Dr. Dan Totan
Dr. Dan Totan is a distinguished cellist, having performed a diverse repertory that spans from Baroque to contemporary music, and includes styles such as pop, rock, and jazz. His musical expertise has been showcased in solo, chamber, and orchestral performances across four continents. Dr. Totan’s accolades include first and second prizes at the Romanian Republican Interpretation Competition, the National Radio Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, the CBC Young Artists Series in Canada, and the Montgomery Symphony Cello Fellowship Competition.
As a soloist, Dr. Totan has graced the stage with the Ho Chi Minh Symphony Orchestra, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra, National Radio Chamber Orchestra, "Sinfonia Bucuresti," Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Mihail Jora Philharmonic, Ion Dima Philharmonic, Botoşani Philharmonic, and several others. His international tours have taken him to prestigious venues such as the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, the Saigon Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City, the Rock Church in Helsinki, and the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas.
In his orchestral career, Dr. Totan served as the Assistant Principal of the "Orquestra da Radio e Televisão Cultura" in São Paulo, Brazil from 1998 to 2002 and was the Principal Cello and Cello Fellow of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra in Alabama from 2008 to 2010. He holds five cello performance degrees from notable institutions including the National University of Music in Bucharest, McGill University, University of Montreal, and a doctorate in musical arts with a minor in baroque music from the University of North Texas.
Dr. Totan is also a dedicated educator, specializing in cello pedagogy. He maintains private studios in Dallas and Allen, Texas, and serves as an Adjunct Cello Professor at Southwestern Adventist University and Dallas College. Currently, he is the Principal Cello of the Irving Symphony Orchestra and a member of both the Plano Symphony and East Texas Symphony.
With over 30 years of teaching experience, Dr. Totan has made significant contributions to pedagogical research, authoring a comprehensive dissertation titled “A Comprehensive Remedial and Enhancing Cello Method for Professors and Undergraduate Students: Conformation-Based Theoretical Methodology and Sequential Practical Solutions.” He presented his findings at the American String Teachers Association national conference in Orlando, FL, in 2023. His students have been accepted with full scholarships to prestigious universities in Texas and beyond, and have joined esteemed youth orchestras around the DFW area.
Dr. Totan’s Cello
The Cello Dr. Totan performs on, is of Bohemian provenance. The label states that It was made in Bohemia, currently the Czech Republic, but provides no date for the construction. The Bohemian provenance places the cello construction in the 19th century., when the Czech territory was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire under the name of Bohemia.
The scroll of the cello depicts a combination of a Lion/Dragon head. It has been in Dr. Totan’s family since the mid 1950s, purchased by his grandfather, for his father, Dan Totan Sr, Dr. Totan’s first cello teacher and mentor. He has been performing on it since 1997 when he started his studies at the Universität der Kunste in Berlin, Germany.