Henri Valentino (14 October 1785 – 28 January 1865) was a French conductor and violinist. From 1824 to 1832, he was co-conductor (with François Habeneck) of the Paris Opera, where he prepared and conducted the premieres of the first two grand operas, Auber's La muette de Portici and Rossini's Guillaume Tell. From 1832 to 1836, he was First Conductor of the Opéra-Comique, and from 1837 to 1841, conductor of classical music at the Concerts Valentino in a hall on the rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.

He was born Henri-Justin-Armand-Joseph Valentino in Lille. His father was an Italian army pharmacist, who wanted his son to become a soldier, but Henri exhibited such a great talent for music, he was allowed to pursue that instead. At twelve he was playing violin in the local theatre (probably in Lille), and at fourteen was asked to substitute for a conductor on short notice, thereafter mainly dedicating himself to conducting. Later he conducted in Rouen.

In 1813 in Metz, Valentino married the niece of the composer Louis-Luc Loiseau de Persuis, who at that time was also the chief conductor of the Paris Opera Orchestra. Persuis died on 20 December 1819, and Rodolphe Kreutzer, who had been a deputy conductor since 1816, was named chief conductor in January 1820. Valentino was appointed deputy conductor under Kreutzer on 1 April. Valentino was "rewarded with the reversion of the title of first conductor conjointly with [François] Habeneck" in August. The decree did not take effect until Kreutzer's resignation on 1 December 1824, "when the two deputies had long been exercising the function of conductor in turn." Each of them was responsible for different new productions, that is, the conducting of the rehearsals and performances needed to bring a new work before the public.

Among the premieres conducted by Valentino at the Paris Opera are the following works:

The French music historian Arthur Pougin describes Valentino as a conductor of the first rank:

Gifted with a talent at once energetic and supple, meticulous of small details, capably inspiring the confidence and respect of all who were placed under him, he excited not only the admiration of the public, but that of the singers, dancers, choristers, and orchestral players. Moreover, his kindly nature and integrity, his firmness and fair-mindedness won him general favor and gave him great moral authority.

Late in 1824, Valentino had applied for the post of conductor at the Chapel Royale, where he was already a violinist. The co-director of the Chapel, Jean-François Le Sueur, had a young student, Hector Berlioz, who was composing a mass (his Messe solennelle), intended for the Church of Saint-Roch in Paris. The forces required for performing the work were so large, that both he and his teacher believed it needed a great conductor. Realizing that the situation improved their chances of a positive response, they approached Valentino, who, after inspecting the score, agreed to conduct, despite having serious doubts concerning the quality of the players and singers that he might have at his disposal. The performance was set for 28 December. Unfortunately, the general rehearsal, held the day before the scheduled concert, was a disaster: many of the amateur musicians engaged by the church failed to appear, and the instrumental parts, copied by the choirboys, were full of errors, so the premiere had to be postponed. Despite the problems, Valentino encouraged Berlioz to persevere and promised to conduct, if conditions could be improved. Berlioz revised his score, copied out the parts himself, and managed to obtain a loan, enabling him to hire the Paris Opera orchestra, augmented with the best players from the Théâtre-Italien. The performance, conducted by Valentino on 10 June, was an undisputed success.

In 1824 Valentino was made the Chapel Royale orchestra's Second Conductor, under Charles-Henri Plantade, and was designated Plantade's heir apparent. Valentino never was able to take advantage of this privilege, however, since Plantade was still the First Conductor, when the monarchy was overthrown by the July Revolution of 1830.