The prominent figure of the Romanian interpreting school, Master Ilarion Ionescu-Galați is also called the “painter conductor”, “Man-orchestra,” and his absolute hearing is proverbial. He studied violin at the “Ciprian Porumbescu” Conservatory in Bucharest. Being a scholar at École Normale Supérieure, he studied the technique and art of conducting symphonic orchestras with Pierre Dervaux and Charles Munch. He studied further in America with the great conductors Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski.

Since his return to Romania, he has become the permanent conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Brasov. Since then, he has conducted all Romanian symphonic orchestras, as well as those from Italy, the United States, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, France, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and others.

He collaborated with prestigious soloists such as Lazar Berman, Radu Lupu, Valentin Gheorghiu, Daniel Safran, Igor Oistrach, Fazil Say, Ion Voicu, Radu Aldulescu, Ruggiero Ricci, Magda Tagliaferro, Rudolf Kerrer, Felicia Filip, Stefan Ruha, Dan Grigore , Valery Oistrach, Pavel Berman, Ayla Erduran, Viktor Tretiakov, Viktor Pikaisen, Mihaela Martin, Mihaela Ursuleasa, Costas Cotsiolis, Theodore Kerkezos, Sabine Meyer, Vladimir Orlov, Silvia Marcovici, Lola Bobescu Idil Biret, Alexander Toradze, Nelly Miricioiu and others.

He was director and permanent conductor of the Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, respectively, the permanent conductor of the Ankara Orchestra, both in Turkey and the Gavle and Uppsala Symphonic Orchestras in Sweden.

In 2008, the pianist Ioana Maria Lupaşcu published the nonfiction novel “Prince of the conductor wand” (Ed Meteor Press), which has as main character Ilarion Ionescu-Galati.

He has contributed to the assertion of young talented talents such as Radu Ropotan.

Discography:

He recorded music at Electrecord, Casa Radio and Sipario Dischi.

Distinctions:

Honorary citizen of the cities: Ploieşti, Târgu Mureş, Braşov

Honorary Member of the Suzuki Academy, Japan

1992 – Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Culture of Turkey

2002 – The Great Prize of Romanian Musical Criticism

2004 – Order of Merit “Great Officer”

2007 – Diploma of Excellence of: Ploiești City Hall, Galați City Hall, Brașov City Hall, Târgu Mureș City Hall, Astra Magazine, Nae Leonard Musical Theater, Brașov Philharmonic, Ploiești Philharmonic, Romanian Musical Forum.

Bibliography: https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilarion_Ionescu-Galaţi