Exceptional program in the third month of #EnescuOnline on www.festivalenescu.ro, starting May 23, 2020. Music lovers will enjoy four of the opera in concert performances of 2019 edition that brought the George Enescu Festival its first International Opera Awards nomination, in 2020.
The International Opera Awards are considered the opera equivalent to the Academy Awards’ prestige and relevance for the film industry. Winners will be announced in September 2020, when the ceremony has been rescheduled due to the global coronavirus outbreak. Until then, #EnescuOnline brings together the opera lovers on its website with four outstanding performances, first-rate casts, and multimedia projections:
- May 31-June 3: Mozart Don Giovanni 527 (semi-staged performance), Dramma Giocoso in two acts, with Basel Chamber Orchestra, Giovanni Antonini (conductor).
- June 8-11: Beethoven Missa Solemnis in D major Op. 123, with Freiburger Barockorchester & Zürcher Sing-Akademie, René Jacobs (conductor), Anne Katharina Schreiber (concertmaster), Florian Helgath (choirmaster). This concert was also recorded by Deutsche Grammophon.
- June 16-19: Richard Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten, with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Vladimir Jurowski (conductor), the Rundfunkchor Berlin, Benjamin Goodson (choirmaster), Romanian Radio Children’s Choir, Răzvan Rădos (choirmaster), Carmen Lidia Vidu (multimedia director).
- June 20-23: Bartók Bluebeard Castle, with Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Mandeal (conductor); Nona Ciobanu and Peter Košir (multimedia directors).
„Inspired by the success the 2019 George Enescu Festival had with its bold opera program, we decided to dedicate the third month of #EnescuOnline to the courage of trying something new and to virtuosity, with all that it entails: talent, study, hard work, determination. The Enescu Festival sends a message of hope and trust to the entire world: we can rebuild ourselves despite the pandemic, through courage and competence, just as artists go on stage and give their best, so that the public may have access to a new experience,” Oana Marinescu, George Enescu Festival’s Communications Director, told the press.
In addition to these performances, the third month of #EnescuOnline will bring to music lovers’ homes around the world more legendary artists showcased in 2019 Enescu Festival, such as Joyce DiDonato, one of the world’s best mezzo-sopranos today, who performed for the first time in Romania in 2019 and was welcomed with great enthusiasm by the Festival’s audience; famous conductor Vasily Petrenko, a great promoter of George Enescu’s works; pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, currently in top 10 pianists worldwide according to Bachtrack; charismatic bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, a star with a special stage presence, and many others.
Also present in this series are three Romanian conductors at the desk of prestigious European orchestras: Horia Andreescu with ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Mandeal with Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Cristian Măcelaru – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The program also includes Missa Solemnis with the Freiburger Barockorchester, a work performed in celebration of the Beethoven Year – a tribute paid to the great composer and the 250th anniversary of his birth.
The full program can be read in the second part of the press release. 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.
The www.festivalenescu.ro website has presented, starting with 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.
Nineteen concerts were transmitted free of charge during the state of emergency in Romania. Over 59,000 unique visitors worldwide listened to the concerts broadcasted on #EnescuOnline and approximately 154,000 views were registered on the Festival’s website.
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 streaming will be offered on the website for four days. 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 concert tickets, 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 coronavirus.
