Cezar

Cezar Florin Ouatu (b. 18 February 1980, Ploiești, Romania), also known as Cezar The Voice or simply Cezar, is a Romanian opera singer (countertenor), pop-opera performer, and pianist. 

He was born into a family of musicians. At just 6 years old, he learned to play the piano and pursued an artistic profile. He graduated from the Carmen Sylva Music High School in Ploiești; in 2004, he graduated with the highest grades from the classical singing section of the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where he had been admitted in 2001. He also studied baroque music. He made his professional debut on the stage of the “La Fenice” Theatre in Venice, performed on the most important stages worldwide and received numerous awards at singing competitions in cities like Barcelona, Dresden, Milan, and countries such as Monaco and San Marino. He performed at prestigious operas such as those in Lausanne, Barcelona and Potsdam.

In December 2012, he approached the pop-opera music style, which combines opera with the pop music genre. As he himself recounted in the online edition of the Prahova Newspaper, Cristian Faur urged him to sing the song “It’s My Life”:

“Two weeks ago, I received a message on Facebook from Cristian Faur – the composer and lyricist of the song ‘It’s My Life’ – who told me he chose me to perform his song. I listened to the song, liked it, and said: ‘Why not?’ – because I am very passionate about any kind of music.” He won the national final, becoming Romania’s representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 held in Malmö, Sweden. He managed to achieve the 13th place in the Grand Final.

In February 2014 Cezar teamed up with the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra for a concert. On 10 April of that year he released a pop-opera album titled “The Voice of Love”. In May 2015, he became the winner of Te cunosc de undeva! (Your Face Sounds Familiar). In September of that year, he performed in the solo concert One Voice Show.

Cezar and Taraful Silvian Voicu teamed up for a musical project called “Gică Petrescu…. reloaded”. They performed songs of the famous Romanian composer Gică Petrescu. In 2017 he started singing in Orff’s Carmina Burana. It became an annual event. In 2017 he took part in Te cunosc de undeva! again. This time he was the runner up.

In 2018 Cezar was the host of Selecția Națională, the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. At the same time he debuted at Mozartissimo, a series of concerts with Mozart’s music. In September of that year, Cezar took part in the X-Factor UK.

Cezar started 2019 with Pop Opera concerts teamed up with conductor Andrei Tudor. And he took part in Te cunosc de undeva! for a third time, this time together with Șerban Copoț.

Cezar started his own singing festival FICCO (Festival International de Canto Cezar Ouatu). The first edition took place in 2020. In June 2020, during the COVID19 lockdown, Cezar gave an international online concert The Voice Of Hope. In September he participated in the reality show Ferma.

In January 2021 Cezar released a new single, “Se amarsi se'”. He teamed up with David Dobrincu for the single “Perfect Symphony”, released on 8 April 2021. He also became a member of the Free Tenors with Marius Denes and Mihnea Niculescu, debuting in October of that year. With the song “For everyone” he reached the semifinal of  Selecția Națională 2022, the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. In May of the same tear, he and David Dobrincu released a new single, “You raise me up”.