Valentin Mihai Bogdan

PIANO + COMPOSER

A native of Romania, pianist and composer Valentin Mihai Bogdan serves as Assistant Professor of Music at Mississippi University for Women. As a pianist, he has won awards at national and international competitions such as the Ellis National Duo Piano Competition, Varna International Piano Competition, The American Prize, Wayne State University Concerto Competition, and many more. In the United States, he has concertized in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Oregon, and West Virginia. Internationally, he has performed in Europe, Asia, and North America, including France, England, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Jordan, and Canada. He has appeared as a soloist with the Assisi Performing Arts Orchestra (Italy), Starkville Symphony, the Arizona Western Concert Band, and the Wayne State Symphony Orchestra.

As a composer, Valentin Mihai Bogdan has had pieces performed in Europe and North America, at the Assisi Festival of Performing Arts (Italy), Festival Miami, Music at MOCA Concert Series, the Oregon Bach Festival, and at new-music concerts hosted by the College Music Society, NACUSA, the Society of Composers Inc., and the International Trumpet Guild. His music was premiered by musicians of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, Beta Collide, Grambling State University Wind Ensemble, Grambling Chorale, Black Bayou Brass Trio, and the AWC Wind Ensemble. In the past two years, he has fulfilled commissions by trumpet virtuosi James Zingara and Randall Sorensen and ensembles including the University of Alabama Birmingham Trumpet Ensemble, the Starkville-MSU Symphony, and the AWC Concert Band. He was also commissioned by the Dranoff Two Piano Foundation of Miami. Valentin was named the 2010 Florida State Music Teachers Association commissioned composer of the year and the 2015 Mississippi Music Teachers Association commissioned composer. Recordings of Valentin’s music are released on Ablaze Records, Parma Records, and independently on iTunes and CD Baby. He is a graduate of Wayne State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Miami, with degrees in piano and music composition