Valentin Erben was born in 1945 in Pernitz (Lower Austria) and received his first musical inspirations from his parents. He studied cello with Walter Reichardt in Munich, Tobias Kühne in Vienna and André Navarra in Paris. In 1970 he was a founding member of the Alban Berg Quartet, with which he played for 38 years and which had a tremendous impact on the international quartet scene. For 40 years he taught cello at the University of Music in Vienna and from 1993 to 2012 he was guest teacher for Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. Since the end of the Alban Berg Quartet, he has been a frequent guest of many other Chamber Music Ensembles. He gives musical lectures, master classes and is a member of juries for many national and international competitions.
Valentin Erben plays the famous cello by Matteo Goffriller 1722 – “Ex-Pierre Fournier” and “Ex-Yoyo Ma” – kindly on loan from Merito String Instruments Trust GmbH.
