The Enescu Festival has come to an end

The prestigious George Enescu International Festival has come to an end in Romania.

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Mihai Pelin, 25.09.2017, 13:01

The George Enescu International Festival, which began on the 2nd of September, came to an end on Sunday. This 23rd edition featured tens of concerts and recitals in Bucharest and 7 other cities, namely Iasi, Brasov, Cluj, Timisoara, Bacau, Ploiesti and Sibiu, bringing together thousands of instrumentalists, soloists, conductors and musicians. The festival’s honorary president was the great conductor Zubin Mehta, and its artistic director was Vladimir Jurowski, the conductor of one of the best-known British orchestras, the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This orchestra was also in Bucharest alongside great names such as the National Orchestra of France, Scala di Milano Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam.

This year’s edition also featured a number of top Romanian orchestras, including the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, the National Radio Orchestra and orchestras from Cluj, Iasi, Timisoara, Bacau and Brasov. Critic music Costin Popa believes this was a truly exceptional edition: “I’m convinced the organisers are already working to make the 2019 edition just as valuable, consistent and satisfactory for the public. The George Enescu Festival is of the same calibre as the Salzburg Festival, which some say is the most important in the world.”

Apart from the usual sections, namely Great World Orchestras, Recitals and Chamber Orchestras and Midnight Concerts, this year saw the introduction of a new series called 21st Century Music, held at the radio Concert Hall, which included works by some of the most important contemporary composers. The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation was the only media institution in the country to broadcast live the concerts in the festival on its music and culture channels.

Held for the first time in 1958, the George Enescu Festival was discontinued by the communist regime in 1971 before being resumed after the fall of communism in 1989. It now takes place every two years. Considered Romania’s greatest musician, George Enescu was born in 1881. He lived in exile, after the installation of the communist dictatorship and died in Paris in 1955.