After initial difficulties in obtaining a visa because he was not a member of the Romanian Communist Party, he arrived in Germany in 1972 and decided not to return to Romania.
[3] The authorities started an inquiry and he was sentenced to the death penalty in his absence,[4] his refusal to return to the country during a "mission of representation of the Romanian state" being interpreted as treason.
He sang ten parts at the Metropolitan Opera, and was broadcast live on TV in Don Carlo (1980), Il tabarro (1981) and Simon Boccanegra (1984).
In addition, he sang Arrigo in I Vespri Siciliani, Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Rodolfo in La bohème, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.
He reduced his activity in 1987, following a complicated surgery, and his last appearances in the United States were as Calaf (Turandot) and Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut) at the Denver Opera.
[6] Moldoveanu returned to Europe and continued his career in Paris (Manon Lescaut in 1991 and 1993), Monaco (I Vespri siciliani and Aida), Nice (La fanciulla del West), Roma (Turandot), Lisbon (Manon Lescaut), Parma (Don Carlo), Pretoria, South Africa (Un ballo in maschera), and German cities including Stuttgart and Hamburg.
His voice, sometimes compared to those of great past tenors such as Giovanni Martinelli and Franco Corelli, was supported by a slim figure and ardent eyes.
These factors made him highly appreciated in some roles, such as Luigi from Il tabarro: after the TV broadcast of this performance, from the Met Opera, his fans and his colleagues started to address him as “Luigi”[7] Although he had a significant career, especially at the Metropolitan Opera, and was promoted by the media in an age when live TV broadcasts had just begun, Moldoveanu is little known in Romania.