Ioana Galu

Ioana Galu, a native of Romania, has enjoyed a rich career as a performer, researcher and pedagogue in both Europe and the United States. Former Assistant Professor of Violin and chamber music at Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj, Romania, Galu has also been on the faculty at Heidelberg University, Bowling Green State University, and The College of Wooster.

Galu joined the University of South Dakota in 2016 and is currently Associate Professor of Violin/Viola, co-director of the USD Chamber Orchestra and member of the Rawlins Piano Trio. She has served on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival (Greenboro, NC) between 2004 and 2022, and is now the artistic director of the Arioso Chamber Players.

A graduate of Gheorghe Dima Music Academy, Romania, Galu earned a second master’s degree in violin performance from Bowling Green State University, an Artist Diploma from University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music and a doctorate in Contemporary Music from Bowling Green State University. Her most important teachers were Victoria Nicolae, Vasile Beluska, Yim Won Bin and Penny Thompson Kruse.

Galu has completed additional studies with the Voces String Quartet, Amernet String Quartet, Alexandru Gavrilovici, Kiss Ladislau, Trio Kadek, Jacques Saint-Yves, Sherban Lupu, Devics Sandor and Wolfram Just. In 2000, she earned a scholarship to study at the Académie Musicale de Villecroze. France.

She has been awarded prizes in several national and international competitions, including Second Prize in the Mozart International Competition for Piano Trios (Romania), and First Prize and Special Prize of the SOROS Foundation at the George Enescu Violin National Competition (Romania). She also won the Second Prize in the Starling Violin Competition College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati (CCM) and was the winner of the CCM Concerto Competition with Bernstein’s Serenade.

Galu has performed recitals in Romania, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, and the United States. She appeared as soloist with Transylvania Philharmonic, Tg. Mures Philharmonic, Sibiu Philharmonic, and Satu Mare Philharmonic (Romania) and with CCM Orchestra, Heidelberg University Orchestra, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Southern Great Lakes Symphony, Central Ohio Symphony, Perrysburg Symphony, BGSU Philharmonia, USD Chamber Orchestra, USD Symphony, USD Percussion Ensemble and South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (United States). Her most recent solo performances include Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion Ensemble and Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra.

Between 2006 and 2009 she served as the concertmaster of Central Ohio Symphony in Delaware, and between 2012 and 2016 she served as the concertmaster of the Southern Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra. Galu is currently a member of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

Together with Bistrita Society of Concerts, Galu co-founded the "American Musicians in Transylvania" festival in her hometown of Bistrita, Romania. The festival brings together Romanian and American artists for chamber music concerts in different Transylvanian cities.

Galu presented the world premiere of Marilyn Shrude's violin concerto Libro D'Ore with the Central Ohio Symphony and the European premiere with the Sibiu State Philharmonic in Romania. She gave its US premiere and subsequently recorded the concerto for Albany Records. Galu also recorded "Music Under Political Unrest” - Works for Two Violins by Grażyna Bacewicz, Henryk Górecki, and Michał Spisak with Iuliana Cotirlea, violin.