Valentin Șerban is a Romanian violinist, active as a soloist and chamber musician. He came to wider international attention after winning the Grand Prize / Violin Section of the George Enescu International Competition 2020/2021, one of the most important distinctions in his artistic career. Following this success, he was invited to perform as a soloist at the 2021 George Enescu International Festival with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and opened the 2022 edition of the George Enescu International Competition, performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with the winners of the other two sections.

He began studying the violin at the age of seven in Brașov, Romania, where he later graduated from Transilvania University. He continued his master’s studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria, under the guidance of violinist Silvia Marcovici. During his musical development, he also took part in lessons and masterclasses with violinists including Valeriu Rogacev, Daniel Podlovschi, Ștefan Gheorghiu, Ilarion Ionescu-Galați, Leonidas Kavakos, Ivry Gitlis, David Grimal, Mihaela Martin, Arlette Bonamy and Alexandru Tomescu.

Valentin Șerban has received several national and international awards. He won the Mihail Jora National Competition in Romania in 2017, the Ștefan Ruha International Competition in Romania in 2011 and the Remember Enescu International Competition in Romania in 2008. In 2015, he received Second Prize at the Andrea Postacchini International Competition in Italy. As a high school student, he won First Prize at the National Violin Olympiad for six consecutive years.

As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Romanian Radio National Orchestra, Radio Chamber Orchestra, and philharmonic orchestras from Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Brașov, Sibiu, Ploiești, Bacău, Târgu Mureș, Satu Mare, Arad and other Romanian cities. In 2025, he appeared at the George Enescu International Festival with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Lahav Shani, at the Romanian Athenaeum.

His international activity includes concerts in Romania, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Japan and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has appeared at venues such as Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Berlin, Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp, Opéra de Dijon, Le Volcan in Le Havre and the Romanian Athenaeum. His artistic activity also includes performances in unconventional spaces, including the Petrila Coal Mine, the Psychiatric Hospital in Căpâlnaș and a household shed in Șomartin village, Romania.

Chamber music has an important place in his artistic activity. He has collaborated with artists such as Midori, Alina Pogostkina, Andrei Ioniță, Erik Schumann, Alissa Margulis, Alexander Buzlov, Claudio Bohórquez, Julia Hamos, Viviane Hagner, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Philippe Graffin, Nicolas Dautricourt and Liviu Prunaru. He is also a member of Trio Alpha, together with cellist Ștefan Cazacu and pianist Ioan-Dragoș Dimitriu.

For five years, Valentin Șerban was a member of Les Dissonances in Paris, under the direction of violinist David Grimal. He was also a violinist and Concertmaster of the Romanian Youth Orchestra. Between April 2023 and December 2024, he served as Concertmaster of the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest. Since autumn 2024, he has been teaching violin as a PhD student at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, and has held masterclasses in Iași, Cluj and Brașov.

His repertoire includes major violin concertos, chamber works and virtuoso pieces, with music ranging from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Sibelius to Enescu, Prokofiev, Ravel, Ysaÿe and Paganini. His recordings include the complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Johannes Brahms with pianist Liliana Iacobescu, Smetana’s Trio Op. 15 with Claudio Bohórquez and Julia Hamos, and the album Violin in Love, recorded with pianist Daria Tudor and released by Casa Radio.

Alongside his classical concert activity, Valentin Șerban has also been involved in special projects such as Eyes Wide Shut Concert, a solo violin recital performed in complete darkness. The project proposes a different way of experiencing classical music, focusing the audience’s attention entirely on sound and listening.