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Alex Petcu is an Irish percussionist and composer of Romanian origin, based in Cork, where he is assistant lecturer in percussion at the MTU Cork School of Music. He is a core member of Crash Ensemble, Ireland's foremost contemporary music ensemble, with whom he has performed in Ireland, the USA, Lithuania and France, and recorded most of their albums, including Barry O'Halpin's Wingform and Free State, on which he is the soloist in Dónal Sarsfield's The Snare Piece. He is musical director of the Bangers and Crash Percussion Group and a regular player with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Irish Chamber Orchestra.

With violist Nathan Sherman he has commissioned a substantial body of new work for viola and percussion, recorded on the albums Totemic (Ergodos) and Archetypes (Diatribe), and premiered a major new work by Kevin Volans at Music for Galway in 2025. His solo album In Time was released on RTÉ lyric fm.

Alex won the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year in 2013 and was the National Concert Hall's Rising Star in 2015. His own compositions include two percussion sextets, supported by the Arts Council.

Alex Petcu is an Irish percussionist and composer of Romanian origin, based in Cork. His work centres on new music. He is a core member of Crash Ensemble, Ireland's foremost contemporary music ensemble, with whom he has performed in Ireland, the USA, Lithuania and at Festival Musica in Strasbourg, taken part in many world premieres, and recorded most of the ensemble's albums, including Barry O'Halpin's hour-long Wingform and Free State, on which he is the soloist in Dónal Sarsfield's The Snare Piece. He is also musical director of the Bangers and Crash Percussion Group, a regular guest with Belfast's Hard Rain Ensemble, and an extra player with orchestras across Ireland, including the National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra.

Alex enjoys working closely with composers. With violist Nathan Sherman he has commissioned a substantial repertoire for viola and percussion from composers including Kevin Volans, Ian Wilson, Kate Moore, Ann Cleare, Benjamin Dwyer, Nick Roth and Siobhán Cleary. The duo's albums Totemic (Ergodos) and Archetypes (Diatribe) present much of this music, and in 2025 they gave the world premiere of Volans's y Escucho a los Muertos con mis Ojos at Music for Galway. His solo album In Time, released on RTÉ lyric fm, mixes seminal percussion works with transcriptions and new pieces.

As a soloist he has appeared with both RTÉ orchestras and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and at festivals and venues including the West Cork Chamber Music Festival and the National Concert Hall. He won the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year in 2013, was the National Concert Hall's Rising Star in 2015, and was a semi-finalist at the Tromp International Percussion Competition. His theatre and opera work includes the Abbey Theatre's Twelfth Night, Irish National Opera's Powder Her Face and Gare St Lazare Ireland's The Last Tape.

Alex also composes for percussion. His works include Sextet No. 1 (Cork Midsummer Festival, 2021), Up (Sextet No. 2), toured around Ireland with Bangers and Crash, and the duo Pitter Patter, with support from Arts Council bursary and commission awards.

Alex is assistant lecturer in percussion at the MTU Cork School of Music. He has given lecture recitals at Ireland's universities and leads workshops for schools, including for West Cork Music's Tuning Up outreach scheme and Music Network. He holds an MA in music performance from the Cork School of Music, and a BSc and MSc in physics from University College Cork.