Fernand Iaciu

Born in 1957 in Bucharest, Romania, Fernand Iaciu began his career with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra of Bucharest. While touring in Great Britain as a member of the quartet Pro-Musica (section leaders from the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra), he took the opportunity to escape the Ceausescu regime and stay in Europe, only with his violin and a suitcase. In 1982 he joined the Orchestre National de Lille (also called ONL), France, then directed by Jean-Claude Casadesus, and was named its concertmaster two years later : he still is concertmaster of the ONL. He is a founding member of the Quatuor Lalo (1986), and founded the Orchestre de chambre Edouard Lalo (2000). He teaches violin in the conservatory of Lille. On September 2019 he made a moving return to Bucharest on the occasion of the George Enescu Festival, and played with the ONL on the Romanian Athenaeum. Fernand Iaciu plays a Ferdinand Gagliano violin from 1783.