New members of the jury, leading personalities of the international classical music; an upgraded selection mechanism; two compositions performed in world premiere at the Opening Gala; 19 concerts and recitals available for public; tickets on sale available online; outstanding conductors; a new website and a communication concept that explores the beauty that music brings into our lives – these are only some of the novelties that George Enescu International Music Competition brings in 2020.
A MORE COMPETITIVE CONTEST
„The changes that Enescu Competition is going through this year are meant to strengthen its position internationally. We are growing, as a response to the ever-increasing number of contestants and in order to continue to attract even more talented musicians. We are maintaining the high standards and we keep on contributing to the international promotion of both the laureates as well as the music of Enescu”, Mihai Constantinescu, Executive Director of George Enescu International Competition and Festival declares for the media.
Enescu Competition will take place between August 29th – September 20th, having reached its XVIIth edition this year. The organizers have improved the selection mechanisms, have attracted new classical music personalities in the jury committees, have involved more former laureates of the Competition in the evaluation process of the new generations of artists. Also, www.festivalenescu.ro website was relaunched, as official platform for online communication of George Enescu Competition and Festival – in order to offer both accessibility and practical information to the contestants, as well as the most important news to its fans. The new www.festivalenescu.ro comes with a series of technical and content improvements, in order to provide real time useful information to all users categories: contestants, jury members, journalists and public.
The Competition maintains its four sections (violin, cello, piano and composition). By April 15th, young musicians can send their online applications on www.festivalenescu.ro (Register section – corresponding sub-section), together with short videos of their artistic performance.
BEAUTY IN LIFE
The communication theme of Enescu Competition 2020 is „Beauty in life”, for music, as George Enescu used to say, goes from one heart to another. „When two hearts speak to each other wordlessly, beauty comes into being, regardless of the gloom, the struggles and the daily tensions. When words become silence, music gets a voice and it makes us experience Pure Beauty. We aim that the 2020 edition of Enescu Competition to be a contest aimed to reveal beauty in our lives and in the public space”, Oana Marinescu, Communication Director of Enescu Festival declares for the press. The greatest gift the contestants will bring to the audience will be to bring beauty in their lives and make them escape the daily routine.
ENRICHED OFFER FOR ARTISTS AND AUDIENCE
- A total number of 19 recitals and concerts are scheduled for the 2020 edition – as Competition stages as well as extraordinary recitals, performed by leading musicians of the moment, who are also members of the juries.
- The 2020 edition will be inaugurated by a Gala Concert on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, held by three of the 2016 edition laureates: Gyehee Kim (violin), Yibai Chen (cello) and Viktoria Vassilenko (piano).
- In world premiere, they will perform „Brahmsodia”– tripple concert for violin, cello and piano, op. 169, especially written for this edition by Dan Dediu, the first laureate of George Enescu Composition Contest, 1991.
- Also in premiere „Concert pour clarinette et orchestre” will be performed at the opening Gala Concert. The work was created by the winner of the composition section in 2018, Alexandru Murariu.
- During the Contest, the public will have access to all performances. The access is free at the first two stages. For the opening gala, the semi-finals, finals and the extraordinary recitals the entrance will be based on tickets and subscriptions; these are already available for sale on www.eventim.ro network and on www.festivalenescu.ro.
- Three reputed international conductors Wilson Hermanto (Main Guest Conductor of the Cameristi della Scala Orchestra – Itally) Nabil Shehata (Main Conductor of Südwestfalen Philarmonic – Germany), Josep Caballé Domenech (Musical Director of Colorado Springs Philharmonic – SUA) are participating for the first time at this year`s edition of the Contest. John Axelrod (Muscial and Artistic Director of Real Orchestra Simfonica de Sevilla), the fourth participating conductor, was present at the 2016 edition too.
- A series of new awards have been introduced to fuel the Competition spirit – both financial awards (the total value of the awards exceeds 100.000 EUR) as well as, the most important, international promotion and artistic launch of the most talented competitors.
- Winning the 1st Prize at George Enescu 2020 Competition is the access ticket to the stage of George Enescu International Festival 2021. The contest laureates will have the opportunity to concert at the next edition of the Festival, together with several of the most reputed orchestras of the world (Orchestra of the Americas, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and others).
GEORGE ENESCU INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION IN FACTS AND FIGURES
George Enescu Competition is an international platform for launching the future great musicians of the world and for promoting the compositions of the great Romanian musician to the new generation of artists. It is thus a natural extension of George Enescu Festival, the most important cultural event organized by Romania. The Competition is produced by the Romanian Government, through the Ministry of Culture. It is organized by ARTEXIM, an agency subordinated to the Ministry of Culture. Each edition is supported by partners and sponsors from the private, artistic and academic environments.
The first edition of the Competition , organized independently from George Enescu Festival, took place in 2014, with 240 registered young artists from 36 countries. The number of contestants grew gradually, with the Competition attracting the best young interprets of classical music from the whole world, every year.
In 2018, the Competition registered 420 musicians from 46 countries, with the Opening and Closing Gala being sold out.
Remarkable artists such as the pianists Radu Lupu, Valentin Gheorghiu and Dan Grigore, the renowned violonist Silvia Marcovici, who evolved together with some of the greatest conductors of the world (Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti etc.), soprano Ileana Cotrubaș, mezzo-soprano Viorica Cortez, composer Dan Dediu as well as the most renowned Romanian musicians from the new generation – Alexandru Tomescu, Vlad Stănculeasa, Remus Azoiței, Ana Țifu, Stefan Tarara, Valentin Răduțiu, Mihai Ritivoiu, – these are only few of the most internationally appreciated Romanian musicians who launched their careers as laureates of George Enescu International Competition.
Media contact:
Oana Marinescu, 0741278737; [email protected]; [email protected]
