Dan Dediu is a Romanian composer of mostly stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and piano works that have been performed throughout Europe and elsewhere. Dediu graduated in composition at the Academy of Music in Bucharest in 1989, where he studied with Stefan Niculescu, Dan Constantinescu, Dan Buciu, and Octavian Nemescu. He later attended post-graduate courses with Francis Burt, Günter Kahowez and Wilhelm Zobl at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna in 1990-91, as well as the annual Cursus de Composition et Informatique Musicale at IRCAM in 1994. He earned his PhD at the National University of Music in Bucharest in 1995. Among his many honors are First prizes in the National Composers Competition in Cluj-Napoca (1986, 1988), the Brass Chamber Music Competition in Budapest-Barcs (1990) and the Premier Concours pour Orchestre Françaises de Flűtes (2000, for Spaima). He earned Second Prize in the Ludwigshafen am Rhein Competition (1991, for 3/2) and Third prizes in the Mozart 1991 (1991, for Motto-Studien) and Carl Maria von Weber (1991, for String Quartet No. 3) competitions. Other honors include the George Enescu Prize in the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest (1991, for Symphony No. 1) and the Music Prize of the Romanian Academy (1991, for String Quartet No. 3). From the Romanian Composers Union, he earned the Prize for Chamber Music (1992, for Hörner-Stimmen aus einem unbekannten Requiem), the Prize for Symphonic Music (1995, for HYPERKARDIA), the prizes for opera (Post-Fiction) and musicology (with his wife, Valentina Sandu-Dediu) (1998), and the Prize for Choral Music (1999, for Stabat Mater). Lastly, he earned the Prize for EXPO 2000 in Hannover from the Romanian Development Agency (2000), the Prize of the Galliard Ensemble International Composers Competition in London (2000), the Neuköllner Opernpreis in Berlin (2002), and the Prometheus-Opera Prima, a Romanian cultural award (2002). He has earned scholarships from the Alfred-Töpfer-Stiftung (1990, Hamburg), the Alban-Berg-Stiftung (1991, Vienna), fellowships from New Europe College (1997-98, Bucharest), the Wissenschaftskolleg (1998, Berlin), the Zuger Kulturstiftung Landis und Gyr (2002, Berlin) and the one year residency of Villa Concordia Bamberg (2005–6). In 2000, his music was heard at the ISCM World Music Days in Luxembourg.In addition to his work as a composer, he served as artistic director of the International Week of New Music Festival in Bucharest in 1999, 2001, 2007, 2008. He was a guest lecturer at Queen´s University of Belfast in 1994. Since 1999, he has been an associate professor of composition at the National University of Music in Bucharest and since 2000, has led its composition department. In the present he is the rector of the National University of Music, Bucharest. Éditions Lucian Badian (Ottawa), Editura Muzicala (Bucharest) and Peer Music publish his works.

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