Florian Popa was born in Bucharest, in a family of musicians of national and international renown.
Florian Popa began to study music at the age of six at Bucharest Music School, starting with the violin and piano. At twelve years of age, Florian Popa began to study the clarinet and completed his studies with the highest honours at the Bucharest Conservatory (Ciprian Porumbescu) in 1971. That same year (1971), Florian Popa passed competitive examinations to join the George Enesco Philharmonic Orchestra of Bucharest as first clarinet.
Florian Popa won a scholarship for a master’s course in Hanover (Germany) where he specialised in modern and contemporary music under Professor Hans Deitzer. Some years later, Florian Popa studied orchestral conduction and music phenomenology with the maestro Sergiu Celibidache.
Since 1968, Florian Popa has taken part in a number of national and international clarinet competitions and has won prizes in: Prague, Munich, Birmingham, Geneva, Bucharest, Ancona and first prize in Rotterdam in a contemporary music competition for instruments and groups.
In 1980, Florian Popa won competitive examinations at Michigan State University (East Lancing) U.S.A. to give doctorate classes to higher-level students for a period of three years.
From 1984 to 2000 Florian Popa was soloist in the Bilbao Symphonic Orchestra. In 2000 he began to co-operate as a soloist with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Florian Popa has played as soloist in orchestras under the baton of a number of great maestros: Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Georges Pretre, Cristian Mandeal, Enrique García Asensio, Giuliano Carella, Sergiu Comissiona, Sergiu Celibidache, etc.
At the same time Florian Popa has combined his orchestral and teaching activities with soloist and chamber music performances.
As a soloist, Florian Popa has played with the orchestras of: Bucharest, Prague, Munich, Rotterdam, Tylburg, Bilbao, Frankfurt, Mannheim, etc.
As a member of The MUSICA NOVA Chamber Group, with whom he continues to perform, Florian Popa has played in prestigious concert halls all over the world, including the UNO on two occasions.
Florian Popa has also formed part of the “George Enesco” Wind Quintet of the Bucharest Philharmonic, the R.T.V. Quintet of Bucharest and “Franz Danzi” Quintet of the Bilbao Symphonic Orchestra. Today, his chamber music activities are limited exclusively to The MUSICA NOVA Chamber Group and collaborations with the prestigious ” Enesco” quartet of Paris.
As a result of all these artistic activities, Florian Popa is a great expert and specialist in music for the clarinet, chamber music and the orchestral repertoire. Hi complemented these activities with the practice and study of jazz and plays with the Detroit and East Lancing jazz bands.
His profound knowledge of American music led to his creating the “Big-Band Bilbao” in 1987, which was sponsored by Bilbao City Hall for a period of four years. With the Big-Band he has performed in more than one hundred concerts and televised performances for Euskal Telebista.
Florian Popa is considered to be one of the best specialists in modern and contemporary music and on that basis he has been invited to take part in all the international festivals specialised in this genre. The director of the prestigious Fundación Gaudeamus, Henk Heuvelmans had this to say about Florian Popa in a letter in 2003:
“The ensemble Musica Nova placed under leadership of Florian Popa compositions which had been selected for the chamber music category of the Gaudeamus Music Week. As a soloist Florian Popa gave six concerts and as a member of the ensemble Musica Nova he played in four concerts, organized by Gaudeamus.The Gaudeamus Foundation acknowledges Florian Popa as specialist clarinet player in the field of contemporary music”.
Florian Popa has recorded a number of discs and hundreds of minutes of music, especially contemporary music, for radio stations in: Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Bucharest, Warsaw, Hilversum, Graz… He has given classes in: Bilthoven, Darmstadt, Tylburg, Avila, Cuenca, Geneva, Boston, East Lancing, Vienna, Madrid, Bucharest…
Florian Popa plays “Buffet Crampon”, made to order, Prestige model full Boehm clarinets made from natural ebony without chemical treatments, without metal rings and with gold keys and clamps: one of 24 carats gold and the other of ebony. Both clamps are of his own patented design.
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