Bogdan Bacanu
received his first engagement as a percussionist with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra George Enescu in 1988, aged 13. He then began touring with that orchestra in Romania, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey. At the same time he performed solo concerti (piano as well as percussion) and was accompanied by various orchestras. Bácanu was priveleged to receive lessons from notable pedagogues such as Keiko Abe (Japan) and Siegfried Fink (Germany) until his studies eventually began with Peter Sadlo at the Mozarteum, University of Salzburg.
In 1996 he won the Keiko-Abe-Prize at the World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart.
At the age of 23 he became a professor for marimba at the famous Bruckner University in Linz (Austria).
In the years between 1997 and 2005 he gave solo concerts and concerts with orchestras and ensembles. He toured in Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, England, Germany, France, Spain, Romania, Cypress, Greece, Japan, Korea, Australia, Canada, Turkey, Switzerland and the USA. He has concertised with such well known artists as Keiko Abe, Gidon Kremer, Peter Sadlo, Nancy Zeltsman, Katarzyna Mycka, Lee Howard Stevens, Robert van Sice, Gordon Stout, Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic and William Moersch.
He has been invited to renowned music festivals such as The Biennal in Brisbane (Australia), the Princeton Marimba Festival, the Percussion Festival of Thessaloniki and the Lockenhaus Music Festival. Voices of Percussion Vienna, World Marimba Festival Osaka, the 2nd International Marimba Competition 2004 in Belgium, 2005 in Slovenia, International Percussion Competition PENDIM in Plovdiv / Bulgaria, IKMMA Poland, Zeltsman Marimba Festival in the USA, International Marimba Festival 2004 in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico where he gave concerts to great critical acclaim.
Bogdan Bacanu is a professor at the International Summer Academy in Salzburg, at the IKMMA, was a guest professor at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival in the USA, at the 4th International Marimba Festival 2004 in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico and was invited by distinguished Universities and Festivals for masterclasses in The Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Romania, Cypress, Greece, Japan, Australia, Turkey as well as the USA.
Bácanu was invited to be a member of the jury at the 2nd International Marimba Competition 2004 in Belgium, International Marimba Competition 2005 in Ljubljana / Slovenia and the International Percussion Competition PENDIM in Plovdiv / Bulgaria.
As Artistic Director of the International Marimba Festival Linz he brought a recurring cultural event into being.
After the continual success of his festivals he founded the International Marimba Competition in Linz 2006, which is complemented by a jury consisting of musicians of the highest order.
Bogdan Bácanu plays exclusively on ADAMS Artist Classic Custom Marimbas. The renowned instrument manufacturer and Bogdan Bácanu developed a ‘Signature Series’ of Marimba Mallets, named the ‘Bogdan Bácanu Series’.
His highly successful collaboration with Classic Concert Records exhibits this artist’s versatility.
