Valentin Șerban is not the easiest interlocutor to open up: he does not feel the need to prove anything artificially, nor does he seem eager to be in the media spotlight under any circumstances. He is honest with himself and reserved when it comes to anything lacking authenticity. On the other hand, if you want an X-ray-like insight into a fully lived stage experience - that of the classical stage of today - his is the kind of voice you want to hear. Especially because, once you tune into his frequency, he allows you to understand his dilemmas, his searches, and the effort to discover that fragile harmony between what came before him and his own artistic voice.

And even the moment he came into the world - May 8th, 1990 - seems to lie right on the boundary between two major temporal fault lines. In a more specific, violinistic sense, Valentin Șerban can indeed be seen as a symbol of a potential paradigm shift within Romania's classical music scene, which for many decades after 1950 was dominated by the successes of the Bucharest Conservatory, especially through the students of the great Ștefan Gheorghiu. Our guest represents the Transylvanian space - Brașov - an undeniable surprise, and perhaps even a solution to the Capital's diminished presence in producing new top-tier violinists, a reality that has marked the last many years. Trained in Brașov as an institutional environment, Valentin Șerban was guided by Valeriu Rogacev, while also having contact with Daniel Podlovski and Ștefan Gheorghiu. However, he considers Ilarion Ionescu-Galați to be the most significant formative influence in his development.

Freedom of thought and of musical and instrumental expression is gained through multiple experiences: today a solo violinist, Valentin Șerban leaves behind five years - since 2018 - as a member of David Grimal's ensemble, Les Dissonances. He was also a member and concertmaster of the Romanian Youth Orchestra, as well as concertmaster of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic Orchestra from April 2023 until December 2024. Therefore, there is no role a violinist can hold on stage that he is not thoroughly familiar with; and all of this results in the solidity of his vision and artistic presence.

On Wednesday, May 19th, 2021, at the Romanian Athenaeum, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, chairman of the jury for the Violin section of the George Enescu Competition, announced the results after the final round in which the top three competitors had performed. The jury also included Remus Azoiței, Koichiro Harada, Silvia Marcovici, Mihaela Martin, Igor Petrushevski, Eduard Schmieder, and Krzysztof Wegrzyn.

And the winner at that time was Valentin Șerban; second place went to violinist Jaewon Lee from South Korea, while third place was awarded to Tassilo Probst from Germany.

I spoke at length with this 35-year-old artist on September 2nd, 2025, in Studio 13 of Radio România, ahead of his concert on December 4th at the Athenaeum, part of the "Enescu" Festival, performed together with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Lahav Shani.

Valentin Șerban on The Success Stories of Music - on December 7th, 14th, and 21st, at 1 P.M.