Radu Ratering (2004, The Netherlands) started taking piano lessons at the age of 7 after he heard Radu Lupu playing in the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. He was so touched by the recital of Radu Lupu that he wanted to learn how to play the piano himself. At the age of 10 he started taking lessons at the Sweelinck young talent Academy of the Conservatory in Amsterdam. Radu studied with various teachers, among others Marjes Benoist and Nino Gvetadze. He is currently studying with Frank van de Laar.

Radu won several prizes at various competitions. In 2016 he won a first prize at the International Steinway competition. In 2017 he won a first prize at the Prinses Christina competition, a competition for all instruments with contestants from the Benelux countries. In the same year he also won a first prize at the Royal concertgebouw competition, a competition organized by the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

In addition, after participating at the International Robert Schumann competition in Düsseldorf, Radu was invited by Andrea Bonatta to go to an international masterclass week in Italy. Radu has followed several masterclasses from Hannes Minnaar, Diane Andersen, Jan Wijn, Yingdi Sun and Andrea Bonatta.

He played a couple of times with orchestras such as the Philharmonie Zuid-Nederland and the Residentie Orchestra. He played the Paganini Variations from Sergey Rachmaninov with the Young Talent Orchestra of the Netherlands. Radu also likes to play chamber music and is really into the music of George Enescu (his piano music is rarely played and Radu would really like to change that). Radu is also a big fan of the music from Alexander Scriabin

REPERTOIRE

Quarter Finals
L. van Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 21 in C major, op. 53 Waldstein, I, II, III
G. Enescu Suite no. 2 in D major, op. 10, Toccata, Sarabande, Bourée

Semi Finals
J. Brahms Piano Quartet in G minor, op. 25
S. Rachmaninov etude-tableaux no. 5, op. 39
F. Liszt Années de Pelerinage, Première année Suisse, S.160; Les cloches de Genève
A. Scriabin Sonata no. 4 in F sharp major, op. 30

Final
R. Namavar Ti’afa’a
R. Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 54