Since its foundation, consecrated on October 16, 1956, the “Mihail Jora” Philharmonic of Bacău has achieved a continuous crescendo, thanks to the musical activity carried out from the beginning under the guidance of conductors Eugen Pricope, Igor Ciornei, Ovidiu Bălan, but also to the professional quality of the orchestra members.

Today, the orchestra brings together a group of about 75 talented musicians. Most of the instrumentalists are members of various chamber ensembles such as the Tescana chamber orchestra, the Fagotissimo bassoon quartet, the Consonante quartet, the Capriccio duo, the Ateneu trio, etc.

The permanent repertoire of the orchestra includes symphonic, vocal-symphonic and chamber works from different periods of creation and musical styles: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Contemporary.

Besides the weekly concerts during the season, the philharmonic organizes various international festivals such as Enescu, Orfeul Moldav [Enescu, the Moldavian Orpheus], Days of Contemporary Music, Young Composers Workshop, International Conducting Courses etc.

A constant of the institution’s activity in the last 20 years is the participation in numerous international competitions to accompany the semi-finalists and finalists selected by the jury for piano, violin, singing, and wind instruments (Italy – Citta di Cantu, Valsesia Musica, Barletta, A.M.A. Calabria, Racconigi, Brescia, France – Floraisons Musicales, Aix-en-Provence, Spain – Madrid, USA – Altamura Music Festival on the Greene etc).

Due to its artistic value, the orchestra has been asked to collaborate to print CD’s with different record companies in Europe: Electrecord (Romania), Edi Pan, Musica Insieme, Exess (Italy), Cadenza Music Production (Germany).

Since its foundation, it has performed more than 2000 concerts in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Gibraltar, USA, Greece, Malta, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, USFR, Ukraine, Macedonia, Moldova, Korea, China. It participated in the Altamura Music Festival on The Greene and in the 20th anniversary of the L. van Beethoven Festival (Long Island, USA – 2001).

Honorary director and conductor, Maestro Ovidiu Bălan belongs to the generation of established conductors recognized worldwide. He studied in Bucharest with Maestro Iosif Conta and has perfected his studies in Holland, France, USA with Jean Fournet, Marius Constant, Fernand Quatrocchi, Eugene Ormandi, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Georg Solti, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel.

He has conducted major orchestras in the USA, Cuba, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Russia, Portugal, Poland, Hungary.

Maestro Ovidiu Bălan received the A.T.M award for the interpretation of the Ninth Symphony by L. van Beethoven, the art critics’ award for the interpretation of contemporary Romanian music, the Bacau journalists’ award.

For his artistic activity he was awarded with Meritul Cultural [Cultural Merit] (1982), Master of Arts (1994) in the Republic of Moldova, Honorary Citizen of Bacău, Honorary Citizen of Bacău County, Puncetto d’Oro of Varallo – Italy.