‘George Enescu’ International Festival
The 'George Enescu' International Festival ended on Sunday, after three weeks of spectacular performances
Roxana Vasile, 23.09.2019, 01:50
The largest edition so far of the George Enescu International Festival, the 24th, ended on Sunday, after a 23-day classical music marathon. 2,500 musicians from abroad and some 1000 from the most prestigious musical establishments in Romanian performed on the festivals stages. The capital Bucharest played host to 84 concerts. 313 works by 149 composers were part of the program, covering all genres, from baroque to modern music. Also, 35 works composed by George Enescu were performed, thus extending the visibility of the great Romanian composer and violinist.
But Bucharest was not the only host of the festival. 30 concerts were held in other cities across the country, such as Sibiu, Cluj, Bacau, Targoviste, Piatra Neamt, Targu Mures, Barlad, Timisoara and Satu Mare, but also in 6 cities abroad, namely Florence, Berlin, Liege, Toronto, Montreal and Chisinau. More than 300 events associated to the festival were held in non-conventional spaces, such as museums, shopping centres, parks and office buildings. September 22nd, which was the last day of the festival, ended with a concert by the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, under the baton of Tugan Sokhiev, of Osetia.
Many prestigious artists and orchestras from around the world came to Romania to be part of this big celebration of classical music, established in 1958 to honor the memory of George Enescu. Organized under the logo World in Harmony, with Vladimir Jurowski as its artistic director, this years festival had among guests nine of the best orchestras of the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of France or the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, and also celebrities such as Marion Cotillard, Kiril Petrenko or Mitsuko Uchida.
The concerts and recitals were grouped into six big sections: “Great Orchestras of the World”, “Recitals and Chamber Music”, “By Midnight Concerts”, “Music of the 21st Century”, “Mozart Week in Residence” and “the International Forum of Composers”.
Mihai Constantinescu, the manager of ARTEXIM, the institution that organizes the George Enescu International Festival, with Radio Romania as a co-producer, stated on Sunday, at the end of the festival: “Its not me who should give a verdict. If the audience liked it, if the artists liked it, it means everything was good. From our point of view, everything went great.” (translated by M. Ignatescu)
