Dragoș Andrei Cantea is a concert pianist and cultural entrepreneur, shaped artistically by the renowned Iași school of music. Between 1999 and 2017, he studied under the mentorship of Ioana Stănescu, a partnership that spanned his pre-university, undergraduate, and first master’s studies. Under her guidance, Dragoș achieved numerous accolades, including national competition prizes, solo recitals, and performances with leading orchestras across Romania.
He has collaborated with top Romanian Philharmonic Orchestras such as Iași, Bacău, Sibiu, Brașov, Timișoara or Oradea, and debuted in London in 2018 with Masque Chamber Orchestra at St. James’ Piccadilly. His collaborations have brought him together with conductors such as Pawel Kapula, Vlad Vizireanu, Ovidiu Balan, Theo Wolters, Radu Popa, Fergus MacAlpine and the great Cristian Mandeal, amongst others. In chamber music settings, he shared the stage with the likes of Hyeyoon Park, Wen-Sinn Yang, Kathryn Stott or Benedict Kloeckner.
He completed his Doctoral Studies under the care of VOCES String Quartet cellist, Dan Prelipcean. He is an alumnus of the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, at the classes of Håvard Gimse and Kathryn Stott, graduating in 2021 with his project “Nationalism in Music – An Artistic-Diplomatic Instrument for Understanding Shared Values”.
Since 2017, Dragoș has played a key role as an independent cultural bridge between Romania and Norway, being in charge of the most important culturally diplomatic events between the two countries. In 2018 he took on the artistic direction of the European Creative Futures program.
In 2017, he founded DAC Music Performance in Oslo, an organization through which he manages artistic productions for both the private and public sectors in Norway, working with companies such as Telenor, Nordea, Eurodent, and DNB Sparebankstiftelsen. Since 2020, DAC Music Performance has also partnered with Romanian institutions on projects funded by Norwegian and EEA grants.
Since 2019, Dragoș has been a guest lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Vaasa, Finland
In 2020, Dragoș co-founded the Classix Festival, now the largest independent classical music event in North-Eastern Romania, where he serves as Artistic Director.
He is also the recipient of several mentorships and scholarships, including Roche Continents 2018, Act in Art 2019, and the Rising Leaders program of the US Embassy in Norway, in collaboration with AmCham Norway.
In 2023 he was named Honorary Counsellor of the Romanian Ministry of Culture.
In 2024 he published his book, „The Complete Piano Works of Leoš Janáček. Transcendence through Programmatism” at Editura Muzicală and Editura Artes. That same year he started to serve as the cultural attaché of the Embassy of Romania to the Kingdom of Norway.
Today, Dragoș Cantea maintains an active artistic career as both a soloist and chamber musician, while also coordinating international projects under the aegis of the Norwegian Arts Council and leading the Classix Festival.
As of 2025, he is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Mannes College of Performing Arts (The New School) in New York City.