Concordia grad takes home Grammy for Lady Gaga track

Department of Music alumnus Serban Ghenea, BFA 92, DFA 25, was part of the team that took home a Grammy Award on February 1 for their work on Lady Gaga’s hit single “Abracadabra.”  The track, from Gaga’s 2025 album Mayhem, earned the Grammy for Best Dance Pop Recording at the awards show, which honours excellence in recorded music production.

Ghenea, a Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer, moved to Montreal with his family as a child and later graduated from Concordia’s Jazz Studies program. A chance encounter with producer Teddy Riley in 1993 launched Ghenea’s career as an in-house recording and mix engineer, putting him in the studio with artists such as Michael Jackson.

With more than three decades in the business, Ghenea has become one of the most in-demand mixers in pop music. He has been nominated for more than 50 Grammy Awards and has won 24.

His credits include collaborations with some of the biggest names in music, including The Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Adele, The Weeknd and more — with dozens of his mixes reaching the top of the global music charts.

The latest Grammy adds to Ghenea’s legacy as one of the most accomplished sound engineers in contemporary music, highlighting his reach and impact on the world’s cultural stage.