The 26th edition of the George Enescu International Festival begins on Sunday, August 27, in Bucharest.
On Sunday, August 27, the 26th edition of the George Enescu International Festival begins. For 29 days, more than 3,500 invited artists will perform on the stages of the Palatului Hall, the Romanian Athenaeum, the Radio Hall, the Auditorium Hall and the Odeon Theatre during 90 concerts held in Bucharest.
Bucharest will host concerts performed by 51 orchestras from 16 countries, 150 soloists, and over 60 conductors, participating in the most important artistic event Romania offers to the world: George Enescu International Music Festival.
As informed by Agerpres, the theme of this year’s edition, „Generosity through music”, expresses the fundamental values of the composer George Enescu, brings to mind the George Enescu National Award, initiated in 1913 by the Romanian composer, and describes new approaches in the field of social involvement, education, training, inclusion and contribution to the community, specific to this impressive artistic event.
This year’s official program includes six series of concerts, each with a different theme, built for the specifics of each hall and the audience it is addressed to. The series of great orchestras of the world – brings 13 international orchestras and three orchestras from Romania to the stage of the Sala Palatului in a musical marathon of 29 concerts in 29 consecutive days.
The series of concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum allows the public to listen to the most famous symphony and chamber orchestras in one of the buildings with the most beautiful acoustics in the world, the Romanian Athenaeum. The series offers the public spectacular encounters with works by well-known classical and contemporary composers.
The midnight concerts bring together 11 proposals for unmissable recitals, also on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, this time with a program that goes from Renaissance and Baroque music to traditional Georgian folklore and moments of improvisation.
The Enescu and contemporaries series captures the relationship that the great George Enescu had with other great composers, who were his contemporaries, in a series of concerts held on weekend mornings at the Auditorium Hall.
The series of Romanian orchestras represents the meeting of the public with the interpretative qualities of orchestras from our country, each with its own specifics, in a varied program, which includes romantic or modern authors as well as contemporary music. The program will include ten representative ensembles from Bucharest and five other cities in the country.
A new series this year is that of Concerts for families and children. An initiative of maestro Cristian Măcelaru, the series gathers four thematic concerts, which will take place in a space included for the first time in the Festival, the Majestic Hall of the Odeon Theatre. With programs specially designed to stimulate children’s interest in classical music and instruments, the concerts for children and parents are unique experiences designed to make the works of great composers known to the general public.
This year’s edition is the first with a new management, both artistically and executively. Master Cristian Măcelaru officially begins his mandate as Artistic Director of the Enescu Festival, while Cristina Uruc, Artexim interim manager, coordinates the Festival’s executive team.
Among the essential orchestras that will participate in this year’s edition are the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the National Orchestra of France, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
First-class international conductors will take the stage in Bucharest and the country, and among them are Cristian Măcelaru, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Wilson Hermanto, Paavo Jarvi, Delyana Lazarova, Lawrence Foster or Vladimir Jurowski.
Last but not least, some of the soloists who will accompany the orchestras are Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Gautier Capucon, Yuja Wang, Klaus Makela, Daniel Hope, Olga Peretyatko, Fazil Say, Avi Avital, Kate Lindsey, Cameron Carpenter, Xavier de Maistre, Jose Cura, David Grimal, Daniel Muller-Schott, Benjamin Kruithof, Maria Marica, Alexandra Segal.
More than 60 concerts will be broadcast live on the Enescu Festival website. The complete list is available on the website www.festivalenescu.ro
TVR, co-producer and traditional partner of the Enescu Festival, broadcasts this year again, live a series of concerts from the Festival on TVR 1 and TVR Cultural.
Another vital section of this year’s program is the Festival Square.
Another novelty of this year’s edition is the Enescu Festival Blog, which will host daily information about the activities carried out during the event and a series of editorials signed by the Romanian writer Radu Paraschivescu under the title „Festival Journal.”
About the George Enescu International Festival
The George Enescu International Festival is one of the most important international classical music events since 1958. The 26th edition of the festival takes place between August 27 and September 24, and the edition’s theme is „Generosity through music.” The festival program includes over 3,500 of the world’s most famous artists, over 40 orchestras from 16 countries, opera works in their first audition and educational concerts for children.
More details are available on the festival’s page.
For the full schedule and other details on the events, please access this page.
Coming to Bucharest for the George Enescu Festival? Please check our Bucharest Travel Guide 2023.
