Bogdan Vacarescu

Bogdan was born on March 12 in Bucharest, Romania. In 2008, Bogdan was invited by Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared to perform the violin solos throughout the soundtrack for the film Adam Resurrected, recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
In 2007, he started together with a few friends the East European group Paprika Balkanicus which in 2010 was renamed to Paprika . Within just a few weeks from its birth, the group was asked to play in some of the most popular clubs in London and major festivals such as Royal Festival Hall, WOMAD, Glastonbury Festival, Secret Gardens, Edinburgh fringe, Exit and many others as well as world tours.
Between the years 2002 and 2006 Bogdan was a part of the Graffiti Classics string quartet with which he made world tours and festivals.
He was selected to be a part of the World Youth Orchestra and in 1997 he was asked to play in the Verbier Festival (Switzerland) in a septet with the great violinist Nigel Kennedy.

Bogdan obtained 1st and 2nd prizes in violin and chamber music competitions and also made numerous recordings in Television and Radio in different countries.
Throughout his career he has had many recitals all over the world and played, with different philharmonic orchestras, some of the major violin concertos such as Paganini, Brahms, Vieuxtemps, Lalo, Mendelssohn, Bach and others.

He was 4 years old when he started playing violin under the lead of Beno Schwartzman, a remarkable teacher of Romanian violin school. At the age of 5 he has won his first award in a violin competition.
Since 1990, he has continued his studies with Professor Paul Ratz, soloist, composer and concertmaster at the Bucharest National State Opera Orchestra as well as professor at the "University of Music" in Bucharest, where he was his student.
Bogdan graduated the Music High school - “George Enescu”, and finished the University of Music in Bucharest where he also achieved the bachelor degree in the year 2000.
In 2003, Bogdan graduated from the London Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with the renowned professor Gyorgy Pauk, with a Diploma in Postgraduate Performance.

Contact: bogdan at vacarescu.com (please replace "at" with "@" - security against spambots)

Bogdan's detailed CV here.

"THEIR name suggests a spicy mixture, and Paparika Balkanicus do not disappoint.
They are the kind of act one might expect at Womadelaide rather than the Cabaret Festival.
Ostensibly they perform music from the Balkans, notably Serbia and Romania, whence the group’s members originate.
But their musical material comes from all over, sometimes transformed to the point of being almost unrecognisable.
Luis Bonfa’s Brazilian classic Manha de Carnival was ‘balkanised’ in their first number, giving just a hint of the eclectic mix to come. Odd time signatures and frenetic tempi are the hallmarks of their style.
Instrumental virtuosity is very much to the fore, with accordionist Milos Milivojevic and bassist Jozef Secnik both showing exceptional facility.
But it was violinist Bogdan Vacarescu who captured attention. His excursions into classical repertoire were as remarkable as they were unexpected.
The hackneyed Csardas by Monti was punctuated by a cadenza that segued from Hungarian gypsy via Ernst’s fiendish variations on the Last Rose of Summer to a Bach Partita and back again.
Vacarescu is clearly a violinist with serious classical credentials who enjoys letting his hair down – which he did literally by removing his hat to reveal what I can only surmise is a Balkan mullet.
It was a wild ride – fast, furious, exhausting and exhilarating."

"Paprika Balkanicus is an all-singing all-dancing celebration. And that’s just the audience, large portions of which were on their collective feet before the end of the second song of the night. This splendid band, comprising a Romanian, two Serbs and a Slovakian, live in commendable harmony, celebrating a unique musical heritage. The presence of large numbers of cultural devotees was the icing on the cake, with cheering and clapping at the announcement of each successive number. Lusty clapping was compulsory, even if a difficult one in compound time taxed the audience’s ability! No matter, it all sounded like applause to me."

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