In Remembrance of Ioana Dumitriu

Beloved friend and colleague Ioana Dumitriu passed away early morning on July 17 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She had been a member of The Phoenix Symphony for almost three decades until January, 2009.

This video was created in memory of this well-loved musician and friend.

Ioana was born to a poor farming family in Darmanesti, Romania on June 20, 1950. At the tender age of six years old, she was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Emeric Farcas. Blessed with a remarkable memory, a love for listening to music and a perfect sense of pitch she was led to play the violin by her adoptive parents and early music teachers.

In 1979, her husband Dan fulfilled his dream of defecting from communist Romania to the United States. She made the painful decision to leave her parents and join Dan the following year along with their daughter Monica. In 1981, with a Master’s degree in violin performance, Ioana secured a position in The Phoenix Symphony. The family became United States citizens in 1986.

She is survived by her husband of 36 years, Dan; children Monica, Roger, Robert, and Charles (“my fourth child”) and her only grandchild, Zion Noah Henderson.

Services will be held Friday, July 24, 2009 at 1:00 pm at Desert Hills Mortuary at 6500 E. Bell Rd., Scottsdale, AZ. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Phoenix Symphony.

In remembrance of Ioana Dumitriu, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony will be performed in her memory on September 11 and 12 in Phoenix as well as in Prescott on September 13.