Francesco Ionașcu was born in 1991 into a family of musicians in Venice. He began studying the violin at the age of 6, at the “Sigismund Toduță” Music High School in Cluj-Napoca, in the class of Prof. Mariana Suma, continuing then with Prof. Univ. Dr. Valeriu Maiorde at the “G. Dima” Academy of Music and with Robert Truț, violinist at the “Transilvania” Philharmonic in Cluj-Napoca. He graduated Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the Royal College of Music in London, in the class of professors Natalia Lomeiko and Yuri Zhislin, with the distinction of “First Class”. He is also a graduate of the master's degree program at the “Gheorghe Dima” Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, in the class of Prof. Univ. Dr. Nicușor Silaghi.

He is currently a PhD assistant at the “Gheorghe Dima” Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca. Until the age of 26, he performed over 100 concerts as a soloist, collaborating with prestigious orchestras in Romania and abroad: London Schubert Players, Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra, “George Enescu” Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest, “Serghei Lunchevici” National Orchestra Chisinau, “Transilvania” State Philharmonic Orchestra Cluj-Napoca. He has given numerous concerts in the country and abroad, on important stages: St. James's Piccadilly (London), Tonhalle (Düsseldorf), Teatro “Verdi” (Mantova), Romanian Athenaeum and Sala Palatului (Bucharest). He is the laureate of more than 25 national and international competitions, and since 2008 he has been a SoNoRo scholarship holder, performing alongside the Festival artists.