Silviu Cobeanu

Profile

I am a specialist in concert promotion and management, arts programming and international events management, audience development and cultural marketing with 20+ years of experience at managerial level. I worked both as a classical music curator and popular music promoter, designing, promoting and managing hundreds of concerts and recitals with world-class choirs, orchestras and soloists, as well as concerts with pop-rock bands and jazz acts. As a performer, I have sung professionally as a bass-baritone soloist with various early music ensembles, professional choirs and orchestras. 

Before joining the University of Leeds in 2015, I taught Cultural Marketing and Creative Brands at the University of Sheffield and Events Management and Tourism at Sheffield Hallam University.

I lead on the development of masters programme in the School of Music as Director or Taught Postgraduate Studies. As a Programme Director for MA Music Management, I lead the largest programme in the School of Music, which has become, since 2021, a strategic programme for the university. The uniqueness of the programme lies in the innovative ways it combines management theory and practice-informed teaching methods with the specialist in-depth knowledge of the business of music. Through a careful selection of guest speakers, forward-thinking student-led projects, as well as links with the industry (e.g. close cooperation with Universal Music, Spotify, the Arts Council, PRS for Music, etc.), the programme produces yearly a number of specialists who take up highly respected positions in the music business sector. 
As a Chair of the Industrial Advisory Board, which I developed recently to enable our students to transition seamlessly into the world of employment, I guide and advise on best ways to involve our alumni and other industry partners in the School of Music’s teaching and research activities, including curriculum development, external outputs and community engagement.

In 2022, my project on the use of Virtual Reality in the live music industry attracted the highly competitive Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship, which allowed me to develop links with cutting-edge technology companies around the globe. As an Innovation Fellow and a member of the Leeds Centre for Immersive Technologies, I am at the forefront of the university’s strategic thinking around innovation-led projects.

Over the past few years, I have also focused on arts advocacy and arts audience development projects, assisting various Leeds-based organisations (Leeds Lieder, JazzLeeds and Leeds International Piano Competition, etc.) as an academic consultant on marketing and branding. 
I act as an Arts and Education consultant for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution – the RNLI, and I am involved in the planning and promotion of the RNLI 200th anniversary events. 

Outside of academia, I am an enthusiastic boater and I love everything maritime. 

Responsibilities

• Director of Taught Postgraduate Studies
• Programme Director Music Management MA
• Industrial Advisory Board Chair

Research interests

• XR Immersive Technologies 
• Employability in Creative Industries
• Concerts and Cultural Events Promotion
• Marketing and Branding in the Creative Industries Context
• Cross Genre Collaborative Projects  

Qualifications

• PGCAP Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice
• MSc Arts Events Management
• BMus Vocal Performance

Professional memberships

• Higher Education Academy Fellow
• Michael Beverley Innovation Fellow
• Fellow of the NCEE Society of Entrepreneurial Leadership
• Member of the Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association
• MAM - Member of the Academy of Marketing
• Royal Society of Musicians
• Royal Yachting Association
• International Music Business Research Association

Student education

My teaching and project supervision is predominantly within the areas of live music business, music management, music marketing and performance, employability and innovation, and features a broad range of practical and theoretical perspectives. 

Research groups and institutes

• Music as Culture