The Vox Medicalis Choir is an elite amateur ensemble based in Bucharest, Romania, that promotes the values of Romanian and universal culture, stimulating curiosity and appreciation for good music in general, and choral music in particular, among young people and beyond. The choir is composed mainly of doctors and healthcare professionals, as well as musicians and individuals from various professional backgrounds.
The choir was founded in 2009 under the leadership of Dr Tudor Ionescu, who was then a medical student and is now an ENT surgeon subspecialised in voice clinic and voice surgery in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is currently conducted by the same Dr Tudor Ionescu, alongside Tabita Mateiu (singer in the Academic Radio Choir) as co-conductor, and Victoria Cioacă (geodesy engineer) as assistant conductor. In recognition of their outstanding contributions to the ensemble, Vox Medicalis has awarded the title of Honorary Conductor to two former conductors: Răzvan Rădos and Mioara Milicenco.
Over 16 years of activity, the ensemble has performed in more than 280 concerts on some of the most prestigious stages of the capital city and across the country (including the Sibiu, Brașov, and Râmnicu Vâlcea Philharmonics; Peleș Castle; Bușteni; Buzău; and Fălticeni). The choir has also engaged in some international activities, including multiple concert seasons in Ruse (Bulgaria), as well as tours in France and Greece.
Collaborations with Renowned Artists and Ensembles
Vox Medicalis has collaborated with esteemed ensembles and artists, including:
Other distinguished figures of Romanian culture have recorded their priceless appreciation in the choir’s Book of Honour, including sopranos Angela Gheorghiu and Mariana Nicolesco, as well as Maestros Horia Andreescu and Voicu Enăchescu, among many others.
Recent Milestones
Social Commitment and Inclusivity
Among its core principles, Vox Medicalis maintains a policy of performing charitable concerts whenever possible, ensuring that any concert not requiring ticket sales or venue hire serves a philanthropic cause, with funds raised being donated to various NGOs and healthcare institutions.
Another distinctive feature of the ensemble is its commitment to inclusivity:
The Spirit of Vox Medicalis
What unites the young members of Vox Medicalis is not just the notes on a score, but the deep bonds of friendship, warmth, and a shared love for music—and for the emotional and transcendent truths it conveys. Beyond the sheet music, within the folders of Vox singers lie wonderful worlds and profound realities, waiting to be discovered and shared with an appreciative audience.
The founding conductor of the Vox Medicalis Choir, Dr Tudor Ionescu, was born in 1989 in Bucharest and is a specialist ENT Surgery Consultant, with a subspecialisation in laryngology.
He founded the ensemble in 2009, while he was a second-year medical student, graduating from medical school in 2014. In his medical career, he is particularly passionate about phoniatrics and phonosurgery, a subspecialty of otorhinolaryngology that focuses on vocal cord and phonatory system disorders, which frequently affect vocal professionals (opera singers, actors, clergy, teachers, etc.). His experience as a choral conductor, along with his numerous collaborations with artists, has been instrumental in this field.
In pursuit of this specialisation, Dr Ionescu completed a Senior Clinical Fellowship in voice clinic and voice surgery at Manchester Royal Infirmary, United Kingdom, as well as numerous training courses and observerships in England, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Austria, and the United Arab Emirates. All of this helped him, together with two colleagues, to found the Vox Humana Centre for ENT and Phoniatrics within Enayati Medical City – the only clinic in the country (and probably in the Balkans) that performs a range of phonosurgical procedures.
He is currently a doctoral candidate at the “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, working on a thesis titled “Specific Diagnostic and Treatment Methods in Laryngology”. He is frequently invited to give lectures at specialist conferences both in Romania and abroad.
In the musical sphere, Dr Ionescu studied conducting at the Faculty of Music within Spiru Haret University, under Lecturer Dr Luminița Guțanu-Stoian and Lecturer Dr Aurel Muraru. He also attended a Choral Conducting Masterclass under Associate Professor Dr Gabriel Popescu from the Bucharest Conservatoire, with the support of the Royal Camerata Choir. During his year in Manchester, he took classical singing lessons with bass and Professor Matthew Best from the Royal Northern College of Music.
He has conducted ensembles such as The Royal Camerata, L’Atelier Choral de Valenciennes (France), The Barockers Orchestra, The Pro Musica Orchestra, The Imperioso Orchestra, The Solemnis Choir, The Royal Choir.
As a bass singer, he has performed with George Enescu Philharmonic Choir, Manchester Chamber Choir, Manchester Cathedral Choir, Canticum Bucharest Vocal Group, The Royal Choir, St Joseph Roman Catholic Cathedral Choir in Bucharest, The Anglican Church Choir in Bucharest. In 2016, he made his solo debut performing alongside The Doctors’ Orchestra.
Dr Tudor Ionescu describes himself as torn between the rigour of the medical profession, which he finds deeply fascinating and inherently metaphysical, and the realm of artistic creation, where he constantly shapes, moulds, and remoulds his existential horizon. Through music, he seeks to explore the less apparent worlds of self-introspection, human relationships, and the Divine.
How? Through Music.
Born in Brașov, Tabita Mateiu is the co-conductor and alto section leader of the Vox Medicalis Choir.
Born in 1980, she graduated from the Faculty of Music at Brașov University, later completing a Master’s degree in Academic Choral Conducting at the Bucharest Conservatoire.
She took part in the European project “From Apprenticeship to Mastery in the Art of Conducting”, where she conducted the Bucharest National Opera Choir under the guidance of Maestros Stelian Olariu and Mihail Diaconescu, winning First Prize in the final competition.
She has performed within prestigious formations both in Romania and internationally, including: The “Madrigal – Marin Constantin” National Chamber Choir, where she was an alto section leader and performed for seven years, and The Atlanta Master Chorale (Atlanta, USA).
She is currently a singer in the Academic Radio Choir, conducted by Ciprian Țuțu.
In recognition of her artistic achievements, Tabita Mateiu was decorated by President Traian Băsescu with the “Cultural Merit” Medal, Class III, in the “Performing Arts” Category.
By profession, Victoria Cioacă is a geodesy engineer, but in her free time, she is a musician. She hails from Câmpulung Muscel, Argeș, and pursued mathematics and computer science, as the exact sciences have always been a passion for her.
Her musical journey began in secondary school, when she took her first piano lessons. She later continued accompanying church services, both in Câmpulung and Bucharest. Upon moving to Bucharest, she joined the Vox Medicalis Choir as an alto in her third year of university, later becoming a member of the Solemnis Choir and other vocal ensembles.
In 2021, she made her debut as an assistant conductor with Solemnis Choir, and in 2022, she led her first rehearsal with Vox Medicalis as a trainee conductor. Since then, she has conducted both ensembles in concerts, liturgical services, and festivals at venues such as Delea Nouă Calist Church, The National Village Museum, The Anglican Church, St Joseph’s Cathedral (as part of the Cantus Ecclesiae International Organ Festival).
She has also had the opportunity to conduct abroad, participating in The Kifissia Trovatori International Festival (Athens, Greece), and performing in Vienna (Austria), Munich, Ingolstadt, and Landshut (Germany).
She took part in a Choral Conducting Masterclass in Târgu Mureș, under the guidance of Laurențiu Bischin (conductor at the Sibiu Philharmonic and various choral ensembles in Cluj-Napoca) and Teodor Soporean (Brașov).
Priceless testimonies recorded in our Book of Honour by cultural personalities and people from the public: