Internationally renowned Romanian concert pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa has died suddenly at the age 33.
Ms Ursuleasa was found dead in her Vienna apartment by police officers on Thursday morning. The cause of death is thought to have been a cerebral haemorrhage. She had recently cancelled two concerts in Bucharest on health grounds.
Officers had broken into the apartment after her mother became worried about her and contacted the police.
Ms Ursuleasa had been something of a child prodigy. She was born in 1978 in Brasov. Her father was a jazz musician and mother a singer. She began to play the piano at the age of five and by nine she was giving concerts.
When Ms Ursuleasa was just 13 she received a scholarship from the Italian conductor Claudio Abbado and studied for eight years at the Vienna Conservatory.
In 2010, she was awarded the ECHO Klassik award for her debut album Piano Forte and last year released her second album Romanian Rhapsody. – (Guardian service)