The George Enescu International Festival due August 27 – September 24 in Bucharest will see the world’s most famous orchestras performing at the Romanian Athenaeum within 27 extraordinary events.
* The first event, scheduled for August 28, is the concert of the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, under the baton of conductor Jorg Widmann, together with violinist Carolin Widmann. On the bill are compositions by Jorg Widmann himself, as well as two works by Felix Mendelssohn (Andante from the Sonata for clarinet and piano in E flat major, and Symphony No. 5 D major/D minor, Op. 107, The Reformation).
* The WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne will play a second concert on August 29, under conductor Cristian Macelaru, the artistic director of the George Enescu International Festival. The soloist will be baritone Matthias Goerne. The orchestra will perform, in a first in Romania, Dan Dediu’s composition Formido, commissioned by the Cologne Radio Broadcasting Orchestra, as part of the project Miniaturen der Zeit/Miniatures of Time. The concert will continue with selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn/The Boy’s Magic Horn (Gustav Mahler/Detlev Glanert) and The Wooden Prince Op. 13 by Bela Bartok.
* The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Austrian Manfred Honeck and accompanied by the well-known French piano duo of sisters Katia and Marielle Labeque will take the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum on August 30 with works by Bryce Dessner (Concerto for two pianos and orchestra) and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 5 in E minor Op. 64).
* The second concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Manfred Honeck takes place on August 31, together with the George Enescu Philharmonic Choir conducted by Iosif Ion Prunner. The program will include Symphony No. 1 in C major Op. 21 by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Rusalka Fantasy by Antonin Dvorak, and the symphonic poem Vox Maris Op. 31 by George Enescu, with tenor Cosmin Ifrim, and the soloist interventions of soprano Lavinia Mamot.
* The Ensemble Intercontemporain from Paris will perform on September 1 under the baton of Pierre Bleuse, with a repertoire consisting exclusively of works by one of the most avant-garde composers of the 20th century, Gyorgy Ligeti, born 100 years ago in Tarnaveni, Romania.
* Dogma Chamber Orchestra led by conductor Mikhail Gurewitsch performs on September 2. The soloists will be two winners of the 2022 George Enescu International Competition, Alexandra Segal (piano) and Maria Marica (violin). The program will include compositions by Dan Buciu, Felix Mendelssohn, Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, and in an absolute first audition, the chamber symphony in four movements by Mikhail Gurewitsch – Lifebyrinth.
* September 3 will see the Cameristi della Scala Orchestra – the chamber orchestra of Teatro alla Scala di Milano perform under conductor Wilson Hermanto, together with Romanian pianist Daniel Ciobanu. The concert program includes Gabriel Fauré’s Suite Pelléas et Mélisande Op. 80, the Concerto No. 4 in G Major for piano and orchestra, Op. 58 by Ludwig van Beethoven, and the Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11 by Johannes Brahms.
* George Enescu’s music will resound at the Romanian Athenaeum on September 4, when the Cameristi della Scala return to the venue for a second concert under the lead of American conductor Wilson Hermanto, in a formula with three soloists: cellist Daniel Muller-Schott and two laureates of the 2022 George Enescu International Competition – violinist Stefan Aprodu and pianist George Todica. The program consists of Enescu’s Aria and Scherzino for violin and orchestra, with the intervention of pianist George Todica, along with compositions by Piotr Ilici Tchaikovsky, Felix Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss.
* The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra led by conductor Herbert Blomstedt will perform twice at the Romanian Athenaeum. The first event is scheduled for September 5, with selections from Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, Op. 9 by George Enescu, and Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107, by Anton Bruckner. The orchestra’s second concert is scheduled for September 6, with compositions by Franz Schubert (Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D 485) and Franz Berwald (Memory of the Norwegian Alps, and Symphony No. 3 in C major, Singuliere).
* On Thursday, September 7, the East-West Chamber Orchestra led by conductor Rostislav Krimer will perform together with the winner of the 2022 George Enescu International Competition – cello section, Benjamin Kruithof. Works by Enescu, Joseph Haydn, Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Dmitri Shostakovich are in the program.
* The concert of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra is set for September 8, with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist. The compositions included in the program are Ramifications for string orchestra by Gyorgy Ligeti, Concerto No. 3 in E Major for piano and orchestra, Sz. 119 by Bela Bartok, and the String Octet in C Major Op. 7 by George Enescu.
* On September 9, famous pianist Kirill Gerstein will give a recital of Frederic Chopin (Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, Op. 61), Gabriel Faure (Nocturne No. 13 in B Minor, Op. 119), Franz Liszt (Polonaise No. 2 in E Major, S. 223), Robert Schumann (Vienna Carnival Op. 26), and Johann Strauss/Leopold Godowsky (Waltzes).
