The Enescu Festival and Competition Online opens today, April 23, 2020, its second month of the program broadcasted free of charge on www.festivalenescu.ro, with reference concerts from its archive and legendary artists, such as conductors Vasily Petrenko, Maxim Vengerov, Gabriel Bebeșelea, and Michael Sanderling, soprano Diana Damrau, pianists Evgeny Kissin and Nobuyuki Tsujii, to name but a few.
The George Enescu International Festival is the only event of its kind in the world that offers free access to its archive, as it receives the approval from artists to broadcast their concerts and recitals online.
“We dedicate the second month of free online broadcasts of the Enescu Festival and Competition to heighten the people’s confidence and praise their infinite ability to reinvent themselves. The program is rich in classical works, loved by the general public, with compositions by Enescu, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and many others. We will also relay a special work, the opera Moses und Aron, which brought the Enescu Festival a nomination for the International Opera Awards 2020. We invite music lovers to watch these recordings that capture unique moments from the 2019 Enescu Festival and 2018 Enescu Competition, and to discover – or rediscover, for those who were in the concert halls – the uniqueness and novelty of the experience that each great artist creates every time he performs, no matter how well-known the piece may be. We hope that those who enjoy #EnescuOnline music will feel inspired and encouraged in building their self-confidence and trusting humanity’s endless power to reinvent itself and become better, no matter how great the challenges.” Oana Marinescu, the Communication Director of the Enescu Festival told the press.
The www.festivalenescu.ro website has launched on March 18, 2020, a true classical music festival online that broadcasts recordings from previous editions of the Enescu Festival and Competition, to offer people worldwide free access to classical music of great quality. The Enescu Festival contributes this way to uplifting the human spirit in its battle against COVID-19, following in the footsteps of the great composer George Enescu, who took part in helping the wounded in the First World War, through the healing power of music.
Over 45.000 unique visitors worldwide enjoyed the concerts broadcasted in the first month of #EnescuOnline.
ARTEXIM, the organizer of the George Enescu International Festival and Competition, obtained the approval to broadcast online concerts and recitals recorded in the 2019 and 2018 editions of the two events. The program will be the same as it is in a concert hall, with the difference that each concert stream will remain available on the website for three days. This musical marathon is an open-ended project, with its program continuously updated. New information will be available on www.festivalenescu.ro.
The Enescu Festival recommends the public to continue to observe the rules of social distancing and, instead of buying tickets to concerts, to donate to credible non-governmental organizations that raise money to supply hospitals with the equipment and materials necessary to succeed in their fight against the virus.
ENESCU FESTIVAL ONLINE PROGRAM: April 23 – May 13
- April 23-25: Orchestre National De France, Emmanuel Krivine (conductor), Evgeny Kissin (piano). In the program: Liszt – Mazeppa Symphonic Poem; Liszt – Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major and Mussorgsky/Ravel – Pictures from an Exhibition.
- April 26-28: State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov”, Gabriel Bebeşelea (conductor), Ray Chen (violin). In the program: Enescu – Pastorale Fantasie; Korngold – Violin Concerto in D major Op. 35 and Tchaikovsky – Manfred
- April 29-May 1: Romanian National Youth Orchestra, Michael Sanderling (conductor), Nobuyuki Tsujii (piano). In the program: Ligeti – Romanian Concerto; Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op. 18 and Brahms/Schoenberg – Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor Op. 25.
- May 2-4: Opening Concert of the 2018 George Enescu International Competition. Orchestra & Choir of the “George Enescu” Philharmonic, Gabriel Bebeşelea (conductor), Iosif Ion Prunner (conductor of the choir), Stefan Tarara (violin), Eun-Sun Hong (cello) and Josu De Solaun (piano), laureates of the 2014 George Enescu International Competition. In the program: Tian Tian – Concerto for Orchestra (first prize at the Composition section of the George Enescu International Competition in 2016); Paul Constantinescu – Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra; and George Enescu – Poème Roumaine 1.
- May 5-7: Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Maxim Vengerov (conductor). In the program: Enescu – Ballade for Violin and Orchestra (soloist: Maxim Vengerov); Tchaikovsky – Andante Cantabile (Soloist: Gautier Capuçon, cello); Tchaikovsky – Variations on a Rococo Theme Op. 33 (Soloist: Gautier Capuçon, cello) and Tchaikovksy – Symphony No. 6 in B minor Op. 74, Pathétique.
- May 8-10: Orchestra and Choir of the “George Enescu” Philharmonic & Vocalconsort Berlin, Lothar Zagrosek (conductor), Iosif Ion Prunner (conductor of the choir), Nona Ciobanu & Peter Košir (multimedia directors). In the program: Schoenberg – Moses und Aron. Cast: Robert Hayward –Moses (speaker), John Daszak – Aron (tenor), Julia Sporsén – Young girl (soprano), Michael Pflumm – Youth (tenor), Catherine Wyn-Rogers – Sick woman (alto), Christian Rieger – A man (baritone), Gabriel Rollinson – Epraimit (bass), Michael Pflumm – Naked youth (tenor), Ralf Lukas – Priest (bass), Julia Sporsén – First naked virgin (soprano), Polina Pasztircsák – Second Naked Virgin (soprano), Anna Nedorezova – Third Naked Virgin (alto) and Catherine Wyn-Rogers – Fourth Naked Virgin (alto).
- May 11-13: Orchestre National de Lille, Vlad Vizireanu (conductor), Sergey Khachatryan (violin), Timothy Ridout (viola). In the program: Enescu – Chamber Symphony for 12 instruments Op. 33, Brahms – Violin Concerto in D major Op. 77 and Berlioz – Harold in Italy.
- May 14-16: Diana Damrau (soprano) & Xavier de Maistre (harp). In the program: songs and harp pieces by Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, George Enescu, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Aleksandrovici Vlasov, Reynaldo Hahn, Henriette Renié, Francis Poulenc.
- May 17-19: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko (conductor), Johannes Moser (cello). In the program: Richard Strauss – Don Juan Symphonic Poem Op. 20, Enescu – Sinfonia Concertante for cello and orchestra in B minor Op. 8 and Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 5 in E minor Op. 64.
- May 20-22: St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Vassily Sinaisky (conductor), Nelson Freire (piano). In the program: Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major Op. 58 and Mahler – Symphony No. 1 in D major.
