Born in Ireland to Romanian parents, both professional violinists, Ioana Petcu-Colan was given a violin as soon as she could walk and performed on stage for the first time at the age of six. Performance studies in Ireland, France and England followed, resulting in Ioana's holding the highest possible qualifications in the Premier Prix, BMus and MA Perf. Ioana currently lives in Barcelona and enjoys a full and varied performing career throughout Europe and further afield.
As soloist with orchestra, Ioana has performed the Shostakovitch, Bruch, Beethoven, Mozart, Khatchaturian and both Prokofiev Violin Concertos, shorter works by Sarasate, Saint-Saens, Mozart, Wieniawski, Vaughan Williams and Dennehy and, on the baroque violin, several concertos by Bach. A keen chamber musician, Ioana was leader and founder member of the Callino Quartet with whom she toured, recorded and coached for seven years. She has a huge command of the violin and piano duo repertoire having performed, among others, the entire set of Beethoven Piano and Violin Sonatas and she is currently violinist with piano trio Ensemble Avalon whose 'sunlit playing' (The Strad) has earned them an active profile as Ireland's leading piano trio, encompassing concert tours, their own Avalon Winter Chamber Festival and their debut CD.
Contemporary music plays a big part in Ioana's professional life, she has been commissioning works and giving premieres since she was still at school. More recently she has recorded Luigi Nono's 40-minute work for solo violin 'la Lontananza de la Utopica Futura' for broadcast on BBC Radio 3, has worked closely with Arvo Part, duetted with Philip Glass and performed Sir John Tavener's 'Dhyana' with the Ulster Orchestra. She is also involved in editing a volume of accessible contemporary works for solo violin for major publishing house Universal Edition. Future projects include collaborating on and performing the world premiere of 'Una Santa Oscura' - a full-length mixed-media music/theatre work for solo violin by Irish composer Ian Wilson.
Ioana is currently midway through a personal project, kindly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, studying and performing all the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin alongside the Telemann Twelve Fantaisies for Solo Violin. She plays an Italian 1695 Goffredo Cappa violin.