On Sunday, the 26th International George Enescu Festival concluded in Bucharest with a concert supported by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Klaus Meckel with an Enescu piece performed by one of the world’s greatest orchestras: Concert Overture on Popular Romanian Themes. Or. 32. Together with the mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston’s orchestra, the Radio Academic Choir and the Radio Children’s Choir, trained by maestro Ciprian Tsutsu and Rezvan Rados, took to the stage of the Palace Hall during a concert for Gustav Mahler’s monumental 3rd Symphony in D minor.

The George Enescu International Festival, an event held under the high patronage of the President of Romania and funded by the Government of Romania through the Ministry of Culture, had its gala final edition in 2023 with no less than 90 official concerts. program. During 29 days, more than 3,500 artists appeared on the stages of the Palatului Hall, the Romanian Athenaeum, the Radio Hall, the Auditorium Hall, and the Great Hall of the Odeon Theater. A real musical marathon, which featured national and world premieres of works and which gathered music lovers from all over the world to Bucharest.

More than 110,000 classical music lovers from Romania, the United States of America, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Israel and from the African continent attended the 26th Enescu Festival.

There was no shortage of memorable interpretations of Enesien’s works: 39 symphonic and chamber works, including the 3rd symphony op.21 performed by maestro Christian Mechelaru, conducted by the National Orchestra of France together with members of the Romanian Youth Orchestra and Choir. George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Joseph Ion Prunner. The 3rd symphony is one of the most profound creations of the great musician George Enescu, in which the authenticity of the work is revealed both on a purely musical level and in the sphere of philosophical ideas that this monumental symphony generates.

Maestro Zubin Mehta, honorary president of the Enescu Festival, conducted in Bucharest the prelude to the opera “Oedipus” performed by Italian musicians from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

The Romanian presence at the Enescu Festival was marked by the participation of 17 symphony orchestras from Bucharest and the province, more than 20 Romanian composers in the main program and related events in Bucharest and in the country, as well as numerous soloists, including pianists Daniel Chobanu, Andrii Gologan, Florian Mitrea, violinists Cristina Ioana Goycea and Maria Marika, winner of the 2022 George Enescu International Competition, or laureates of previous editions: Stefan Aprodu – violin, George Todika – piano, Adela Liculescu – piano, Stefan Kazaku – cello, Constantin Borodin – cello.

7 Romanian conductors appeared on the main stage of the festival in Bucharest: Christian Mechelaru, Christian Badea, Christian Mandeal, Christian Spataru, Constantin Grigore, Andrei Feher or Gabriel Bebeselea.

This was the first edition held under the leadership of master Christian Machelaru as artistic director and Cristina Uruk, interim manager of ARTEXIM, as executive director.

“The Enescu Festival becomes the cultural center of the world for 4 weeks. It is a festival that brings together thousands of artists from the world’s best orchestras for this celebration of music. Together, we enjoyed the spirit of generosity through music and gave the world the works of George Enescu, which could be heard in the Palace Hall and the Romanian Athenaeum, as well as online by people from dozens of countries.– said the artistic director of the festival, Christian Mechelaru.

More than 170 people worked in the ARTEXIM team and in the teams of partners who participated in the implementation of this publication.

“We have successfully completed the new edition of the George Enescu International Festival with a mostly new team in a post-pandemic context. For 29 days, we enjoyed exceptional music in unique interpretations, which gave us energy to be able to maintain the standards of the organization of the Enescu Festival at a high level, contributing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to the most important cultural events in Romania.” said Christina Uruk, interim manager of ARTEXIM.

In Bucharest, during the first week of the Festival, an artistic residency project took place, which included 10 days of workshops, conferences and concerts: Academia Lumières d’Europe, an initiative carried out under the patronage of UNESCO, in partnership with the Institut Française and the University National Music Festival in Bucharest

24 children from the projects of the Special Olympics Foundation, Motivation and the “Amurtel” Association took part in two of the four concerts of the series, dedicated to the family and children, in the “Odeon” theater.

15 sports champions with Down syndrome from the Special Olympics Romania Foundation took an active part in the organization of the Festival, welcoming the public and distributing information materials about the evening program of concerts of world-famous orchestras in Palatului Hall.

Figures of the Enescu 2023 festival

More than 110,000 spectators from Romania and several countries around the world watched the concerts organized in Bucharest in the five main halls of the Festival and broadcasted online, to which are added the audience that participated in the Festival Square, in the relevant events and the cycle “Enescu Festival in the Country “.

62 concerts, a record number, were available for viewing on FestivalEnescu.ro within 12 or even 24 hours after the live broadcast. Visitors from more than 45 countries watched the concerts online, views were recorded from Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States of America, as well as from countries such as Argentina, Taiwan, Chile or Kazakhstan.

The 3,550 artists present in Bucharest collected a total of more than 9,000 nights and traveled more than 15,000 kilometers in cars provided by mobility partner Blue. Dozens of tons of instruments were transported from major European cities to Bucharest, unloaded and loaded by the production team behind the scenes of the concert halls.

