24th Sibiu International Theatre Festival Comes to a Close
The ten-day cultural marathon occasioned by the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu came to a close on Sunday night
Leyla Cheamil, 19.06.2017, 14:07
The curtain came down on Sunday night over the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, which for 10 days turned this central Transylvanian city into stage for hundreds of performances, parades, concerts, circus acts and street animations presented by artists from around the world. The 24th edition of the largest performing arts festival in Romania and one of the most important in the world came to a close with a fireworks show and a street performance. Love, the theme of this years Festival, is the feeling that the organizers tried to convey throughout these 10 days. As the director of the Festival Constantin Chiriac put it a while ago, “we were very keen on this topic because we live times of terrible hatred, division and tearing.
Dance held pride of place in Sibiu. The special guest this year was the famous Russian-born dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, who currently lives in the US, and who presented a one-man show based on the poems of Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky. Baryshnikov was impressed with both the beauty of the city, and the size of the Festival, which he defined as “art for people and people for art.
On Saturday, 6 new stars were unveiled on Sibius Walk of Fame, in honor of the actor Marcel Iures, composer Vasile Sirli, directors Philippe Genty of France and Rimas Tuminas of Lithuania, the American director, playwright and actor Robert Wilson and the Israeli dancer and choreographer Ohad Naharin. The latter described the ceremony as an extension of the appreciation that the people of Sibiu have for art, and said the festival in Sibiu would remain a landmark in his life.
The organizers announced that preparations for the anniversary edition of 2018 are already approaching the final stage, and one of the recipients of a Walk of Fame star this year, Robert Wilson, announced his intention to take part in next years edition with 3 shows.(Edited by D. Vijeu)
