He premiered works from living composers including Einojuhani Rautavaara, written for him, he recorded violin concertos by Sibelius and Mozart.

Born as Eugen Sîrbu (under the spelling used at the time) on 6 September 1950,[1] the future violinist hailed from the village of Pietrari, currently in Dâmbovița County.

[2] In 1980, Sârbu stepped in to replace the soloist in the North Wales International Music Festival, playing Sibelius' Violin Concerto with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henryk Czyz.

[12] 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.

"[13] Sârbu's Proms debut came the following year with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Norman Del Mar,[4] in Ernest Chausson's Poème,[14] and he returned in 1983[4] to play Mozart's Violin Concerto No.

His performance of Walton's Violin Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra was described by Judith Jennings in Fortnight as making "this difficult work sound deceptively easy".

[8][6] Setting up a scholarship for Romanian music students, in December 1997 he also held a concert in honour of those killed during the Revolution.