By Kevin Friedrich
2025 ATG Guest Artist and World Champion accordionist Radu Ratoi (Moldova) joined Austrian pianist Kiron Tellian as one of only two winners of the 2024 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions (YCA), in New York City. The results were announced at the conclusion of the final round of 12 outstanding artist auditions at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. Narrowed down from 37 musicians advancing to the semi-finals in New York City, Radu was the only accordionist selected from 180 initial applicants. Radu and Kiron will were featured at the Winners Concert the following day at New York’s Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum.
Renowned for identifying and investing in musicians of “exceptional caliber” (The New York Times), the competition, based on a preliminary round of live auditions in New York and Los Angeles, and virtual auditions via video submission, 38 artists including Radu, were selected to advance to the semi-final round.
To give you an idea of the field of musicians Radu triumphed over, the semi-finalists were: pianists Derek Wang, Hoi Leong Cheong, Hyojin Shin, Jihyung Youn, Jonathan Mak, Kiron Tellian, Saehyun Kim, Tom Zalmanov, Yang (Jack) Gao, Yuval Hen, Zitong Wang; violists Nicolas Garrigues, Emad Zolfaghari; violinists Elli Choi, Emmanuel Coppey, Haram Kim, Julian Rhee, Karisa Chiu, Koshiro Takeuchi, Leonard Fu, Rino Yoshimoto; accordionist Radu Ratoi; oboist Jamie Yoojin Lee; bassoonist Jakob Peäske; flutists Blue Shelton, Rafael Mendez; saxophonist Maria Torres-Melgares; ensembles Terra String Quartet, Erinys String Quartet, Paddington Trio, Trio Azura, baritones Gregory Feldmann, Shavon Lloyd, mezzo-soprano Ruby Dibble; sopranos Alexandra Hotz, Maggie Kinabrew, Shelén Hughes.
Anchored by Young Concert Artists (YCA) founder Susan Wadsworth and YCA President Daniel Kellogg, the jury for the semi-final and final rounds comprised of pianists Inon Barnatan and Angela Cheng, violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, violinists Barry Shiffman and Pamela Frank, flutist Marya Martin, soprano Dawn Upshaw and conductor Constantine Orbelian; along with Cristina Rocca, VP of Artistic Planning at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Donald Palumbo, Chorus Master at the Metropolitan Opera; and Abhijit Sengupta, Director of Artistic Planning at Carnegie Hall. The jury makeup of artists, managers, concert presenters and conductors reflects YCA’s broad connections throughout the classical music world, which in turn is one of the key benefits for the young artists accepted into its three-year YCA Jacobs Fellowship.
Named for a generous gift from Joan and Irwin Jacobs, the YCA Jacobs Fellowship offers artists selected through YCA’s famously rigorous audition process a holistic system of support and opportunities, including artist management services, an expanded digital portfolio, dedicated mentorship, community engagement training, and unparalleled performance opportunities, helping them develop their unique artistic voices. This Fellowship is recognized as the world’s most comprehensive, innovative, and well-resourced incubator for the brightest and most promising young artists, preparing these rising stars to lead the future of classical music.
Radu Ratoi started accordion at the age of 6 and his stage career started already at 7, 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”. Being still in Moldova, he started to participate in international well-known competitions. At 18 years old, he won most of them in 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.
From there he attended the “The Royal Danish Academy of Music” in Copenhagen, where he won the Soning Music Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in Denmark. Between 2018 to 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. In total, until now he won more than 60 national and international awards.
With his transcriptions of J.S. Bach, D. Scarlatti, J.P. Rameau, F. Liszt and many more, he reinvented and improved the accordion repertoire. Praised for his originality, versatility, virtuosity in the Classical and contemporary repertoire, he won the Art Award in the Republic of Moldova “Master in Arts”. In 2022 he received the renowned Moldavian National Distinction “Master in Arts” offered by the President of Republic Moldova. What makes him unique, is the way he combines two important musical traditions: the Russian school, and the West European school, melting them in a very personal style.
Radu released his accordion CD “Greatest Organ Works arranged for Accordion” in 2022, recording pieces by J.S. Bach and F. Liszt. Playing solo and chamber, having collaborations with various artists and orchestras, Radu is being acclaimed for his concerts worldwide, attracting the public with his musicality, technique and charisma. Since 2024, Radu was appointed as a soloist with The National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova.
In his stellar career as soloist he performed in some of the most important concert halls in the world: Berlin Philharmonic, Radio Concert House Copenhagen, Victoria Concert Hall, Tivoli Hall Copenhagen, Aram Khachaturian’s Concert Hall in Yerevan, Harbin Concert Hall and many others.
We invite you to join us next summer from July 16 - 20, 2025 where you can hear Radu perform as a featured guest artist at our 83rd Annual Competition and Festival held in Lisle, Il. (Chicago).
You can watch archived live-stream of the final competition and winners concert at https://yca.org/auditions/