George Enescu International Festival: Bucharest 2-24 September 2017

The 23rd edition of the George Enescu International Classical Music Festival started on 2 September at the Bucharest’s Palace Hall (Sala Palatului), with George Enescu’s Oedipe performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, the Festival’s artistic Director.

Vladimir Jurowski: The Enescu Festival is certainly one of the most important festivals in Europe, one of the most important festivals we now have in the world. For me, Enescu is unique, he created a musical style that belongs to him only, that did not lead to continuity. He was the beginning, the center and the end of this musical style. A fusion of influences from the French but also from the romantic German. The music is his and no one else's. This, for me, is the great value of Enescu's music. We have Oedipe, a wonderful creation, very hard to theatrically represent on stage. I have rarely been given such a detailed and complex score such as the Enescu’s Oedipe. It is a very beautiful creation, but also a challenge.

By September 24, in Bucharest and in other seven cities in Romania, more than 3,000 of the most appreciated Romanian and foreign musicians will be the protagonists of over 80 Festival events.

The agenda includes performances by top classical music artists, some of them for the first time in Romania, 37 works by George Enescu as well as contemporary music performances.

In Bucharest, the concerts will take place at the Palace Hall, at the Romanian Athenaeum and at the Radio Romania Hall.

Twelve concerts are scheduled in Iași, Brașov, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Bacău, Ploiești and Sibiu.

The honorary President of the Festival is the great conductor Zubin Mehta.

The public can enjoy live, open-air classical music concerts, where the access is free, in the George Enescu Square (the Festival Square - an associated event of the George Enescu International Festival). In the same period with the Enescu Festival, the Festival Square will host concerts and performances delivered by students of the music schools in Bucharest and of the Romanian conservatories. These will take place between 17:00 and 19:00.

Radio Romania is both an organizer and a participant in the Festival. Interim Director General of the Romanian Broadcasting Society (Radio Romania), Georgică Severin, talked about the involvement of the Public Radio in this musical event:

Georgică Severin: Preparing such an event takes a lot of work, it is very difficult, but at the end, when you see that everything went well, satisfactions are great. (…) More than 70concerts will be broadcasted live on Radio Romania Musical and Radio Romania Cultural.

The program of the George Enescu International Music Festival:

http://festivalenescu.ro/en/programme/

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei