The George Enescu International Festival taking place between August 24 – September 24 in Bucharest will see the world’s most famous orchestras performing at the Romanian Athenaeum within 27 extraordinary events.
* The first event, scheduled for August 28, is the concert of the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, under the baton of conductor Jorg Widmann, together with violinist Carolin Widmann.
* The WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne will play a second concert on August 29, under conductor Cristian Macelaru, the artistic director of the George Enescu International Festival.
* The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Austrian Manfred Honeck and accompanied by the well-known French piano duo of sisters Katia and Marielle Labeque will take the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum on August 30.
* The second concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Manfred Honeck takes place on August 31, together with the George Enescu Philharmonic Choir conducted by Iosif Ion Prunner.
* The Ensemble Intercontemporain from Paris will perform on September 1 under the baton of Pierre Bleuse, with a repertoire consisting exclusively of works by one of the most avant-garde composers of the 20th century, Gyorgy Ligeti, born 100 years ago in Tarnaveni, Romania.
* Dogma Chamber Orchestra led by conductor Mikhail Gurewitsch performs on September 2.
* September 3 will see the Cameristi della Scala Orchestra – the chamber orchestra of Teatro alla Scala di Milano perform under conductor Wilson Hermanto, together with Romanian pianist Daniel Ciobanu.
* George Enescu’s music will resound at the Romanian Athenaeum on September 4, when the Cameristi della Scala return to the venue for a second concert under the lead of American conductor Wilson Hermanto, in a formula with three soloists.
* The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra led by conductor Herbert Blomstedt will perform twice at the Romanian Athenaeum, on September 5 and on September 6.
* On Thursday, September 7, the East-West Chamber Orchestra led by conductor Rostislav Krimer will perform together with the winner of the
2022 George Enescu International Competition – cello section, Benjamin Kruithof.
* The concert of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra is set for September 8, with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist.
* On September 9, famous pianist Kirill Gerstein will give a recital of Frederic Chopin, Gabriel Faure, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Johann Strauss/Leopold Godowsky.
* An opera gala performed by Russian soprano Aida Garifullina and the Wurth Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Vandelli is set on September 10.
* The Wurth Philharmonic Orchestra will be back to the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum on September 11, together with the Radio Academic Choir conducted by Ciprian Tutu and with Austrian pianist Till Fellner as a soloist.
* September 12 has the concert “Death and the Maiden” by the Camerata Bern chamber orchestra led by violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja scheduled, featuring works by August Nörmiger, Franz Schubert, Carlo Gesualdo and Gyorgy Kurtag.
* The Zurich Chamber Orchestra will perform on September 14, with violinist Daniel Hope as a soloist, works by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Enescu, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Felix Mendelssohn, Edward Elgar, Alan Silvestri and Bela Bartok.
* Collegium Vocale Gent will perform on September 15 under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe the Mass in B minor BWV 232 by Johann Sebastian Bach.
* The Berlin Academy of American Music chamber orchestra is scheduled to play on September 16 under conductor Garret Keast, and with violinist Mihaela Martin as a soloist.
* The George Enescu Philharmonic orchestra and choir will perform on September 17 under conductors Arnaud Arbert and Iosif Ion Prunner.
* The Manchester Camerata chamber orchestra and Hungarian conductor and violinist Gabor Takacs-Nagy will play on September 18 together with soloists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano), Alexandra Dariescu (piano) and Jess Gillam (saxophone).
* Camerata Salzburg will perform on September 19 together with concertmaster Gregory Ahss and violinist Janine Jansen.
* The Italian ensemble Il Giardino Armonico will give a Haydn-only concert on September 21, together with the NFM Choir and conductor Giovanni Antonini.
* Les Dissonances orchestra, created and led by violinist David Grimal, comes to the Romanian Athenaeum on September 22 with a program that includes Sonata No. 3 in A minor for piano and violin Op. 25 by George Enescu, La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre, L. 109 by Claude Debussy, and Pelleas and Melisande Op. 5 by Arnold Schoenberg.
* The concert of the Philharmonic of the Municipal Theater of Bologna will take place on September 23 under the baton of conductor Roberto Abbado and with Anna Tifu on the violin and Razvan Popovici on the viola.
* The event that concludes the series of concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum is the performance, on September 24, of the French baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, with the participation of the laureates of the 11th edition of Le Jardin des Voix and of the Compagnie Kafig and The Juilliard School dancers.
The 26th edition of the George Enescu International Festival, organized since 1958, takes place under the motto “Generosity through Music”. The program includes over 3,500 of the world’s most famous artists, over 40 orchestras from 16 countries, first-audition compositions and educational concerts for children.
Financed by the government of Romania through the Ministry of Culture, the Enescu Festival is organized by ARTEXIM under the High Patronage of the President of Romania.
