Praised for his originality, versatility, virtuosity in the Classical and contemporary repertoire, Radu is the winner of some of the most important accordion competitions. In 2024, he won the YCA “Susan Wadsworth” International auditions in New York, USA, one of the most important auditions worldwide for young instrumentalists.
As a paramount gratification for his professional activity, he won the Leonnie Sonning Music Prize -Talent Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in Denmark.
Ratoi holds the prestigious Moldovan National Distinction “Master in Arts,” awarded by President Maia Sandu for outstanding professional achievement. In a further testament to his cultural impact, he was recently honored with the National Prize of Moldova, the highest award granted by the government.
Since 2024, Radu was appointed as a soloist with The National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova. Playing solo and chamber, having collaborations with various artists and orchestras, Radu is giving unbelievable concerts worldwide, attracting the public with his musicality, technique and charisma.
Radu Ratoi (b. 20.09.1998) started accordion at the age of 6, feeling inspired since his first lesson. Radu describes the accordion as “an instrument with almost unlimited possibilities”. That we can also see on stage – people who know already Radu’s style, are always amazed by his way of playing and feeling the accordion. His main goal is to prove the world that the accordion is underestimated and has unthinkable possibilities in all the musical genres. With his transcriptions of J.S.Bach, D.Scarlatti, J.P.Rameau, F.Liszt and many more, he reinvented and improved the accordion repertoire.
Radu’s stage career started already at 7 years old, being on stage for concerts and contests. He attended “Alexei Starcea” School of Arts in his hometown, Chisinau, in the Republic of Moldova, afterwards he continued his undergraduate studies at the Centre of Excellence in Artistic Education “Stefan Neaga”, in the same city. Being still in Moldova, he started to participate in international well-known competitions.
At 18 years old, he won most of them with the Junior categories, such as Coupe Mondiale, Trophy Mondiale, Castelfidardo, etc. He won these competitions both in Classical Music categories, and in Virtuoso/Entertainment Music categories, being the first who achieved both these titles. In 2018 he got the “Excellence Diploma” from the President of the Republic of Moldova.
Next step on his path was “The Royal Danish Academy of Music” in Copenhagen, Denmark. Between 2018 and 2020, he won the 6 most important competitions in the world – Coupe Mondiale, Klinghenthal Accordion Competition, Trophy Mondiale, Arrasate Accordion Competition, PIF Castelfidardo, and Moscow Accordion Competition.
This was a worldwide performance, being the first and only one who won the “Big Six” competitions in Classical and Entertainment Music. In total, until now he won more than 60 national and international awards.
Radu recorded his accordion CD “Greatest Organ Works arranged for Accordion” in 2022, with pieces by J.S.Bach and F.Liszt. In 2023, Radu arranged and recorded “12 Transcendental Etudes’’ by F. Liszt.
In his stellar career as a soloist, he performed in some of the most important concert halls in the world: Berlin Philharmonic, Kennedy Center, Tivoli Hall Copenhagen, Merkin Hall, Harbin Concert Hall and many others.
Radu is playing a Pigini Nova – RR – specially built and modified for him.
He is represented worldwide by CAMI Music, LLC.
