Bogdan Bácanu

Artist photo of Bogdan Bácanu - Marimba

Bogdan Bácanu is one of the most prolific marimba players today and has made it a goal is to establish the marimba as a solo instrument in the world of music.

Born in Bucharest in 1975, Bogdan Bácanu was already a percussionist with the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest at age 13 and became professor for marimba at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz at age 23, making him the youngest professor in his field worldwide. Since 2011 he has also been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Bogdan Bácanu himself studied marimba at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Peter Saldo, his mentor.

Since the beginning of his career, Bogdan Bácanu has been giving solo recitals and concerts with orchestras and ensembles. Musical engagements have taken him all across Europe as well as to Asia, Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States. He is also a regular guest at music festivals worldwide, performing at the Salzburg Music Festival, the Lockenhaus Festival, the Biennale in Brisbane, the Princeton Marimba Festival, the Voices of Percussion in Vienna, the Grafenegg Music Summer as well as the Carinthian Summer, the Donau Festival, the World Marimba Festival in Osaka and the “les musiques” Festival in Basel.

In concerts, he has worked together with musicians such as Gidon Kremer, Heinrich Schiff and Keiko Abe. He also has a close partnership with the Japanese marimba player Momoko Kamiya.

Bogdan Bácanu has played under the baton of numerous renowned conductors, including Dennis Russel Davies, Kent Nagano and Seiji Ozawa. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Heilbronn Symphony Orchestra, the Romanian Radio National Orchestra and the Bucharest Philharmonic and well as with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

As an interpreter of contemporary works, Bogdan Bácanu has made a name for himself in numerous world premieres. Composers like John Thrower, Alexander Müllenbach and Emmanuel Séjourné have dedicated works to him, several of which he has recorded on CD. Moreover, as a teacher and juror, Bocan Bácanu is regularly in demand at academies, festivals, universities and competitions worldwide. In 2006 he founded his own international marimba competition that is held every three years in cooperation with the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the international summer academy of the Anton Bruckner Private University.

In the course of his musical career, Bogdan Bácanu has received countless prizes and awards. In 1998 he was recognized as “musician of the year” in Australia and became honorary professor at the Sichuan University in China.

In 2008 Bogdan Bácanu formed the Wave Quartet, which, made up entirely of marimba players, is an essential aspect of his work. Since their debut in Berlin, the ensemble has been receiving enthusiastic reviews from both the press and public for their concert tours and recordings.

Bogdan Bácanu plays exclusively on ADAMS Marimbas. The renowned instrument manufacturer developed the 'Bogdan Bácanu Signature Series' of marimba mallets and presented a marimba at the 2015 Musikmesse in Frankfurt that was developed together with Bogdan Bácanu and named after him.


The artist's homepage:

linkhttp://www.bogdanbacanu.com

CDs released by GENUIN

with Bogdan Bácanu