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The Romanian marimba player and arranger, Bogdan Bácanu, studied marimba at the Mozarteum University in his present hometown Salzburg, 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 USA. He has performed with well-known artists like Keiko Abe, Gidon Kremer, Peter Sadlo, Heinrich Schiff, Momoko Kamiya. In a variety of concert projects, he has collaborated with conductors like Cristian Mandeal, Dennis Russell Davies, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa and Horia Andreescu, among others, orchestras like Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Heilbronner Symphonieorchester, Radio Symphony Orchestra Bucharest, Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra and various Ensembles out of Orchestras as Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Madrid Philharmonics, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker. Renowned, international awards and exuberant concert reviews from around the world have continued to attend his career as soloist and educator in equal measure.
Bogdan Bácanu 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 Bacanu has been professor of marimba at the 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 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, Bogdan Bácanu then founded the International Marimba Competition in Linz in 2006 (Artistic Director), featuring a prestigious jury. In 2009 and 2012, the competition was held in cooperation with the Mozarteum University and the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg. The edition 2015 will be the first official event at the newly built Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz.
Composers like Hannes Schalle (Austria), John Thrower (Canada/Germany), Alexander Müllenbach (Luxembourg/Austria) and Emmanuel Sejourne (France) have composed pieces and concertos dedicated to Bogdan Bácanu, which he has released in part on his CD's.
In 2008 Bogdan Bácanu founded the Wave Quartet so that it could play J.S. Bach's concertos for two harpsichords on four marimbas. The Wave Quartet debuted at Konzerthaus Berlin with ARD Competition prize winner Christoph Sietzen as well as Emiko Uchiyama and Vladi Petrov, who have won prizes at international competitions as a duo. Further concerts and master classes have taken the quartet to many countries all across Europe as well as to Asia, where the rather unusual ensemble was immediately given an enthusiastic reception by audiences. While still in Berlin, the quartet devoted itself to its great passion for Baroque music, performing the C major Concerto for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1061a, on four marimbas. The performance earned rave reviews from the audience and critics not least because of the ensemble’s respectful and historically informed interpretation. Baroque music has been a mainstay in the ensemble’s repertoire ever since, leading to collaboration with Salzburg’s Mozarteum Orchestra at the Salzburg Festspielhaus or the Romanian Radio National Orchestra at Bucharest.
The ensemble’s debut CD, "Aurora Borealis", was released in 2008, followed a year later by a recording of all three J.S. Bach's concertos for two harpsichords with conductor Peter Sadlo and the Salzburg Baroque ensemble Originalklangorchester. The next CD, "Senza Ripieno", was released in 2011 and featured rarely heard treasures from the Baroque period without other instrumental accompaniment, creating an intimate recital disc. The quartet performs exclusively on Adams Musical Instruments marimbas.
Bogdan Bácanu himself loves and respects the compositions of J.S. 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, BWV 1054 and BWV 1056 have been released on CD and also as music scores with the Norwegian edition, NORSK.
Bogdan Bácanu performs exclusively on ADAMS Marimbas. The renowned instrument manufacturer has developed the 'Bogdan Bácanu Signature Series' of marimba mallets and presented a Marimba at the Musikmesse Frankfurt 2015, which was developed together and named after Bogdan Bacanu. His highly successful cooperation with Classic Concert Records since 2004 resulted seven CD recordings and is evidence of the artist's versatility. For 2013 Bogdan Bacanu and Composer/Mediaproducer Hannes M. Schalle are preparing a multimedia driven perprogramme which will be premiered in autumn in Salzburg and released on the web. He currently lives in Linz, Austria. |
