Gabriel Bebeşelea (b. 1987) has been called one of the finest Romanian conductors of recent generations. His enthusiasm and musicality have taken him to the podiums of some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, symphony orchestras of Barcelona and Singapore, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and the Evgeny Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia.
In 2020, Bebeşelea took over as the principal conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in Bucharest and became the chief conductor of the North Macedonia Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been the principal conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca since 2016.
Highlights of the 2020/21 season included appearances with the Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lille National Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava and the Ulster Orchestra, as well as return engagements with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the National Philharmonic of Russia. Bebeşelea made a big impression already in the first years of his studies, winning first prizes at the Lovro von Matačić Conducting Competition in Zagreb and at the Jeunesses Musicales Conducting Competition in Bucharest. He was a semi-finalist at both the Donatella Flick Competition with the London Symphony Orchestra and at the Gustav Mahler Competition with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.
A remarkable opera conductor, Bebeşelea was named principal conductor of the Romanian National Opera of Iaşi in 2011, becoming the youngest ever principal conductor in Romania. In 2015 he was named principal conductor of the National Romanian Opera House of Cluj-Napoca.
In 2014 he received the “Best Conductor” award from the Romanian National Opera Fund. Alongside his success at home he has continued to develop his skills with some of the world’s leading conductors. In 2011 he was awarded a scholarship enabling an internship with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, where he had the possibility to assist at the rehearsals and concerts with such renowned conductors as Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Philippe Herreweghe, David Zinman and Eliahu Inbal. In 2015 he had the opportunity to study with legendary conductors Bernard Haitink and Kurt Masur.
In addition to conducting, Gabriel Bebeșelea is enthusiastically active in researching and rediscovering long forgotten or neglected musical masterpieces. To bring such music to light, he founded the Ensemble Musica Ricercata, an international artistic collective dedicated to historically informed performances, in 2017. With the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, he recorded a CD featuring George Enescu's rediscovered oratorio Strigoii (The Ghosts) and his Pastorale - Fantaisie pour petite orchestre (edition curated by Gabriel Bebeşelea). The CD was released by the Capriccio label in September 2018.
