Ștefan Trifan
Stefan Trifan, one of the most prominent figures in Romanian guitar, was born in the small town of Roman. He started playing the violin at the age of six. He discovered the classical guitar at 15 and began studying it professionally in Ionel Țiganus's class at the Fine Arts College in Piatra Neamț. In 1997, he started attending Constantin Andrei's newly formed classical guitar class at the 'Gheorghe Dima' Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca, graduating in 2003. He received his Master's degree from the same institute in 2005 and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with ”Summa Cum Laude” honours in 2012, under the guidance of Prof. Laszlo Ferenc and Prof. Pavel Puşcaş.
He began his teaching career in 2000 at the 'Sergiu Celibidache' Music School in his hometown of Roman, later moving to the 'Sigismund Toduta' Music High School in Cluj-Napoca. Since 2013, he has taught full-time at the National Academy of Music "Gheorghe Dima".
Stefan Trifan is a D'Addario artist and one of Romania's most prolific guitar teachers, with many successful students to his name. Over the past 25 years, his students have won more than 450 awards, over 120 of which were first prizes at national and international guitar competitions. He has won numerous prestigious awards and is frequently invited to serve on juries and lecture at master classes at national and international guitar festivals.
He founded the Transilvania Guitar Association in Cluj-Napoca in 2006 and has been the executive director of the Transilvania International Guitar Festival since 2004.