The Arcadia Quartet came into being while its founding members were still students at
the „Gh. Dima” Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca. While attending the chamber music class of Professor
Nicușor Silaghi, member of the reputed Transylvanian Quartet, the four young musicians who were part
of the original quartet – violinists Ana Török and Răsvan Dumitru, violist Marcel Cameniţă and cellist
Zsolt Török – discovered their true vocation in the cultivation of this genre. The participation in the
Chamber Music Festival held in Odorheiu Secuiesc (October 2005) also marked the first success of the
ensemble. With the concerts that followed in Cluj-Napoca, Sighişoara, Sibiu and Satu Mare, the quartet
experienced a rapid progress and showed their outstanding capacity of repertoire assimilation.
In December 2006, the quartet won their first prize in Cluj, at the prestigious Performance
Competition organized by the Romanian Mozart Society, where they were met with enthusiastic
appreciation for the stylistic purity displayed in the interpretation of Mozart's works. Their value was
reconfirmed in Cluj in the following year, when they won the first prize at the „Ferdinand Weiss”
Chamber Music Competition. The same year 2007 marked their first international appearances – the
participation in the Orlando Festival in Kerkrade, The Netherlands and in the Internationale
Sommerakademie Prag-Wien-Budapest, as well as the concerts held in Germany (the „Classic Open
2007” International Festival in Chemnitz) and in Austria (in Eisenstadt). At home, their fame grew even
more when they were invited to perform at the Cluj Musical Autumn Festival. With the participation in
the "17th Week of Contemporary Music" International Festival, in Bucharest, the quartet recorded a
remarkable success, proving excellent abilities in handling the latest contemporary repertoire.
The two times change of the violist (Cristian Suărăşan in October 2007 and Traian Boală in
April 2009) hardly impeded the ever-ascending path of the quartet's value and achievements. Seeking to
continually expand their performing horizons, the quartet participated in several master classes both in
Romania and abroad, which allowed them to come into contact with renowned ensembles like the
Belcea Quartet, the Ad Libitum Quartet, the Artis Quartet, the Voces Quartet, the Bartók Quartet, the
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Alban Berg Quartet, the Enedellion Quartet – or with famous chamber music professors like Ferenc
László, the founder of the Mozart Festival of Cluj, Avedis Koyoumdjian and Johannes Meissl from
Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst of Vienna, Hatto Beyerle (ex. Alban Berg Quartet),
György Kurtág, Ferenc Rados, Anner Bylsma, Shmuel Ashkenasi (Vermeer Quartet), Miguel da Silva
(Ysaye Quartet), Christophe Giovaninetti (ex. Ysaye Quartet), Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet),
Eberhard Feltz, Ștefan Metz (Orlando Quartet), Christoph Richter, Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet),
Petr Prause (Talich Quartet), Michael Tree (Guarneri Quartet), Paul Katz (Cleveland Quartet), and
others.
The year 2008 brought the quartet yet more recognition – the invitation to the Budapest
Spring Festival, presentation within the Mozart Festival of Cluj-Napoca of W. A. Mozart's flute quartets
(in the company of the renowned Hungarian flutist Bálint János), participation in the „Romanian
Cultural Week” in Beijing and in the „George Enescu” Festival in Heidelberg. Following a sustained
collaboration dating from 2008, the Arcadia Quartet became Alumni Ensemble of the ECMA (European
Chamber Music Academy).
In September 2009, the quartet went for the first time to an international competition –
„Gianni Bergamo” Classic Music Award (Lugano, Switzerland), being rewarded with the 2nd Prize
(1st prize not being awarded), after which followed the first edition of the Internationales
Kammermusikwettbewerb Hamburg, where they enjoyed a tremendous success: the 1st Prize, the
„Johannes Brahms” Special Prize and the „Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” Special Prize. Immediately
after this competition they recorded their debut CD at the NDR Kultur Radio under the label of
Fontenay Classics, with works by Mendelssohn and Brahms.
Between 2010 and 2011, the members of Arcadia Quartet were postgraduate students at
Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst of Vienna, in Univ.-Prof. Dr. hc. Johannes Meissl’s
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chamber music class. In June 2011 the quartet is winner of the Internationaal Kamermuziek
Concours Almere.
One of the Quartet’s most important achievements consists in winning the 1st Prize at the
prestigious Wigmore Hall London International String Quartet Competition 2012, the Esterházy
Foundation Prize and the Beethoven Prize. The competition brought them many Development Prizes
such as: an UK recital tour in Autumn 2013 including a Coffee Concert at Wigmore Hall, the possibility
to make a recording for Wigmore Hall Live, a residency at the Banff Centre (dates tbc) and the
invitation to give recitals at the Esterházy String Quartet Festival in Eisenstadt, at the Menton Festival,
and at the Greenwich International String Quartet Festival.
