The Norwegian cellist, Ivan Valentin Hollup Roald, is a versatile and curious musician.

Since 2016 he resides in Vienna, where he is part of the Simply Quartet and nourishing his passion for chamber music and string quartet, with big success. With his quartet, he is regularly invited to venues like Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Starting in the 2025/26 season, the quartet will have their own concert series at the Wiener Konzerthaus. They have won four first prizes at prestigious chamber music competitions: the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition and the "Quatuor à Bordeaux" in 2019, the "Franz Schubert and the Music of Modernity" in 2018 and in 2017 at the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition. The quartet has collaborated with wonderful musicians like Paul Meyer, Pablo Barragán, Lukas Sternath, Dominik Wagner und Harriet Krijgh. Their debut album was released in 2025 on the label Genuin Classics and has been highly praised by the press internationally.

As soloist and as a chamber musician Ivan Valentin has performed at Festivals like the Festspillene i Nord-Norge and the Norwegian Opera as well as stages in Italy, the Netherlands and Greece, and he has shared the stage with musicians like Lars Anders Tomter, Liza Ferschtman and Thorleif Thedéen.

He was member of Ensemble Aksiom 2014-17, where he worked with many contemporary Scandinavian composers and took part in Festivals like Ultima in Oslo and made CD recordings.
As guest player he has regularly performed with the Bergen and Oslo philharmonics and in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

Ivan Valentin studied cello with Truls Mørk and Aage Kvalbein at the Norwegian Academy of Music, in addition to a chamber music masters at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Johannes Meissl. He also did a one year Quartet Course with Günter Pichler at the Reina Sofia School of Music, Madrid.
Another important institution for his chamber music path was the European Chamber Music Academy, where he had courses with Hatto Beyerle, Avedis Kouyoumdjian and Patrick Jüdt. His curiosity in the field of performance praxis led to courses with Clive Brown and Andrew Manze. He has gotten further impulses from musicians and professors like Gavriel Lipkind, Gerhard Schulz and Valentin Erben.

Interested in supporting young musicians he has already been teaching at the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music between 2024-2025.

Ivan Valentin plays a cello by Giovanni Battista Ceruti (1801), generously loaned by a private sponsor.