Bogdan Bacanu has been professor of marimba at the famous Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz (Austria) starting at the age of 23 and is thus the youngest professor of his kind, world-wide. In 1998 he was awarded ,Musician of the Year‘ in Australia and in 2010 a honorary professorship by the University of Sechuan / China. Since 2011 he also teaches at the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He was given piano instruction at the age of five in Bucharest, his birthplace, and was already a percussionist with the George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic at age 13. Bogdan Bácanu studied marimba at the Mozarteum University in his present hometown with his great mentor, Professor Peter Sadlo.
Since then, Bogdan Bácanu has given solo concerts and concertos with orchestra and ensembles, touring in Norway, Denmark, Holland, England, Germany, France, Spain, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Japan, Korea, China, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Australia, Canada, Turkey, Switzerland, Mexico and the United States. He has performed with well-known artists like Keiko Abe, Gidon Kremer, Peter Sadlo, Heinrich Schiff. In a variety of concert projects, he has collaborated with conductors like Dennis Russell Davies, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Cristian Mandeal and Horia Andreescu, among others, and orchestras like Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Heilbronner Symphonieorchester, Osaka Philharmonics, Bucharest Philharmonic and various radio symphony orchestras like the RSO Bucharest. Renowned, international awards and exuberant concert reviews from around the world have continued to attend his career as soloist and educator in equal measure.
A close partnership teams him up with Momoko Kamiya, the Japanese marimba player, in concerts, master classes and CD recordings.
He has been invited repeatedly to renowned music festivals such as the Biennal Brisbane (Australia), Princeton Marimba Festival, Percussion Festival of Thessaloniki, Lockenhaus Music Festival, Voices of Percussion Wien, Musiksommer Grafenegg, Wörthersee Festspiele, Carinthischer Sommer, Donaufestwochen, World Marimba Festival Osaka, 'les museiques' Festival Basel/Schweiz, Salzburg Festival, 2nd International Marimba Competition 2004 in Belgium, International Marimba Competition 2005 in Slovenia, International Percussion Competition PENDIM in Plovdiv / Bulgaria, Zeltsman Marimba Festival in the USA, International Marimba Festival in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico where he gave concerts with greatest success and reviews.
Bogdan Bácanu is professor at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg, and was guest professor at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival, USA, the 4th International Marimba Festival 2004 in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, The First Australian Marimba Festival, IKM Marimba Academy Poland and was invited by distinguished universities and festivals to give master classes in The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Cypress, Greece, Japan, China, Australia, Turkey, Mexico as well as the USA. He was a Jury member in International Marimba Competitions such as the International Marimba Competition Belgium, Pendim Competition Bulgaria, International Marimba Competition Ljubliana, First Chinese Marimba Competition.
Due to the resounding, continual success of his festivals, he then founded the International Marimba Competition in Linz in 2006 (Artistic Director), featuring a prestigious jury. From 2009 on, the competition is triannually held in cooperation with the Mozarteum University and the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg.
Composers like John Thrower (Canada/Germany), Alexander Müllenbach (Luxembourg/Austria) and Emmanuel Sejourne (France) have written pieces and concertos dedicated to him which he has released in part on his CDs.
In 2008 Bogdan Bacanu founded The Wave Quartet that soon performed in important concert halls in Europe and Asia, where they met enthusiastic resonance. Already in the first concerts the Quartet had followed their passion for Baroque Music and performed a Concerto for originally 2 harpsichords by Johann Sebastian Bach. Their respectful and historically informed approach enthralled public and critics. Since then baroque music embodies a focus in the Quartets repertoire. In order to that, the Quartets debut CD ,Aurora Borealis‘ was followed in 2009 by a recording of all three Concertos for 2 harpsichords by Bach, Peter Sadlo was hereby conducting ,Salzburg Barock‘ on period instruments. This fascinating fusion of 2 ages also received great regards. The follow-up project ,Senza Ripieno‘ impresses with mostly unpopular, but precious baroque works, without accompaniment, and very intimate.
Bogdan Bácanu himself loves and respects the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach. His greatest desire is to see the marimba established in the music world as a solo instrument. His arrangements of the Concertos BWV 1060 to BWV 1062 for harpsichord demonstrate his respect for the original composition by absolute adherence to the text, shown on his newest CD release, in which he shares the stage with “The Wave Quartet”, Peter Sadlo (conductor) and the Salzburg Baroque Orchestra. Even Baroque music specialists were enthusiastic in regards to the perfection and the rich sounds of the marimba in works by J.S. Bach. Further arrangements by Bácanu like the Chaconne in d-minor BWV 1004 and the Concertos for Harpsichord, BWV 1052, 1054 and 1056 have been released on CD and also as music scores with the Norwegian edition, NORSK.
Bogdan Bácanu performs exclusively on ADAMS Artist Classic Custom Marimbas. The renowned instrument manufacturer has developed the ‘Bogdan Bácanu Signature Series’ of marimba mallets.
His highly successful cooperation with Classic Concert Records since 2004 is evidence of the artist’s versatility.
University Mozarteum Salzburg, Classic Concert Music Group