The latest appearances of the Arcadia Quartet include concerts at Cité International des
Arts (Paris), Alte Oper Frankfurt, Pollack Hall (Montreal) within MISQA (McGill International String
Quartet Academy), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Wigmore Hall (London), Musikverein (Vienna), and
Romanian Atheneum (Bucharest).
The autumn of 2013 brings a new CD release for Orchid Classics label, containing Leoš
Janáček string quartets. The disc rapidly aquired critical aclaim and reviews in the most famous music
magazines like BBC, Gramophone and Rondo. The next recording project of the Arcadia Quartet is the
complete Béla Bartók string quartets.
Each of the four musicians of the Arcadia Quartet has a distinct artistic profile. Coming
from different schools and backgrounds and having impressive personal portfolios of achievements, they
bring along the variety of their individual artistic experience, harmonized and polished under the
auspices of the music school of Cluj.
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Ana Török (b. 1984, Baia Mare)
She began studying the violin at the age of 4 in her native town and, beginning with 1996, she continued
and completed her high school studies in Târgu Mureş. She attended higher education and the Master's
programme at the „Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca, in Professor Victoria Nicolae's
violin class. Since 2008 she has been first concert master of the "Transylvania" State Philharmonic of
Cluj-Napoca, one of the most prestigious Romanian symphony orchestras, and concert master of the
Romanian National Youth Orchestra. Distinguished with numerous chamber or solo performance
awards – „Jeunesses Musicales” Bucharest (2001), the „Sigismund Toduţă” Competition, Cluj-Napoca
(2003), the 2003 and 2004 editions of the Performance Competition organized by the Romanian Mozart
Society from Cluj-Napoca, – Ana Török acquired fame also as soloist, performing as invited guest of the
Târgu Mureş, Oradea, Braşov and Cluj-Napoca Philharmonics.
Răsvan Dumitru (b. 1984, Braşov)
Dedicated to the study of the violin from the age of 5, Răsvan Dumitru attended the Art School of
Brașov with Prof. Maria Mireanu and then the „Gh. Dima" Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca, in Univ.Prof. Dr. Victoria Nicolae's class. He has been first concert master of the Romanian National Opera
orchestra of Cluj-Napoca between 2007 and 2011, and principal of the second violin section of the
Romanian National Youth Orchestra between 2008 and 2010. Currently he is principal of the second
violin section of the "Transylvania" State Philharmonic of Cluj-Napoca while following the PhD studies
of the „Gh. Dima" Music Academy, where he is associated chamber music professor. Recipient of
several national and international awards, and semi-finalist of the Concours Musical International de
Montreal (2006), violinist Răsvan Dumitru also performed as a successful recitalist, both in Romania
and abroad (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands). He performed as soloist with several
Romanian orchestras, including the Braşov Philharmonic, the “Transylvania” State Philharmonic of
Cluj-Napoca and the Chamber Orchestra of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. He has also
cultivated a vivid interest in the performing style of the Baroque repertoire, by collaborating with several
Baroque ensembles. He is playing a Leon Fischesser violin, lent to him for his life by the Swiss
foundation Musique et Vie, following a competition held in 2005.
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Traian Boală (b. 1978, Constanţa)
Traian Boală studied the violin and then the viola at the Art School in Constanța. He began his higher
education studies at the Music Department of the „Transylvania” University of Braşov (with professor
Leona Varvarichi) and continued them with the Master's degree studies at the „Gheorghe Dima” Music
Academy of Cluj-Napoca (with professor Sorin Gherbanovschi). He successfully participated in several
performance competitions, earning, among others, first prizes at the „Mozart” Competition held in
Constanţa and at the „George Georgescu” Competition held in Tulcea. Between 2001 and 2003, he was
a member of the Kronos Quartet of Braşov, with whom he earned the first prize at the Performance
Competition organized by the Romanian Mozart Society of Cluj, and held a series of concerts in
Romania and abroad. He played successively in several orchestras, including the „St. George" Chamber
Orchestra of Beograd and the "George Enescu" Philharmonic of Bucharest. Presently, he is a member of
the "Transylvania" Philharmonic of Cluj-Napoca.
Zsolt Török (b. 1984, Cluj-Napoca)
The youngest child of a family of cellists, Zsolt Török in his turn took up the study of the cello at the age
of 6. After graduating from the “Sigismund Toduţă” Music High School of Cluj-Napoca, he studied for
the Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the „Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy, in the class of Professor
Vasile Jucan, member of the Transylvanian Quartet. He won several national and international awards,
including the Jury's Special Prize at the „David Popper” International Cello Competition, Hungary,
(2003), the 2nd Prize and the Popularity Prize at the „Sigismund Toduţă” Competition (Cluj-Napoca,
2005). Since 2005, he has been a member of the „Transylvania” Philharmonic of Cluj-Napoca. As a
soloist, he concerted with the Satu Mare, Sibiu, Oradea, Cluj-Napoca and Braşov Philharmonics.
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