Ioana Petcu-Colan – Violin
An Irish violinist of Romanian origin, Ioana is an established soloist and chamber musician travelling internationally to perform from her current home in Barcelona.
Ioana’s solo appearances with orchestra have featured Khachaturian, Shostakovitch, Bruch, Beethoven, Mozart and both Prokofiev Violin Concertos, as well as works by Saint-Saëns, Wieniaswki, Mozart and Sarasate, and concertos by Bach performed both on modern and baroque violin. Ioana is soloist on two CDs released by RTÉ and was invited to premier “Elastic Harmonic” for Violin and Orchestra by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy on Irish national television.
A keen chamber musician, Ioana is former 1st violin and founder member of the Callino Quartet with whom she enjoyed a full and varied performing career including concert tours, festival appearances and recordings. In duo partnership she has performed the complete Beethoven Piano and Violin Sonata cycle, she is a member of piano trio Ensemble Avalon and of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and is violinist with the Arum Chamber Ensemble who together explore lesser-known works.
Ioana’s studies took her from Ireland through France, obtaining the Premier Prix ŕ l’Unanimité at the age of sixteen, to the UK where she was awarded a 1st class Honours BMus degree from the London Royal Academy of Music before returning to Ireland to receive a 1st class MA in Performance from the Cork School of Music.
Ioana plays on an Italian violin, built by Goffredo Cappa in 1695.