The Wave Quartet
In 2008 Bogdan Bacanu – high in demand internationally as a marimba soloist and then the youngest professor of marimba – founded the Wave Quartet so that it could play Johann Sebastian Bach’s concertos for two harpsichords on four marimbas. The Wave Quartet debuted at Konzerthaus Berlin with ARD Competition prize winner Christoph Sietzen as well as Emiko Uchiyama and Vladi Petrov, who have won prizes at international competitions as a duo. Further concerts and master classes have taken the quartet to many countries all across Europe as well as to Asia, where the rather unusual ensemble was immediately given an enthusiastic reception by audiences. While still in Berlin, the quartet devoted itself to its great passion for Baroque music, performing the C major Concerto for Two Harpsichords, BWV1061a, on four marimbas. The performance earned rave reviews from the audience and critics not least because of the ensemble’s respectful and historically informed interpretation. Baroque music has been a mainstay in the ensemble’s repertoire ever since, leading to collaboration with Salzburg’s Mozarteum Orchestra at the Salzburg Festspielhaus or the Romanian National Symphony Orchestra at Bucharest’s Romanian Athenaeum. The ensemble’s debut CD, Aurora Borealis, was released in 2008, followed a year later by a recording of all three Bach concertos for two harpsichords with conductor Peter Sadlo and the Salzburg Baroque ensemble Originalklang!orchester. The next CD, Senza Ripieno, was released in 2011 and featured rarely heard treasures from the Baroque period without other instrumental accompaniment, creating an intimate recital disc. The quartet performs exclusively on Adams Musical Instruments marimbas.