The George Enescu International Festival has drawn to a close
The 22nd edition of the “George Enescu International Festival has recently drawn to a close, and the organizers are already working on the agenda of the festivals 2017 edition.
Newsroom, 21.09.2015, 12:54
The concert of the prestigious Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on Sunday night was the closing event of the 22 edition of the “George Enescu” International Festival. Rated as one of the world’s best symphonic orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra had Andris Nelson at helm, and performed works by Johannes Brahms, Maurice Ravel and George Enescu.
For three weeks running, renowned musicians from all over the world gave unforgettable performances on the stages of the festival, turning Bucharest into the world’s classical music capital. No less than 7 orchestras of the world’s 20 best orchestras were among the festival’s guests this year. There were also 2,500 foreign artists and 500 Romanian artists who charmed the audience. 22 of George Enescu’s works were performed. Romania’s Minister of Culture Ionut Vulpescu, talking about this year’s edition, has said:
”I’d be happy to know that we’ve all paid tribute to George Enescu’s memory, to his fans, to those who loved him, to our conscience. Music and culture are meant to united us, since they have the ability to take us back to the essence of mankind, to make us all equal in front of beauty, without, however, leveling us. They remind us that we share the same values that can help us turn a world of confrontations and vested interests into a world of harmony and solidarity. Allow me to express my deep gratitude to the festival’s president and artistic director, Mr. Ioan Holender, for having joined us tonight. Thanks to him, who coordinated the last 7 editions, the festival’s quality and prestige have increased.”
The 2015 edition of the Enescu Festival was the last one coordinated by the maestro Ioan Holender. The 23rd edition of the festival, to be held in 2017, will have the legendary Zubin Mehta as honorary president. The program of the 2017 edition is almost ready and it will open with George Enescu’s opera “Oedipus”, performed under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski, the main conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and who has also been appointed recently main conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The festival’s next edition will number, among its guests, the Scala of Milan, pianist Lang Lang, conductor Valery Gergiev and Antonio Pappano, who will conduct George Enescu’s 3rd Symphony. At the same time, the Berlin Philharmonics, now at its first participation in the festival, has decided it would return to Bucharest in 2019.
