Raluca Elena Apetria
Born on 15 January 1988, Romanian pianist Raluca Elena Apetria was introduced to the piano at an early age by her father, Mihai Apetria, a french horn player at the Botoșani Philharmonic Orchestra, and her mother, Lenuța Apetria, an enthusiastic music lover.
Raluca’s talent was recognized when she was very young. She started learning piano at the age of seven, with piano teacher Stela Șerpeanu at Ștefan Luchian Arts School.
In 2000, at the age of 12, Raluca made her debut as piano soloist with the Botoșani Philarmonic Orchestra, playing Piano Concerto in D major by J. Haydn.
At 15 years old she met Mihail Secichin, a Russian conductor and pianist, with whom she started to study mostly Rusian piano pieces. One year later, at the age of 16, Raluca performed Piano Concerto no. 1, by S. Rachmaninoff.
Raluca’s warm, sometimes sorrowful playing may reflect a close proximity to Romanian and Russian folk-music, which she cites as major influences on her musicality.
Raluca received many awards at several school contests and national competitions, where she proved her high level of performance as a pianist.
She also attended various master classes with famous Romanian pianists, such as Daniel Goiți, Horia Mihail and Dana Borșan.
When she was 19 years old, she moved to Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, where she charted her musical path studying both Composition and Piano at the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy.
During her Music Composition Studies with PhD. Adrian Pop, a well respected Romanian Composer, Raluca won second prize at the Liviu Comes Composition Contest with her musical piece “Peste vârfuri”, for mezzo soprano and piano.
In 2016, she collaborated with director Cristian Ioan in composing the score for a fictional short movie entitled “The Sound from Within”.
After graduating from the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy, Raluca began focusing less on solo recitals and more on fruitful partnerships.
Raluca’s interests broadened to include Jazz, Psychedelic Rock, World Music and Electronic Music.
At the age of 28, Raluca left her native country and started a new musical adventure in Belgium.
The first contact with the Belgian scene happened as a composer, with a piece of music for 2 horns , “De Spiegel” written for the “Face to Face” musical show.
She collaborated with various artists and groups like Paulo Rodrigues, Kel Assouf, Makara, Funkfara, Quantum Drive, Trio LiRaMi, Quintico, Acid Groove and Sens Unic.
Currently based in Brussels, Raluca is involved in several musical projects as a composer, pianist, keyboardist, sound designer and piano teacher. Recently she started a different musical path, combining the passion for music with sound therapy.
She performed on stages in Romania, The United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Portugal and Poland.
Her broad and varied repertoire includes demanding works by Rachmaninoff and Bartok, where technical skills and rhythmic drive are required, as well as more colourful textures from the musical worlds of Debussy, Poulenc and Erik Satie.
