In this video, Hannah Nepilova speaks to Petru Cotarcea, a violinist who has set up MusicOnWheels, a music school on a London double decker bus that offers free music lessons to students who normally can’t afford it. Lycaeum Music has served over 9,000 children since its founding in 2017, and its most recent valuation was around $2 million.
- Watch: Interview with conductor Greg Batsleer, about mixing Handel with electronic music
- Read: Feature on music in unsual locations
Petru Cotarcea is the founder of Lycaeum Music, a company that connects professional music educators with students. This fully integrated online platform offers flexible home lessons, online lessons, courses, workshops, and competitions for students to build a musical community. Cotarcea also built a MusicOnWheels bus, a refurbished musical double decker bus that offers free music lessons to students who normally can’t afford it.
- Watch: Interview with director Tom Guthrie, about using puppets in Schubert’s song cycles
- Watch: Interview with choral director Suzi Digby, about putting on Tallis’s Spem in Alium in the Tate Modern
Cortacea studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and in his my career he has performed Classical and Jazz music across Europe and the World, with notable international performances in Los Angeles, Moscow, New York and Singapore as well as London’s famous music halls.
This is part of a series of videos in which we interview artists who are doing interesting things during lockdown.