* An opera gala performed by Russian soprano Aida Garifullina and the Wurth Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Vandelli is set on September 10. The program includes arias from famous operas by Charles Gounod, Leo Delibes, Gerónimo Gimenez, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Franz Schubert and Ruggero Leoncavallo.
* The Wurth Philharmonic Orchestra will be back to the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum on September 11, together with the Radio Academic Choir conducted by Ciprian Tutu and with Austrian pianist Till Fellner as a soloist. The program will include works by George Enescu (symphonic poem Isis) and Ludwig van Beethoven (Concerto No. 3 in C Minor for piano and orchestra Op. 37, and Symphony No. 5 in C major, Op. 67).
* September 12 has the concert “Death and the Maiden” by the Camerata Bern chamber orchestra led by violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja scheduled, featuring works by August Nörmiger, Franz Schubert, Carlo Gesualdo and Gyorgy Kurtag. Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja returns on Wednesday, September 13, to the Romanian Athenaeum with a recital that includes both her own compositions and works by Arnold Schonberg, Darius Milhaud, Bela Bartok and Maurice Ravel.
* The Zurich Chamber Orchestra will perform on September 14, with violinist Daniel Hope as a soloist, works by Johann Sebastian Bach (Concerto in D Minor for two violins and orchestra BWV 1043), George Enescu (Intermezzi Op. 12), Philip Glass (Echorus), Arvo Pärt (Darf ich…), Felix Mendelssohn (Concerto in D minor for violin and string orchestra), Edward Elgar (Introduction and allegro for strings, Op. 47), Alan Silvestri (Three pieces for string orchestra Op. 4 No. 2) and Bela Bartok (Romanian Folk Dances).
* Collegium Vocale Gent will perform on September 15 under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe the Mass in B minor BWV 232 by Johann Sebastian Bach, with sopranos Dorothee Mields and Margot Oitzinger, alto Alex Potter, tenor Guy Cutting and bass Peter Kooij as soloists.
* The Berlin Academy of American Music chamber orchestra is scheduled to play on September 16 under conductor Garret Keast, and with violinist Mihaela Martin as a soloist. The program will include works by Caroline Shaw, Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, as well as a composition in first audition, Eritrean Ring by Livia Teodorescu.
* The George Enescu Philharmonic orchestra and choir will perform on September 17 under conductors Arnaud Arbert and Iosif Ion Prunner. On the bill is Gyorgy Ligeti’s concert opera Le Grand Macabre, his only work of this genre, in a tribute for the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
* The Manchester Camerata chamber orchestra and Hungarian conductor and violinist Gabor Takacs-Nagy will play on September 18 together with soloists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano), Alexandra Dariescu (piano) and Jess Gillam (saxophone). The program will include the Romanian Rhapsody in A major, Op. 11 No. 1 by George Enescu, the Concerto in E flat major for two pianos and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with jazz soloist Teodora Brody on vocals, as well as compositions by Michael Nyman and Ludwig van Beethoven.
* Camerata Salzburg will perform on September 19 together with concertmaster Gregory Ahss and violinist Janine Jansen. On the bill are works by Joseph Haydn (Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Hob. I:6: “Morning”, and Symphony No. 7 in C major, Hob. I:7: “Afternoon”), and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Concerto No. 3 in G Major for violin and orchestra K. 216, “Strassburg”, and Concerto No. 5 in A Major for violin and orchestra K. 219).
* The Italian ensemble Il Giardino Armonico will give a Haydn-only concert on September 21, together with the NFM Choir and conductor Giovanni Antonini. The oratorio The Seasons will be staged with soprano Anett Fritsch, tenor Maximilian Schmitt and bass Florian Boesch.
* Les Dissonances orchestra, created and led by violinist David Grimal, comes to the Romanian Athenaeum on September 22 with a program that includes Sonata No. 3 in A minor for piano and violin Op. 25 by George Enescu, La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre, L. 109 by Claude Debussy, and Pelleas and Melisande Op. 5 by Arnold Schoenberg.
* The concert of the Philharmonic of the Municipal Theater of Bologna will take place on September 23 under the baton of conductor Roberto Abbado and with Anna Tifu on the violin and Razvan Popovici on the viola. Compositions by George Enescu, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven will be presented.
* The event that concludes the series of concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum is the performance, on September 24, of the French baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, with the participation of the laureates of the 11th edition of Le Jardin des Voix and of the Compagnie Kafig and The Juilliard School dancers. The program will include the opera The Fairy Queen, Z. 629 by Henry Purcell, whose libretto is an anonymous adaptation of the Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.
The 26th edition of the George Enescu International Festival, organized since 1958, takes place under the motto “Generosity through Music”. The program includes over 3,500 of the world’s most famous artists, over 40 orchestras from 16 countries, first-audition compositions and educational concerts for children.