Cristian Fatu is recognized as one of today's most exciting young violinists, praised for his virtuosity, technique and bright artistry. He has won prizes at more than twenty-five national and international violin competitions, including First Prize at the Kingsville International Competitions (2008) and the Grand Prize and First Prize at the "Remember Enescu" International Violin Competition in Romania (2000). Encouraged by these experiences he entered and was accepted as quarterfinalist in the Queen Elisabeth International Competition (2012) and the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition (2006). He has toured and performed at many prestigious festivals around the world including the International Music Academy (Fryeburg, Maine); the International Summer Academy Prague-Wien-Budapest (Austria); and the Kyoto International Music Students Festival (Japan), among others. The Murnauer Tagblatt in Germany praised his "wonderful virtuosity as well as perfect technique".
Born into a family of musicians in 1983, Cristian began studying violin at age four and made his debut at age sixteen in a performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto with the Bucharest's National Radio Chamber Orchestra. Subsequently he appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Romania and the United States, including the Iasi Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. In 2001, the Romanian Union of Musical Critics awarded him its annual "Young Musician Debut" prize.
Throughout his career, Cristian has been afforded multiple opportunities to study and perform under the guidance of great masters such as Gil Shaham, Stefan Gheorghiu, Eric Rosenblith, Shmuel Ashkenasi and Vladimir Spivakov, among others. Following formative studies at the "George Enescu" Music Lyceum in Bucharest, Cristian earned a Bachelor's degree from the National Music University of Bucharest (Romania), a Master's and an Artist Diploma degree from the International Center for Music at Park University (USA) where he studied with Prof. Ben Sayevich.
Chamber music has always been part of Cristian's life and he performs regularly int he Fa2 Violin Piano Duo with the Russia pianist Victoria Fatu who also happens to be his wife. He is a past member of the Park Piano Trio where he served together with the 2009 London International Piano Competition Gold Medalist Behzod Abduraimov and award winning cellist Serafim Smigelskiy. He has studied chamber music with members of the Accorda String Quartet, the Parker String Quartet and the Borromeo String Quartet, among others. In 2014 he joined the Montclaire String Quartet and the West Virginia Symphony as Principal second violin.
Beside his performing career, Cristian is also a passionate violin teacher. He served as teaching assistant under Professor Ben Sayevich at Park University between 2006 - 2010, where his responsibilities included teaching applied violin to undergraduate performance major and non-major students. He has also pursued other teaching opportunities such as violin instructor at Saint Paul's Episcopal Day School in Kansas City and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (Michigan).
His critically acclaimed debut recording in the United States titled From Bucharest to Kansas City (self-released) was described as "a sort of musical travelogue, telling the story of Fatu's own life-journey" in a review by the Independent of Kansas City. Recent releases include the album New Beginnings (Tzigane Music Label) with pianist Victoria Fatu and the album Artist Diploma Graduation Recital (self-released) with pianist Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich featuring works by Prokofiev, Enescu, Sarasate and Williams.
Cristian resides in Charleston,WV together with his wife Victoria and their two little princesses Vivienne and Sophie. In his spare time he enjoys photography, literature, high-tech gadgets and cycling.