Born in 1970, he studied cello with Anca Vartolomei at the Academy of Music in Bucharest (diploma in 1995). He also attended master classes given by Marc Coppey at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris.
In 1990 he founded the 'Pro Contemporania' Ensemble and occasionally played the flute, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, tuba, shamisen, khaen, and percussion. He has also invented and built his own instruments (tromba lontana, sound retorte, rushtophone, panaphonium).
He has participated in such events as the International New Music Week in Bucharest, and the iscm World Music Days. He has given concerts in Sweden, Switzerland, France, Israel, Moldova and Albania. During the 2002-03 season, in addition to Warsaw, he is to perform in New York.
He is also a member of the 'Hyperion' ensemble with which he performed in London (Royal Festival Hall), Hanover (expo 2000), Nancy ('Music Action' Festival), Belgrade ('Ring Ring' Festival), Wuppertal and many other cities.
As a soloist he has appeared with the Bucharest Music Academy Orchestra, Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestre Royale de Wallonie (Mons). His discography comprises 17 cds recorded with 'Pro Contemporania', 'Hyperion', and 'Lutheran Consortium' ensembles as well as with the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra. Particularly noteworthy is Kivu's collaboration with the prestigious Mode Records of New York and the famous cellist Siegfried Palm.
In the last few years, Andrei Kivu has developed an interest in composition. His works have been performed by various ensembles.
Together with Irinel Anghel, Andrei Kivu is fascinated by ancient and traditional 'world music'. They also have an impressive collection of instruments (most of them very rare) from all over the world, such as: khaen (Cambodian mouth organ), gu zheng (Chinese Koto), original Japanese shamisen, Japanese Zen bowls and Tibetan singing bowls, udu (Indian drum), talking drum, African water-drums, Tibetan conch and many others.

Selected works: In the Air for flute, saxophone and percussion (1999), A tre for panaphonium, double-bass and percussion (2000), Seeker in Obsidian for large chamber ensemble (2000), Helium, electronic music (2001), roar for saxtuba, piano/percussion and tape (2000), MetaMorPhoenix for baritone saxophone, piano/percussion, two accordions and tape (2002).

roar was born out of the necessity to find an instrument able to provide a special strength and energy to the sound. It is a fact that many composers have been obsessed with searching for a sound that could be compared with the voice of thunder, 'lion roaring' or the 'primordial sound', when referring to the sound that preceded the world's existence. Obviously, the fascination of primordial sound will never cease to exist. It's something about a fascination emerging from an archetype, by its universal and fundamental pattern properties, unifying different cultures and beliefs. Andrei Kivu plays his own invented instrument called 'saxtuba' (a tuba with a saxophone reed), releasing a whole 'constellation' of overtones and effects, in a discoursive way, phenomenologically guided. At the start of the third millennium, this is something which emphasizes, in the field of instrumentation, the artists' need to search for, experience and find new timbral solutions.
Andrei Kivu