GianLuca Moldovan

Every time a musician steps on stage, they share a piece of themselves with their audience – and GianLuca Moldovan’s passion for music is palpable. He joined us in the Arizona PBS studios to play his original songs “Glycerine” and “The Madeliene,” and chat about his musical background.

“As a child, I lived in a lot of countries, and I guess music was part of my refuge,” he said. “I’m from Romania, which is an interesting country when it comes to music. Past and present meet, right? You’ve got traditional music, but also we have this rebellious spirit, especially since the revolution in 1989.” Moldovan said that he was influenced by the rock and roll music of his parents’ generation, particularly guitar music. When he had an opportunity to try out an acoustic guitar, he discovered he had an affinity for the instrument, and found a mentor who helped him learn.

As he grew up, Moldovan enjoyed branching out into more styles of music, including classical, jazz and blues. “I’m a very big blues guy,” he said. “But I grew up as a rocker, that’s for sure.”

Music remained a refuge, no matter where he lived. “I remember when the first iPod got out,” Moldovan said, “it was something so fascinating for me. I started listening to Metallica and Black Eyed Peas – there were some funny combinations, but it was just me discovering music.”

Today, Moldovan is a second-year graduate student at ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, where he’s the president of a group called Global Sounds, which performs and shares music from all over the world.