The CEMAN (Central European Music Academies Network) Orchestra, a youth ensemble bringing together 25 music students from Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Ukraine and Italy, will perform in Bucharest, Craiova and Pitesti between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2, as part of its “Beyond Borders” tour, a press release informs.
The tour opens on Oct. 30 at the National University of Music Bucharest’s George Enescu Hall, followed by concerts in Craiova on Nov. 1 and Pitesti on Nov. 2. Bucharest-born violinist Mircea Dumitrescu will appear as soloist, while the orchestra will be conducted by its music director, Romolo Gessi.
The programme features works by Felix Mendelssohn, Bela Bartok and Benjamin Britten, including Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 10 in B minor and Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D minor, Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances and Britten’s Simple Symphony.
“Performing early works by Mendelssohn and Britten, alongside the enduring energy of Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, with a soloist such as Mircea Dumitrescu and an orchestra of talented young musicians, represents an extraordinary opportunity,” Romolo Gessi said.
The orchestra’s 25 instrumentalists are students at higher music education institutions in Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Ukraine and Italy. They come from the National University of Music Bucharest, the Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka, the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Chisinau, the Music Academy of the University of Montenegro in Cetinje, the P. I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Trieste, which coordinates the project, and the Jacopo Tomadini Conservatory in Udine.
The tour is supported by the Central European Initiative (CEI), marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of its Executive Secretariat, and takes place in the year in which Romania holds the CEI Presidency. The event is organised in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Bucharest.
“The value of the regional cooperation promoted by the CEI is also reflected in the collaborative spirit that inspires an orchestra capable of bringing together talented young people from different countries across the region, encouraging the exchange of experience and creating opportunities for encounters that promote intercultural dialogue and strengthen ties between the younger generations,” CEI Secretary-General Franco Dal Mas said.
Established in 2016 at the initiative of the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Trieste with CEI support, the Central European Music Academies Network (CEMAN) brings together music academies from across Central Europe. The orchestra debuted in Zagreb in 2018.
