Eugen Sârbu

Eugen Sîrbu or Sârbu, known professionally as Eugene Sârbu (6 September 1950 – 21 July 2024), was a Romanian classical violinist. He had an international career as a soloist, recitalist and conductor (from the violin). In 1978, he won both the Paganini Competition and the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. He premiered works from living composers including Einojuhani Rautavaara, written for him, he recorded violin concertos by Sibelius and Mozart.

Life and career Born as Eugen Sîrbu (under the spelling used at the time) on 6 September 1950, the future violinist hailed from the village of Pietrari, currently in Dâmbovița County. Growing up during the early stages of the Romanian communist regime, he received his first violin training at age five from his father Before the age of eight, he had already performed at the Romanian Atheneum in Bucharest. He studied further in Paris, with Robert Soetens, before moving to the United States in 1970. On a recommendation by Yehudi Menuhin, he received a scholarship to study with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1970 to 1974, and with Nathan Milstein in Zürich and London. a third place in the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in 1975, and seventh (1980) and ninth place (1976) in the Queen Elisabeth Competition.

Sârbu had an international career as a soloist. He performed in London in 1981, playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Antal Doráti. Geoffrey Norris, reviewing the concert for The Musical Times, noted that it "seemed so introspective and indulgent in phrasing and tempo that it lost cohesion and became fragmented." Sârbu's Proms debut came the following year with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Norman Del Mar, and he returned in 1983 In 1982, he took part in Genoa's celebration of Paganini's bicentenary.

Sârbu also directed from the violin, and in 1982 he became the European Master Orchestra's conductor and soloist. He recorded violin concertos by Mozart as the conductor–soloist. Sârbu died in a hospital in London, after a long illness, on 21 July 2024, at the age of 73.