Dan Dediu is one of Romania’s leading contemporary composers and an influential figure in European musical life. He studied composition in Bucharest with Ștefan Niculescu and Dan Constantinescu, and in Vienna with Francis Burt.

His catalogue comprises over 180 works, covering nearly all musical genres, including five symphonies, more than twenty orchestral works, twelve concertos (for instruments such as saxophone, viola, violin, piano, cello, trombone and guitar, as well as double and triple concertos), seven string quartets, chamber music in various formations, piano works, choral music, and five operas (Post-fiction, Münchhausen, Eva!, A Lost Letter, Carnival Tales), as well as the concert-opera Wagner Under.

Dan Dediu is a recipient of numerous national and international composition awards. He has served as Artistic Director of the International Week of New Music Festival in multiple editions (1999–2001, 2007–2008, 2016–2024), contributing significantly to the promotion of contemporary music.

He is Professor of Composition at the National University of Music in Bucharest and Artistic Director of the ensemble Profil. Between 2008 and 2016, he served as Rector of the National University of Music Bucharest. Dan Dediu holds the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from several major institutions, including the “George Enescu” University of Arts in Iași, the University of Craiova, the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Chișinău, and the “Gheorghe Dima” National Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca.

In June 2022, he was elected President of the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania, and in January 2024 he was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit (Commander rank) by the President of Romania.
Dan Dediu is the Artistic Director of World New Music Days 2026.