Balanescu was born in Romania and at the age of seven went to the Special School for Music, in Bucharest.In 1979 Balanescu became leader of the Michael Nyman Ensemble and toured with this group around the world for 15 years. Recent collaborations as a composer / performer include in dance with Merryl Tankard, Pina Bausch, Rosemary Lee, Suzy Blok, Johann Ulrich, Phillipe Saire & Virgilio Sieni and in Theatre Productions at Theatre de la Place Liege, Belgrade State Theatre, Cabaret Dromesko Rennes and Watford Palace Theatre. Balanescu¹s credits as a composer of film and TV music include the feature films Angels and Insects (Philip Haas), Le Poulpe (Guillaume Nicloux), Il Partigiano Johnny (Guido Chiesa) and Eisenstein (Renny Bartlett), TV documentaries Dancing through Darkness (Theresa Griffith) and Spinoza (Chris Spencer) and over 20 animation films.