SILVAN NEGRUȚIU
Artistic Director
Faculty
Hailed as “a startling and authentic pianist displaying rich imagination and brilliant vigor, whose precision and splendor of keyboard sound certainly inspire a transcendental reality” (The Musical News Journal, Bucharest), Silvan Negruţiu has established himself as one of the leading musicians of his generation. He has performed on major international stages, from the Kennedy Center in Washington DC to Ireland's National Concert Hall, the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, the Xi’an Concert Hall in China, the Showa Recital Hall in Tokyo, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. A laureate of numerous international piano competitions, including the Rome and Salerno (Italy), the Seiler (Bulgaria), the Feis Ceoil (Ireland), and the Konzerteum (Greece), Silvan Negruțiu has appeared as soloist with prestigious orchestras, such as the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Alicante Philharmonic, George Enescu Philharmonic, and Dublin Symphony Orchestra.
Silvan Negruțiu has commissioned and premiered new music, most recently performing and recording the world premières of Robert Chumbley’s Five Bagatelles and Zack Stanton’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble. His new album, “Bagatelles,” featuring works by Beethoven, Alexander Tcherepnin, Carl Vine, and Robert Chumbley, was released by Centaur Records in September 2021, and his recent collaboration with Japanese violinist Akemi Takayama on the album Carl Roskott: Works for Violin (Centaur Records, 2018) has garnered rave reviews, including a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement by Global Music Awards.
In demand as a performer, clinician, adjudicator, and speaker, Silvan Negruțiu appears frequently as an artist-teacher at international music festivals across Europe, America, and Asia. He has been praised for his innovative programming in concerts and recordings, which often combines mainstream and rare piano repertoire. He promotes the music of Romanian composers, with a primary focus on George Enescu and Constantin Silvestri. In 2020 he performed virtual concerts at the invitation of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York and the George Enescu National Museum in Bucharest, celebrating the anniversaries of Enescu and Silvestri. His recent performance projects included concerts celebrating Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, thematic recitals featuring piano bagatelles and Romanian composers, and appearances on the Kirkland Series (Decatur, IL), the Musical Arts Series (Durant, OK), the Enescu Soirées (New York, NY), the Keys to Excellence Series (Des Moines, IA), and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series (Chicago, IL), broadcast live on Chicago’s classical music radio station, WFMT.
As an artist, a teacher, and a scholar, Silvan Negruțiu embraces the exploration of innovative music pedagogy, rare piano literature, and the advancement of arts entrepreneurship in higher education. He holds piano performance degrees from Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia (D.M.A.), the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Dublin City University in Ireland (M.M.), and the Romanian National University of Music in Bucharest (B.M.). Silvan Negruțiu is Director of Piano Studies and Associate Professor at Northern Arizona University, and Artistic Director of Flagstaff Piano Festival. Prior to his appointment at NAU, he served as Chair of Keyboard & Instrumental Studies at Millikin University, and has taught at Shenandoah Conservatory and the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
