Emmy Award winning composer,internationally-experienced pianist and opera singer, Codrut Birsan brings a world of experience and passion to his studio. Born in Brasov, Romania, Codrut began piano lessons at age 6. By age 14, he won the "Cantarea Romaniei," a Romanian national piano competition. While still a teenager, Codrut began voice lessons at Brasov Conservatory, then transferred to Bucharest University of Music where he studied with distinguished professor Georgeta Stoleriu.

He debuted at age 23 as a baritone in Opera Constanta performance of The Barber of Seville, and reprised his role a year later at the Romanian National Opera. In 2002 he won the Crizantema de Aur, a national Romanian voice competiton. Codrut moved to the United States in 2005 and obtained a Master of Voice degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He performed as a member of the San Francisco Lyric Opera from 2004-2007, while continuing to appear internationally as both a singer and classical/jazz pianist

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Codrut moved to Chicago in 2011 with his wife Emily Birsan, a soprano who joins the Lyric Opera of Chicago beginning in 2011. In recent years Codrut has focused on composition as well as performance. He was honored in 2010 with an International Emmy Award for his role in composing the score for a documentary originally aired on Romanian HBO. Since moving to Chicago, Codrut has been active in musical instruction ranging from voice coach to private voice and piano teacher at his own residence. He founded Candid Concert Opera in 2009 to broaden access to the joys of the musical form by removing both admission cost barriers and the "stuffiness" too often associated with the genre.