Romanian pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa found dead
6 August 2012, 10:16
Mihaela Ursuleasa, the renowned Romanian concert pianist, has been found dead in her Vienna apartment.
Romanian concert pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa was found dead in her Vienna apartment on Friday. Aged 33, it is thought that the internationally renowned pianist had suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, according to a police spokesperson.
The alarm was raised when Ursuleasa's mother was unable to contact her. She visited Ursuleasa's apartment and could hear her phone ringing inside, and so enlisted police help to break in.
Ursuleasa's career began at a very young age. Aged just 13, she was given a scholarship by conductor Claudio Abbado and studied at the Vienna Conservatory for eight years. She originally began to play the piano aged five, encouraged by her father, a jazz musician.
She later performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Nationale de France and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester in Berlin. In 2010, she was awarded the Echo Klassik award for her debut album, Piano & Forte. A memorial ceremony is due to take place tomorrow afternoon in the Romanian Orthodox Church in Vienna.
