, in autumn I really hope to finish my first personal album with songs in which I’ll combine the voice the violin. My last song released recently on the music channels, Contradantza,is an instrumental song, something like Amadeus’ style, but much more complex with violin incursions in Vanessa Mae’s style (a great classical interpret that is very popular now because she’s promoting  the  modern music played at the violin) the orchestral  arrangement is signed by Marius Popp. Soon, I’m going to participate at the “Edward Grieg” festival in Norway at an instrumental interpretation contest. I want to prove that the voice and the violin can come along very well. More than all of this? I’m not very demanding, I don’t want any special gifts, I’m happy with everything I receive like any other girl of my age,I like fashionable clothes, my mum buys them for me because she has more avant-garde conceptions than I have in many ways.
What do I wish for? Good health and good marks at school. After I’ll graduate the Art High School, I want to  the Music Academy in Bucharest. Until then I want to have a good position in the pop music industry. My managers consider that I’m a very good combination of talent, artistic mobility and applied study,and they see me as the Vanessa Mae of Romania. I’m  conscious  about the choice I’ve made and I’ve learn to measure my efforts, to study hard and I’m not doing anything before knowing what should I expect.