Dan-Iulian Druțac, violin

Moldovan-born violinist Dan-Iulian Druțac is a London-based soloist and chamber musician whose work brings the established violin repertoire into dialogue with music from Romania, Moldova and wider Eastern Europe. Alongside major repertoire by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, his programmes champion Enescu and distinctive voices including Porumbescu, Weinberg and Boris Dubosarschi. His work combines artistic rigour, vivid storytelling and a direct connection with audiences.

Born in Chișinău in 1996, Dan-Iulian began studying the violin at seven with Iulia Luță and Galina Buinovschi, guided by his father. By the age of fifteen, he was a laureate of more than twenty national and international competitions. In 2013, he moved to London after winning the Whitgift International Music Competition and receiving a full scholarship to Whitgift School. He continued his studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, winning the Lutine Prize in 2015 and reaching the Gold Medal final in 2018. From 2021 to 2023, he studied with Zakhar Bron at Madrid's Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía.

Dan-Iulian made his London concerto debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 2015, performing Glazunov's Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic and Whitgift Symphony Orchestras. The following year, he performed Bruch's First Violin Concerto with the Romanian Sinfonietta Orchestra under Horia Andreescu at the Magic Summer Festival at the Romanian Athenaeum. In 2018, he performed Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the Romanian Youth Orchestra under Cristian Mandeal and later appeared with the Transylvania State Philharmonic under Theo Wolters. Recent concerto highlights include Sibelius with the Vanbrugh Ensemble, Beethoven with the Bridgewater Sinfonia, and performances of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in Chișinău and Bacău under Mihail Agafița. In March 2026, he returned to the Great Hall of the Romanian Athenaeum for a recital with cellist Constantin Borodin and pianist Marcel Lazăr, performing trios by Rachmaninov, Enescu and Dubosarschi.

Chamber music and artistic collaboration are central to his work. A member of the Fitzroy Quartet since 2019, Dan-Iulian has performed across the UK and in France, including a Scottish tour as Tunnell Trust prizewinners and a recital at Carlisle Cathedral. He is a founding member of Moldo Crescendo, a chamber music festival that has presented more than fifty concerts across Moldova and Romania, and a core member of the London-based Meliora Collective, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2026. His educational work with Moldo Crescendo has included a series of workshops and performances in music schools across Moldova, bringing live classical music directly to young audiences.

Alongside his solo and chamber career, Dan-Iulian performs regularly with the Sinfonia of London and is Principal Second Violin of Chromatica Orchestra, formerly the Bath Festival Orchestra. He also collaborates with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Hallé and other leading ensembles. He performs on a Richard Tobin violin, generously loaned by the Harrison-Frank Family Foundation. Inspired by his Moldovan roots and European training, Dan-Iulian is committed to bringing Romanian and Moldovan music into the international repertoire, presenting it not as a historical curiosity but as vivid, emotionally immediate music with a natural place on today's concert stages.