Radio Romania Cultural Projects

'The Traveling Piano' and the Gaudeamus Caravan are some of Radio Romania's major cultural projects

Roxana Vasile, 12.04.2017, 13:10

In 2011, Radio Romania and the Accendo cultural association started putting into practice, together with pianist Horia Mihail, the idea of traveling around the country with a concert piano provided by Radio Romania. After each tour, the piano used in every performance would be donated to a venue that did not have such an instrument. In the absence of a piano, the audience in those towns and cities would not have had the pleasure of enjoying a symphonic concert. Thanks to these tours, towns and cities across the country now have a piano.

For years now, thanks to the traveling piano project, the audiences in all regions of Romania have enjoyed pieces by famous composers such as Liszt, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Chopin. The program is usually diverse, also including miniatures by Schubert, Dvorak, Ravel or Debussy. This year, the “Traveling Piano” left on April 5th from Chisinau, the capital of the neighboring Republic of Moldova, and will play in 15 towns in Romania.

After a two-hour concert in Chisinau, pianist Horia Mihail said:

“As usual, I was warmly welcomed by people here. Its not for the first time that Chisinau has been the starting place for Romanian national tours. And I think this is natural, especially if a tour starts in the Moldovan capital and ends in Romanias capital. Its a natural connection. I will never get bored, because there are so many things to explore in music, so the 16 concerts that I have are actually too few.”

This year, at the end of the tour on May 4th, the piano will remain in Caracal, a town in the south of the country, whose theatre hall has hosted many performances staged by Radio Romania. The Traveling Piano is not the only cultural event organized by the public radio. Another important project has been Lectura (reading), aimed at promoting and supporting written culture in Romania.

The main component of the programme are the Gaudeamus International Book Fair, the longest and most important such event in Romania, as well as the Gaudeamus Caravan. With the Gaudeamus Caravan, ever since 2000 Radio Romania has organized book and media products selling events and exhibitions in Romanias main cultural and university centers. The Gaudeamus Caravan has just ended its stay in Cluj Napoca, Transylvania, and the event, just like always, has been a success. In figures, there were some 24,000 visitors, on a record surface of 620 sq. m. of stands, with more 70 participants and 90 editorial events.