Winner of the Grand Prix at the international harp competition “Félix Godefroid” in Belgium, second prize winner at the international harp competition of the Franz Josef Reinl Foundation in Vienna and finalist at the composition competition of the USAIHC in Bloomington with his work “Chants”
 
Viktor Hartobanu was born in Bernburg (Saale) in 1990 as the child of Romanian musicians. At the age of 5, he received his first piano and harp lessons from his mother. At the age of 7 he received piano lessons from Dorislava Kuntschewa at the “Heinrich Berger” Music School in Coswig, but at the age of 9 he was accepted into the junior class of the University of Music in Leipzig, where he was taught by Prof. Max Koch on the harp and by Prof. Hanns-Martin Schreiber and Oriol Plans Casal on the piano.
 
The 17-time first prize winner at the “Jugend musiziert” competition was also a scholarship holder of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation between 2005 and 2008. In addition, he won the main scholarship of the Hans and Eugenia Jütting Foundation and a scholarship of the Wagner Association Heidelberg, which enabled him to attend the “Ring of the Nibelungen” in Bayreuth.
 
In 2010, Viktor completed his studies at the University of Music in Leipzig with a diploma after only 4 semesters and is thus not only one of the youngest graduates of the university, but also one of those with the shortest period of study. He then taught for one trimester at the Royal Harp School “Tamnak Prathom” in Bangkok, Thailand, before deepening his studies at the HEM in Geneva with Prof. Florence Sitruk from 2011 and at the KC in Brussels with Prof. Jana Boušková from 2012.
 
In 2013, Viktor won the audition of the Orchestra Academy with the Staatskapelle Berlin, so that he took part in numerous opera and ballet performances, as well as concerts of the Staatskapelle, for a total of two seasons. He has performed under the baton of GMD Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding and Paul Connelly, as well as with musicians such as Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo, Anna Maria Westbroek, Peter Seiffert, Waltraud Meier, Siegfried Jerusalem, Hans Mazura, Klaus Florian Vogt and others. He also participated in many chamber concerts of the Academy, of which he was also the spokesman. As a guest, he has participated in radio and CD recordings of the MDR Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Since 2021, he has been part of the “Wagner Readings” project with the Concerto Köln and the Dresden Festival Orchestra under the direction of Kent Nagano, in which the entire “Ring des Nibelungen” will be reworked in practice until 2026 and played and recorded on historical instruments. This was followed in 2023 by concerts and recordings with the Orchestra La Scintilla, and in 2024 with the J.S. Bach Orchestra St. Gallen with “Ein deutsches Requiem” by Brahms, also on period instruments.
 
He has been a guest at numerous festivals, such as the Mecklenburger Festspielfrühling, the Schwetzinger Mozartfest, the Bachfest Leipzig, the Derbyshire Harp Festival, the Harp Festival in Bucharest and the Prah-a-harP Festival in Prague. He has already performed with the Heidelberg Philharmonic, the Brandenburg State Orchestra, the Oradea State Philharmonic, the Anhalt Chamber Philharmonic and other orchestras and ensembles. This was followed by appearances for radio and television, for example for ARD, ZDF, Br, MDR, BBC, ORF and TVRi.
 
Viktor attended masterclasses with Isabelle Moretti, Germaine Lorenzini, David Watkins, Susann McDonald, Ion Ivan Roncea, Xavier de Maistre, Sylvain Blassel, Fabrice Pierre, Frédérique Cambreling, Elisabeth Fontan-Binoche, Godelieve Schrama, Maria Luisa Rayan, Ursula Holliger and others. From 2013 to 2017 he taught a successful harp class at the Coswig Music School (Anhalt) with several winners of national and international harp competitions.
 
In 2017, at the age of only 26, Viktor Hartobanu was appointed professor of harp at the Vorarlberg State Conservatory. At the same time, he took over the direction of the harp class at the Bregenzerwald Music School, which he handed over in 2020 in favour of the Koosha Music Center in Tehran and the Ginza Jujiya Harp Elite Academy in Tokyo, which is currently being established. As part of the development work, the first holistic harp method for beginners was created. His numerous compositions and arrangements contribute to the expansion of the harp repertoire, especially in underrepresented areas.
Invitations to competition juries and masterclasses have taken him to many countries in Europe and Asia. Since 2020, he has also been involved as Director of Studies in the establishment and expansion of the now accredited Stella Vorarlberg University of Music, the successor institution to the Vorarlberg State Conservatory. After two years as a university lecturer, Viktor Hartobanu passed an internal appointment procedure as a university professor in 2024.
 
Viktor Hartobanu plays a Salvi “Iris” called “Stella dell’Est”, an Érard double-action harp owned by the legendary harpist Clelia Gatti-Aldrovandi in 1925, an Érard single-action harp owned by David Watkins in 1825, and an Obermayer in 1955.
 
His YouTube channel reaches thousands of music lovers worldwide.