The 22nd George Enescu International Festival

An overview of this year's edition of the George Enescu Festival

Olivia Sima, 03.10.2015, 14:00

The 22nd George Enescu International Festival that ended on September 20, 2015 in Bucharest was highly appreciated by both experts and the audience. The prestigious event, hosted by the capital city Bucharest between August 30 and September 20, 2015, was held under the high patronage of Romanias President and was produced by Romanias Government through the Culture Ministry, having Radio Romania and the public television as co-producers.

Its worth mentioning that ARTEXIM was the festivals organizer and ArCub, the Cultural Centre of Bucharest, was co-organizer. George Enescu was Romanias greatest musician and the festival that has been bearing his name since 1958 is the best way to make him even more famous throughout the world. The 2015 edition of the George Enescu International Festival was the last one coordinated by maestro Ioan Holender. The 23rd festival, to be held in 2017, will have the legendary Zubin Mehta as honorary president.

Among the prestigious guests of this years edition of the George Enescu International Festival were the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle whose participation in the festival has been negotiated for 15 years – London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ion Marin, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yuri Temirkanov, the “Tharice Virtuosi string ensemble, made up of exceptional musicians of various nationalities, including Romanian violinist Liviu Prunaru, Konzerthousorchester Berlin, conducted by Horia Andreescu, the Paris Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Sir Roger Norrington, the Romanian-born violinists Deborah and Sarah Nemtanu, English harpsichord and organist Laurence Cummings, alongside the “Age of Enlightenment Orchestra and Choir, the highly acclaimed “Belcea quartet founded by the Romanian violinist Corina Belcea in London, in 1994, together with the Polish violinist Krzysztof Chorzelski, “New European Strings Chamber Orchestra conducted by violinist Dmitri Sitkovetsky, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Semion Bichkov, the National Radio Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam conducted by Andris Nelsons.

A highlight of the festival was the presentation of the concert version of Alban Bergs “Wozzeck by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, under the baton of Leo Hussain and also of “Oedipe, by George Enescu, directed by Anda Tabacaru-Hogea, with Davide Damiani in the lead role. Special events such as the concerts in Festival Square and various exhibitions were also part of the Festival.

The Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest hosted the “Bach Files, directed by Alexandru Darie, music by Adrian Enescu, based on certain themes and fragments from Bachs works under the Zoli Toth Project, while at the Small Theatre in Bucharest choreographer Gigi Caciuleanu staged “A Minute of Dance or UF. “Enescus Childhood was presented at the Odeon Theatre as part of the project “Classic is Fantastic. Book lovers were offered a quality project, named PRESS PASS with interviews and notes from the festivals 2011 and 2013 editions, coordinated by the TV producer Marius Constantinescu.

Pianists Murray Perrahia, Christian Zacharias, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Fazil Say got standing ovations, while soprano Valentina Nafornita and pianist Alxandra Dariescu, both from the young generation of artists, gave equally impressive performances.

Just like at the previous editions, Radio Romania broadcast and recorded most concerts in the festival. Alexandra Dariescu, for the second time a guest at the festival, said:

“I am very grateful to the organisers and very happy to be here in the company of such great musicians as violinist Alexandru Tomescu and the Ad libitum quartet from Iasi, which is also my home town. The audience was fantastic, we got standing ovations. Elgars Quintet was performed for the first time in Bucharest, so Im glad that I could bring something along from London. Bucharest has always given me a very warm welcome, and I am happy for that because I feel at home here and it is always a joy to return to this place.

The only Romanian in the famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam was its concert master, violinist Liviu Prunaru.

“We, the musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, consider it a great honour to be invited; there is a responsibility and I feel that my colleagues are looking forward to coming back here; it doesnt matter if we are to perform in the beginning or the end of the festival, what really matters is that we are in Bucharest, my home, and my colleagues who perform in the festival are happy for me as I am the only Romanian in the orchestra. We are like a family and I have been performing with them for 9 years and every time Im amazed at how beautifully these people can perform, I simply cannot get used to it.

The person who knows what the 2017 edition of the George Enescu International Festival will be like is ARTEXIM director Mihai Constantinescu.

The 2017 edition carries on the tradition of the festival, even if some leading structures are to change, we are doing our jobs. We intend to bring over the worlds first ten pianists, the first ten violinists and cellists, that is pianists, Lang Lang, Martha Argerich, Boris Berezovski, Khatia Buniatishvilli, violinists Maxim Vengerov, Joshua Bell, Vadim Repin, Leonidas Kavakos, Renaud Capucon, cellists Gautier Capucon, Misha Maiski and other artists well announce later.