Bucharest, August 16, 2021
Vladimir Jurowski, Vasily Petrenko, José Cura, Philippe Jaroussky, Gautier Capuçon, and Leonidas Kavakos join the Jubilee Edition
Several of the best-known male stars of international classical music – violinists, cellists, pianists, and conductors, some of them fine connoisseurs of Enescu’s music, will be coming to Bucharest from August 28 to September 26 for the 25th Edition of the George Enescu International Festival.
The classical music audiences will have the opportunity to listen to such celebrated violinists as Maxim Vengerov, David Grimal, and Nicolas Dautricourt – considered true ambassadors of George Enescu’s music. Renowned violinists Joshua Bell, Julian Rachlin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Leonidas Kavakos, and Renaud Capuçon are also on the Festival’s Jubilee Edition Program. The presence of violin virtuosos is a respected tradition at the Enescu Festival, started with famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin, George Enescu’s disciple, who was involved in the organization of the Festival both after the Maestro’s death and when the event was re-launched in 1991.
This year’s edition is also notable for its repertoire: the world stars of classical music are moving the gravitational center of the programs towards 20thcentury music, less usual for regular Romanian seasons. Thus, composers such as Zemlinky, Sibelius, or Ravel are featured in this edition’s program.
Prominent cellists like Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott, Nicolas Altstaedt, and Kiani Soltani will come to Romania this autumn alongside exceptional orchestras.
Acclaimed conductors return to Bucharest, among them Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Simon Rattle, Vasily Petrenko, Kristjan Järvi, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, together with legendary orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
The Enescu Festival will also feature for the first time celebrated conductor Lahav Shani, who will be joined by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra on September 11 and 12, at the Grand Palace Hall. Also for the first time at the Festival will be Daniel Harding, the wonder child of English music, to conduct the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in the closing concert of the Festival. Conductor Edward Gardner is also on the Enescu Festival program for the first time, appearing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on September 8 and 9.
One of the biggest stars of this year’s edition is countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, considered one of the world’s leading vocal soloists. He will join the ensemble L’Arpeggiata, under the musical direction of Christina Pluhar, on September 10 at the Romanian Athenaeum.
Opera lovers will have the opportunity to listen to famous tenor José Cura in an exceptional concert with the London Philharmonia on September 5, with a program specially prepared for the Enescu Festival, which includes the work Te Deum, a world premiere dedicated to the 25th Edition of the Enescu Festival.
One of the most distinguished musicians of the moment, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, returns to the Enescu Festival stage, this time with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome conducted by Daniele Gatti. First-rate pianists such as Denis Matsuev, Yefim Bronfman, and Fazıl Say will also be present at this Jubilee Edition.
Robert Powell, famous for the lead role in Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth (1977), will play the narrator in Stravinsky’s The Flood, as well as The Passionate Life of Claude Debussy, with performances in Bucharest and Sibiu.
Avishai Cohen, one of the most respected contemporary instrumentalists, will perform with the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra on September 19, at the Radio Hall.
Ticketing Information
Information on the purchase procedure and conditions of access is available on the Festival website, under the Tickets section. It is still possible that changes are made to the Program due to the pandemic. Access to the concert halls will only be allowed if sanitary conditions are observed; face masks will be mandatory indoors at all times.
The 2021 George Enescu International Festival is scheduled to take place between August 28 and September 26, 2021, with an exceptional musical program, sustained by over 3,500 international and Romanian artists for a record duration of 4 weeks, with measures in place to reduce potential health risks for audiences, artists, organizers, and journalists.
The full Program can be found on the festivalenescu.ro website.
