Bogdan Dulu

With a knack for leaping musical hurdles, Bogdan Dulu is steadily establishing himself as one of Canada’s noteworthy musicians of the newer generation, combining mastery of the piano with the ability to educate and entertain with his engaging speaking style, intelligence, compassion, and humour. His performing career began early on in his native Romania, with a concerto debut at age 12 broadcast by the Romanian Radio. Studio recordings soon followed, and the young pianist was selected to represent the national broadcasting corporation at the Concertino Prague and New Talent (Bratislava) competitions. It was also during this time that he briefly studied violin privately, and entered most of the national piano competitions available in the country. While he did not enjoy practicing as much, he did show a particular interest in finger exercises, solfège, and aural training. After completing his undergraduate studies in Bucharest (S. Sandrin and Ana Pitis, piano; Verona Maier, chamber music; Viorela Ciucur, collaborative piano), Dulu received a full scholarship to attend Mannes School of Music in New York City, where he studied with Irina Morozova for three transformative years. Other notable influences included Paul Schachter (analysis), Chris Stone (counterpoint), J.Y. Song (graduate research), and Todd Philips and Diane Walsh (chamber music). In 2010, University of British Columbia made him an offer he could not refuse: the Four-Year Fellowship, UBC’s highest funding for top incoming doctoral students. This prompted Dulu’s relocation to Vancouver, Canada, where he soon learned the reason behind the city’s affectionate nickname of Raincouver. At UBC he studied under Distinguished University Scholar, Jane Coop, as well as Rena Sharon (collaborative piano and chamber music), Nathan Hesselink (ethnomusicology; thesis prep advisor), and Richard Kurth (music theory). Dulu is the first pianist to have written a doctoral dissertation on Marc-André Hamelin’s piano Études, researched under the personal guidance of the Canadian composer-pianist. It was during his doctoral studies at UBC that he developed a keen interest in the music of this legendary artist, with whom he worked closely during the final stages of the degree. His reputation as a fast and reliable learner has helped consolidate his standing as one of Vancouver’s go-to pianists for last-minute musical emergencies of considerable might. Such came his Vancouver Symphony Orchestra debut under late music director, Bramwell Tovey, who asked him to step in on a 20-day notice to learn and subsequently premiere the Shalimar Variations, Tovey’s 25-minute concerto for piano and orchestra. The premiere performance was recorded by the CBC. Dulu also competed in some of the more prestigious international piano competitions, among them Sendai, Helsinki, New Orleans, Calgary (Honens), Bucharest (Enescu), Cincinnati, and Seattle. He toured extensively across Canada as a signed artist with Jeunesses Musicales and Debut Atlantic. His High-Voltage Piano/Piano Haute-Voltige program highlighting piano music of Marc-André Hamelin reached audiences across Eastern Canada with a marathon tour of 19 solo recitals in 7 weeks. He also toured the Northwest Territories, reaching communities above the Arctic Circle. He has performed in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa, being equally at home as a soloist as well as a chamber musician, collaborative and orchestral pianist, coach, or public speaker. Radio appearances include NHK Tokyo, YLE Finland, Romanian Radio, KING FM Seattle, WFMT Chicago, and the CBC. Since the 2020/2021 season, Bogdan Dulu can be heard playing the piano, celeste, synth, and the harpsichord in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He has taught piano at the UBC School of Music (sessional instructor), and is currently serving on college faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music | S. K. Lee College (piano, chamber music, and the Career Development class). Additionally, he is on piano faculty at the VSO School of Music, where he is a mentor in the Performance Prep Mentorship Program, and where he serves as department co-chair. Bogdan is a proud naturalized Canadian citizen, and lives on the traditional and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations, colonially known as Vancouver, British Columbia. He is an amateur competitive cyclist and has a rather costly affinity for carbon road bikes. He does not like viola jokes.