Ion Voicu (Romanian pronunciation: [i on vojku]; October 8, 1923 - February 24, 1997) was a Romanian violinist and orchestral

l conductor of Romani ethnicity. In 1969 he founded the award-winning Bucharest Chamber Orchestra, which is now conducted by his son M d lin Voicu. Voicu was born in Bucharest, into a family of professional musicians. At age 6, he had his first music lessons with Constantin Niculescu. At age 14, he entered the Royal Academy of Music in Bucharest, where he studied with George Enocovici. After graduating in 1940, he became violinist with the National Radio Orchestra of Romania, where he was noticed by the conductor, Willem Mengelberg; Voicu mad e his debut as a soloist with the orchestra soon after. In 1946, he won the firs t prize at a musical competition organized in Bucharest by George Enescu and Yeh udi Menuhin. In 1949, Voicu first appeared as a soloist with the George Enescu Philharmonic O rchestra under George Georgescu, and he achieved great acclaim as a participant in their 1957 tour of Belgrade[1]; from 1972 to 1982, he was the director of the Philharmonic.