Short Bio:

One of the leading cimbalom virtuosos of his generation, Ivan Curtean has delighted audiences in concert halls across Europe. His most recent concert engagements included performances in USA, Hungary, Slovenia, France, Switzerland, Slovakia, Romania, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Ivan has premiered, promoted and collaborated on cimbalom works by Thomas Adés, Dalit Raij, Magor Bucz, Igor Iachimciuc, under the baton of conductors Rácz Zoltán, László Tihany, Mihai Agafiță. His active role in contemporary music for the cimbalom led to a collaboration with the joint program of Manhattan School of Music in New York and the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest). Notable among his achievements is the premiere of Alexander Timofeev’s Concerto for Cimbalom and Orchestra, Op. 3.

A disciple of Professor Valeriu Luță at the Ciprian Porumbescu Republican Music Lyceum, Ivan grasped the traditions of the Moldovan cimbalom school from a young age, winning cimbalom competitions in Moldova, Romania, Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Slovakia. He is currently in his third year at the doctoral program at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. His dissertation research is focused on C.P.E. Bach’s Free Fantasias, and their unexplored connections with cimbalom idiomatic technique. Ivan also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from this prestigious institution where he crossed paths with illustrious artists and teachers – Severényi Ilona, Szalai András, Balogh Kálmán, Lukács Miklós and others.

In his performances, Ivan shares a passion for the music of his native Moldova and the Eastern European region, promoting classical as well as new repertoire and advancing the virtuoso folk improvisation traditions of the cimbalom.