PCM: Did you worry about students like Valetin Radu who played jazz?

Dan: I didn’t know he was doing that like he didn’t know what I was doing in my concerts. It’s like don’t ask don’t tell.

PCM: Were your students in danger for being your students?

Dan: Yes, they were under the scope because of the connection.

PCM: Did anything happen to any of your students?

Dan: I don’t know about many of them.  But one of my best students won a scholarship to study in Boston and the Ceaussescu regime wouldn’t allow him to go and, as a result, he was in Bucharest at the time of the earthquake in 1977 and died very tragically.

PCM: Before Valentin came to the United States in 1978 was he able to tell you he was leaving?

Dan: You wouldn’t announce to anyone that you were leaving until you are already where you were going out of fear that something might happen to you on the way to the airport.

PCM: How did you stay in touch with Valintin after he came here?

Dan: We lost touch for many years. Valentin didn’t return to Romania for many years. When he did  he would visit me at the University and bring me American cigarettes. I smoked then. Then he stopped coming back to Romania again for many years.

We lost connection for almost 8 years, 1985 -1993. The first time I played in the United Sates was in 1993 in Plainfield New Jersey. The Romanian ambassador in Washington DC drove up to see my performance. He told me that he made a sacrifice to see me because Valentin Radu was performing in Philadelphia that same night. He didn’t know we were teacher and student and I didn’t know they were friends. He said that you can hear Valentin in Philadelphia anytime. I said, "Valentin is in Philadelphia?  You must give him my best".  That was how we rekindled our relationship.

PCM: The concert this weekend is a celebration of your fifty years on stage. Congratulations!

Dan: Thank you!  There is a celebration in Romania and Philadelphia.

(Valentin Radu has been translating)

Valentin Radu: This is a jubilee concert of fifty years and a very significant event. I am very proud that we are doing this to celebrate Maestro Grigore and he joined us. Last year we marked ten years of collaboration between Ama Deus Ensemble and Dan Grigore.  I am very humbled that he is doing this.  It will be the first time we perform the Grieg Piano Concerto.  This is the first actual concert that Maestro will do fifty years after the date of his debut on October 16^th 1957 in Bucharest.
 

Anniversary Gala with Dan Grigore is performed on Friday, November 2, 2007 at The Kimmel Center, Philadelphia.  Visit www.voxamadeus.org for more information and tickets.

further reading: 
                        Baptism by Fire  from February 2006 archived Feature Article

                       September 2006 interview with Valentin Radu
                        http://www.classicalmusicphiladelphia.com/radu.htm