Celebrated for the emotional nuance and structural insight of his interpretations, Serban has been described as “outstandingly equipped technically … with enormous brilliance and unpretentious virtuosity” (Badische Zeitung) and praised for the “delicate and clear phrasing” and “complex expressiveness” of his playing (G. Constantinescu, President of the Romanian Music Critics’ Union). German critics highlighted his “breathing, songful suppleness” (taz), while Gramophone wrote of the “rapturous, mesmerising quality” of his performances.
In recent years, Catalin Serban has intensified both his chamber music work and his curatorial activities. Together with cellist Andrei Ioniță, he is the founder and artistic director of Spielende Insel, a Berlin-based chamber music series known for its interdisciplinary concepts and collaborations with visual artists and writers. The festival brings together high-profile international guest artists as well as outstanding young award-winning musicians, creating a vibrant artistic space that combines excellence with a strong educational and mentoring mission.
Serban’s discography reflects his interest in creating poetic and structural connections between composers. Des cloches sonores (2018) pairs Schubert with Enescu and Scriabin; Resemblances (2022) weaves works by Chopin and Scriabin into a double portrait; and Mélodies infinies (Naxos, 2024) presents piano quartets by Fauré and Enescu with Suyeon Kang, Karolina Errera, and Andrei Ioniță. In 2026, he will release a new solo album featuring Ravel’s Miroirs and Rachmaninov’s Études-Tableaux Op. 39.
A dedicated educator, Catalin Serban has been teaching for many years at the Lübeck Academy of Music and the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, and he also works with young musicians at the Bach-Gymnasium Berlin. He regularly gives masterclasses in China, Romania, and the Netherlands, sharing his expertise with the next generation of pianists.
He began his musical education at the George Enescu Music High School in Bucharest and later studied with Professors Martin Hughes and Konrad Elser at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Lübeck University of Music. Additional artistic impulses came from masterclasses with Claude Frank, György Sebők, Pascal Devoyon, Théodore Paraschivesco, and Elena Lapitskaja. He is a prizewinner of several national and international competitions and has been supported by prestigious foundations.
