Valentin Gheorghiu

Valentin Gheorghiu (born March 21st, 1928) is a great Romanian classical pianist and composer.


Gheorghiu was born in Galaţi, Romania in 1928, where he started studying piano when he was very young. He studied first at the Royal Musical Academy in Bucharest, as a disciple of Mihai Jora (theory-solfeggio, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, composition), Constanţa Erbiceanu (piano), Mihail Andricu (chamber music) and Constantin Băloiu (history of music), then, between 1937-1939, the talented and successful young man was encouraged and supported to go to the High National Music Conservatory in Paris, where he studied under the following teachers: Lazare Levy (piano), Marcelle Mayer (theory and solfeggio) and Noël Gallon (harmony).


His career began brilliantly at the age of 15, under the baton of George Georgescu and gradually evolved towards complete fame. In 1950 Gheorghiu became soloist of the George Enescu Philharmonic. He made successful tours in all European music capitals, in the Middle East, USA and Canada, being recognized worldwide as a prestigious musician and recital performer. Valentin Gheoghiu is a perfect partner in several chamber groups, among which one of the most famous was the Bucharest Trio, where performed along with his brother, the violinist Ştefan Gheorghiu and the cellist, Radu Aldulescu). Gheorghiu has cooperated with maestros as Antal Dorati, Kurt Masur, Sergiu Commissiona, George Prêtre, Kiril Kondraschin and joined orchestras as the Dresdner Staatskapelle, the Suisse Romande Orchestra, the Bayerisches Rundfunk, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore, Leningrad, Montreal, Tokyo, and Moscow etc. As a solo player he took part to important festivals such as those of Salzburg, Prague, Dubrovnik, Bucharest and he played a recital for the UN members in New York. Gheorghiu has done many records for His Master’s Voice, Deutsche Grammophon, Pathé Marconi, RCA, Supraphon, Electrecord and Eterna. He was a member of the jury in all the most famous international piano competitions among which we can mention the Leeds, the Van Cliburn, the Tchaikovsky, the Margherite Long, the Santander, the Chopin in Warsaw, the Beethoven in Vienna, the Busoni.


As an exemplary pianist, won important prizes, including the First Enescu Mention in 1946 for the Piano Sonata; as a composer, won the “George Enescu” prize of the Romanian Academy for his Piano Concerto. Recently, Gheorghiu has been awarded the honorary degree by the National Academy of Music of Bucharest.

Modest, much too modest, Valentin Gheorghiu is a man of perfect moral conduct: "he remains in his place", he does not enjoy being in the light spot, he rather leaves this to his younger colleagues, as he is too shy to assert himself. Knowing his value, let us proclaim him as a first class and authentic musician: for over half a century, the complex musician, pianist and composer, Valentin Gheorghiu, has honestly and impressively represented the Romanian spirit.