Ensemble Flauto Dolce (RO)

The Ensemble Flauto Dolce was founded in 2000 in Cluj, Romania, by Zoltan Majo. The main goal of the ensemble is to present works from the Baroque and Rococo period, especially the early autochthonous music, from the Carpathian region. In 2020 the ensemble celebrated its twenty years anniversary and performed its 475th concert, including those performed abroad in Romania, Austria, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. In the 21 years of existence Ensemble Flauto Dolce has participated in many concerts organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute Bucharest in major European centers: Madrid, Rome. Lisbon, Linz, Budapest, Szeged, Vienna, Dresden, Tel Aviv, Brussels, Chisinau, London, Paris, Bern, Bucharest, etc. Between 2009 and 2011 Flauto Dolce co-partnered an international EU-financed early music project together with ensembles from Italy and Slovenia. Also in 2014, the ensemble participated as a special guest at The 5th International Early Music Seminar, Tel Aviv. All members of the ensemble are graduates of the "Gheorghe Dima" Academy of Music in Cluj, Romania, perfecting themselves in master's courses abroad. They also carry out a very rich concert activity in other chamber ensembles. The Flauto Dolce ensemble pays great attention to the Baroque period in the musical heritage of the Carpathian region, including early Hasidic music from the Maramureș region, a geographical, historical, and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. These works are a unique treasure of indigenous early music. The ensemble includes research and study of old domestic manuscripts.

The soprano Mihaela Maxim studied canto at the Gh. Dima Music Academy in Cluj, Romania. She attended master classes with Lucia Stanescu, Corneliu Murgu and Mariana Nicolesco. After many opera roles and performances she has turned to early music . She completed her studies in Early Music in 2008 in Trondheim, Norway with Jan van Elsacker and in Krieglach, Austria with Mieke van der Sluis. Mihaela Maxim has a significant and intense concert activity. She also premiered several contemporary music pieces by Romanian composers.

The artistic director Zoltan Majo graduated Flute at the Gh. Dima Music Academy in Cluj, Romania. He attended recorder and chamber music master classes in Budapest, Hungary and Thun, Switzerland with Sabine Kaipainen, Sopron, Hungary with Anneke Boeke and Krieglach, Austria with Michael Oman. As a tireless promoter of the national early music movement in Romania, Zoltan Majo founded several baroque music ensembles (Musica Antiqua Cluj, Claudiopolis, Baroque Ensemble of Transylvania and Flauto Dolce). He has made several radio, TV and CD recordings on Romanian and European early music. Zoltan Majo is involved in early music revival and period instrument research, being a frequent guest of Romanian early music festivals. He also premiered several contemporary music pieces by Romanian composers. As chamber musician Zoltan Majo performed in Romania as well as most of the European countries. He teaches recorder and chamber music at the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania.

Maria Szabo, graduated music education and recorder - with master in musicology - at the Gh. Dima Music Academy in Cluj, Romania. She attended numerous master classes abroad with Peter Holtslag in Budapest, Hungary and Trondheim, Norway, with Marion Verbruggen in Karlsruhe, Germany, with Sabine and Tuomas Kaipainen in Thun, Switzerland and with Michael Oman in Krieglach ,Austria. Maria Szabo has a significant and intense concert activity. She is one of the founding members of the ensemble Flauto Dolce in Cluj, Romania. In 2013 Maria Szabo together with the ensemble Les Ramages was awarded the 2nd prize at the La Stravaganza Baroque Music Competition in Cluj, Romania. Currently she is a teacher at the Waldorf School in Cluj, Romania. Maria Szabo research early music manuscripts from Romania.

Noemi Miklos studied organ at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy under the guidance of professors Ursula Philippi and Erich Türk. She participated at a series of master courses in Romania and in Germany, and as the beneficiary of an Erasmus scholarship she studied one semester at the Hochschule Für Musik Freiburg in Germany. She gave many solo and chamber music concerts in Romania and abroad (Germany, Hungary, Switzerland). In the year 2005 she won the Audience price at the Zürich Wiedekon International Organ Competition and in 2011 she won the second price at the La Stravaganza Chamber Music Competition with the Trio Jubilate ensemble. In the present she teaches at the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania.