Anna Maria Cristina Popan

Born in Timişoara, Romania, in 2001. Since 2019, she studies at the Reina Sofía School of Music’s Telefónica Violin Chair with professor Zakhar Bron. She has been granted scholarships by Goldman Sachs and Fundación Albéniz. She plays an Alexander Hazin violin loaned as an instrument scholarship by Zakhar Bron.

She started to play violin at the age of six at the Ion Vidu National School of Arts in Timişoara with Romanian-German violinist and professor Ioan Fernbach.

She has been awarded in national and international competitions, including third prize at the Barlassina International Young Talents Competition (Italy, 2014), Honourable Mention at the Grand Prize Virtuoso in London (2015), first prize at the Josef Brandeisz International Violin Competition and at the National Romanian Music, Timisoara (Romania, 2016 and 2017 respectively), and third prize at the Ohrid Pearls Competition (Macedonia, 2018).

She has attended masterclasses by Ida Haendel, Rony Rogoff, Espen Lilleslatten, Yulia Berinskaya, Gilles Apap, Volkhard Steude, Bogdan Zvorişteanu, Remus Azoiţei, Florin Paul, Mihaela Martin, Ingolf Turban, Silvia Marcovici, Giovanni Guzzo, Linus Roth, Miriam Fried, as well as Oliver Wille, Helena Poggio, Krzysztof Chorzelski and Josep Puchades (string ensembles), and during the 2013-2014 academic year she was granted a scholarship to study at the Milano Music Masterschool (Italy).

In addition to several recitals in Romania and abroad, she has given symphony concerts with the Ars Longa Orchestra, under the baton of Ilarion Ionescu-Galati, one at Arad’s State Theatre and the other one at Timisoara’s Banatul Philharmonic. She has also performed Bach’s Double Concerto for two violins in D minor with the Maggiore Orchestra.

As a student of the School, she has been a member of the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pablo González, Pablo Heras-Casado, David Afkham and Péter Csaba; the Freixenet Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Sir András Schiff and Andrés Salado, and of the Baroque Ensemble of the School, conducted by Paul Goodwin. In 2021 she participated in the 30th anniversary tour of the School with the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, with whom she performed at Madrid's Teatro Real, at Bratislava's Reduta Hall, at Budapest's Liszt Ferenc Academy and at Vienna's Musikverein.
She has been part of the Stoneshield, Ramales and Banco de España Arriaga quartets and of the Vivaldi Estaciones Ensemble. She is currently part of the Mistral Trio.