Radu Rățoi

Radu Rățoi (born 20 September 1998) is a Moldovan accordionist who performs classical works, original accordion repertoire, and his own transcriptions of works for other instruments.

Early life and education Rățoi was born on 20 September 1998 in Chișinău, Moldova. He began playing accordion at age six and won his first competition at age nine. He studied at the Alexei Stârcea School of Arts in Chișinău and the Ștefan Neaga Centre of Excellence in Artistic Education.

Career In 2016, Rățoi won the Junior Coupe Mondiale in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. In 2018, he won both the Senior Coupe Mondiale and the Senior Virtuoso Entertainment competition at Kaunas, Lithuania, becoming the first Moldovan to win the Coupe Mondiale. Between 2018 and 2020, he won first prizes at the Klingenthal Accordion Competition (2019), the Arrasate Hiria International Accordion Competition (2019), PIF Castelfidardo, and the International Accordion Competition Moscow (2020). In total, he has received over 60 awards. That year, he was also appointed soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova.

Rățoi has performed at venues including the Berlin Philharmonic, Tivoli Concert Hall, Merkin Hall, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Romanian Athenaeum, Harbin Concert Hall and the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra under Constantine Orbelian, the SWR Symphonieorchester under Gemma New, the RDAM Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Søndergård, the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, the Potsdam Chamber Orchestra, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.

His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music, including works by J. S. Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Franz Liszt, and Per Nørgård, as well as original works written for accordion. He has transcribed Liszt's Transcendental Études for accordion. 2023: Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, Denmark