More than half a million users interacted with the Festival online through the website, blog and social networks. In the Festival Blog, one of this year’s new projects, more than 150 texts, chronicles and performances have been published, including the Festival Journal signed by the writer Radu Paraskivescu.

Instagram account increased followers by 45% and reached over 100,000 users. The TikTok account, another novelty this year, has collected more than 90 thousand views of the published videos.

This year’s video projects, interview series “Voices of the Festival”, “Best Moments of the Week” and “People of Enescu” collected more than 320,000 views on Facebook and YouTube.

thank you

We sincerely thank everyone who made a generous contribution to the organization of the George Enescu International Festival: the Presidential Administration, the Government of Romania, the Ministry of Culture, the ART PRODUCTION Foundation – co-organizers, co-producers, Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, Radio Romania and Romanian Television, the main sponsors Rompetrol and BRD Groupe Société Générale, institutional sponsors and partners, media, suppliers and partners.

Our efforts have been directed at the service of the music and the public, to whom we thank for their dedication.

See you again in 2024 at the George Enescu International Competition, which will be organized in September, and in 2025 at the George Enescu International Festival.

We invite you to follow us on the festival website, blog, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok accounts, and subscribe to the Enescu Festival newsletter to receive the latest information about the festival and the competition.

About the George Enescu International Festival

The George Enescu International Festival is one of the most important international classical music events, organized since 1958. The event is held under the high patronage of the President of Romania and is a cultural project financed by the Romanian government through the Ministry of Culture. The 26th festival was held from August 27 to September 24 under the motto “Generosity through music”. More than 3,500 of the world’s most famous artists, more than 51 orchestras from 16 countries, premiere works and educational concerts for children took part in the festival program.

Details on the website https://www.festivalenescu.ro/

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The George Enescu International Festival is an event held under the high patronage of the President of Romania.

The cultural project is financed by the Romanian government through the Ministry of Culture.

Organization: ARTEXIM

Co-organizer: ArtProduction Foundation

Co-producers: Romanian Language Society, Romanian Television Society, Bucharest City Hall

Main sponsors: Rompetrol, BRD – Groupe Société Générale

Sponsors: Ferrero Rocher, SNEF, CBRE, Orange, L’Or, Mobexpert, Casa de Flori, DORNA, Liliana and Peter Ilica Foundation, La Mama; HEALER; ALTAUS, BIGOTI

Provides: Yokko, Paradigma Film, Crowdfavorite, RPG Security, Bucharest National Airport Company; Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism

Provider of legal services: Tuca Zbârcea and partners

Official carrier: Tarom

Hospitality partners: Radisson Blu Hotel Bucharest & Park Inn by Radisson, Intercontinental Athenee Palace, Novotel City Center, Mercure City Center, Ibis Styles City Center;

Mobility partner: blue;

Visibility partner: Xiaomi Romania

Main media partners: Antena 3 CNN, RFI, HotNews, Agerpres

International media partners: Euronews, Mezzo, Bachtrack

Media partners: Europa FM, ELLE, Alist Magazine, Psychologies, Days and Nights, Scena 9, Tarom Magazine, BIZ, Haute Culture, Igloo, Zeppelin Magazine, Capital, Evenimentul istoric, evz.ro, Leviathan, IQads, Ziarul Metropolis, The Institute, LiterNet.ro, Urban.ro, Catchy.ro, PRESShub.ro, Modernism.ro, Life.ro, QMagazine

Institutional partners: George Enescu Philharmonic, National Art Museum of Romania, Odeon Theatre, Bucharest National University of Music, Bucharest National Opera, George Enescu National Museum, Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania, Ion Dacia National Operetta and Music Theatre, National Commission of Romania for UNESCO, Youth National Art Center of Romania, National Madrigal Chamber Choir – Marin Constantin, French Institute, Cultural Center of the Brancovenest Palace at the Gate of Bucharest, Godot Theater, Special Olympics Foundation Romania, Motivation Foundation Romania, Amurtel Aid Association of Romania through Amurtel Family Residential Center, Play Cultural Association , Music Scene Association

Banatul Timisoara Philharmonic, Mihail Žora Bacău Philharmonic, Moldova Iași Philharmonic, Sibiu State Philharmonic, Transylvanian Cluj-Napoca State Philharmonic, Arad Philharmonic, Dinu Lipatti Satu Mare State Philharmonic, Oltenia Craiova Philharmonic, Ion Dumitrescu Rymnik Vilca Philharmonic, Pite sti Philharmonic, Paul Constantinescu Ploiesti Philharmonic, George Enescu Botosani Philharmonic, Gheorghe Dima Cluj-Napoca Music Academy, Teodor T. Burada Constanta District Cultural Center, Antiqua Association, Sound Borders Cultural Association, Sonoart Association

Art residence: Lumières d’Europe – Les Dissonances

Media partnership