ENESCU FESTIVAL ONLINE PROGRAM – Third Series: May 23 – July 1
- May 23-26: Recital Joyce DiDonato (Mezzo-Soprano) & David Zobel (Piano). The program includes Haydn Arianna a Naxos; Mozart “Voi che sapete” and “Deh Vieni non tardar” from Le nozze di Figaro; Bellini “Dopo l’oscuro nembo” from Adelson e Salvini; Pablo Luna De España Vengo; Rossini “Assisa a pie d’un salice” from Othello; Berlioz “Le Roi de Thule” and “L’amour ardente flamme” from La Damnation de Faust; Hahn “Sopra l’acqua indormenzada”, “La barcheta”, “L’avertimento”, “Che pecà!” and “La primavera” from Venezia
- May 27-30: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko (conductor), Leif Ove Andsnes (piano). The program includes Øyvind Torvund Symfonisk Dikt nr. 1: Morgon i skogen (Symphonic Poem No. 1: Forest Morning), Orchestral work at its first performance; Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16; and Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Sz. 116 BB 123
- May 31-June 3: Basel Chamber Orchestra, Giovanni Antonini (conductor). The program features Mozart Don Giovanni 527 (semi-staged performance), dramma giocoso in two acts. Cast: Luca Pisaroni Don Giovanni (bass-baritone); Sylvia Scwhartz Donna Anna (soprano); Olga Bezsmertna Donna Elvira (soprano); Patrick Grahl Don Ottavio (tenor); Giulia Semenzato Zerlina (soprano); Alex Esposito Leporello (baritone); David Soar Il Commendatore, Masetto (bass-baritone)
- June 4-7: Orchestre De Chambre Pelléas, Benjamin Levy (conductor), Tasmin Little (violin). The program includes Debussy Sarabande (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel); Enescu Violin Sonata No. 3 (arrangement for orchestra by Valentin Doni); Ravel Tzigane; Chabrier Bourrée Fantasque (orchestrated by Thibaud Perrine); Bizet Symphonie en ut
- June 8-11: Freiburger Barockorchester & Zürcher Sing-Akademie, René Jacobs (conductor), Anne Katharina Schreiber (concertmaster), Florian Helgath (choirmaster). The program features Beethoven Missa Solemnis in D major Op. 123. Soloists: Polina Pastirchack (soprano), Sophie Harmsen (alto), Nikolaus Pfannkuch (tenor), Johannes Weisser (basso)
- June 12-15: ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Horia Andreescu (conductor), Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano). The program includes Dünser The Waste Land; Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major Op. 73; Enescu Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major Op. 27, Villageoise; Ravel Bolero
- June 16-19: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Vladimir Jurowski (conductor), the Rundfunkchor Berlin, Benjamin Goodson (choirmaster), Romanian Radio Children’s Choir, Răzvan Rădos (choirmaster), Carmen Lidia Vidu (multimedia director). The program features Richard Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten. Cast: Torsten Kerl the Emperor (tenor); Anne Schwanewilms the Empress (soprano); Ildikó Komlósi the Nurse (mezzo-soprano); Yasushi Hirano the messenger of Keikobad (baritone); Andrey Nemzer the Guardian of the Threshold; Artjom Vasnetsov, Christoph Oldenburg, Philipp A. Mehr Three Town Watchmen; Michael Pflumm the Apparition of a Youth (tenor); Nadezhda Gulitskaya the voice of a Falcon (soprano); Karolina Gumos a Voice from Above (alto); Thomas Mayer Barak, the Dyer (bass-baritone); Ricarda Merbeth the Dyer’s Wife (soprano); Christoph Späth the Hunchback, Barak’s brother (tenor); Tom-Erik Lie the One-eyed Man, Barak’s brother (baritone); Jens Larsen the One-Armed Man, Barak’s brother (bass); Nadezhda Gulitskaya, Sophie Klußmann, Verena Usemann, Jennifer Gleinig, Alice Lackner, Vizma Zvaigzne Servants (Children’s voices, Unborn children)
- June 20-23: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Mandeal (conductor); Nona Ciobanu and Peter Košir (multimedia directors). The program includes Prokofiev Piano concerto No. 3 in C major Op. 26, Daniel Ciobanu (piano, laureate of the Arthur Rubinstein Competition in 2017); Bartók Bluebeard Castle, Allison Cook (mezzo-soprano) and Derek Welton (baritone)
- June 24-27: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Cristian Măcelaru (conductor). The program includes Strauss Symphonic Poem Don Quixote, Ken Hakii (viola) & Truls Mørk (cello); Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E flat major Op. 55, Eroica
- June 28-July 1: Special program with Sir Bryn Terfel, Gareth Jones (conductor), Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. The program includes: Wagner Prelude to Act III from Lohengrin; Wagner “Was duftet doch der Flieder” from Die Meistersinger; Wagner “Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre; Wagner “Magic Fire Music” & “Wotan’s Farewell” from Die Walküre; Tchaikovsky Polonaise from Eugene Onegin (orchestral); Arrigo Boito “Son lo spirito che nega” from Mefistofele; Weill “Moritat von Macke Messer” from Die Dreigroschenoper; Rodgers & Hammerstein Overture from South Pacific; Rodgers & Hammerstein “Some enchanted evening” from South Pacific; Lerner & Loewe “How to handle a woman” from Camelot; Bock “If I were a rich man” from Fiddler on the roof
