Three great actors – Robert Powell, Maia Morgenstern, and Vlad Ivanov – will take to the George Enescu International Festival stage for the first time in 2021, as part of the dialogue between the arts that the Festival promotes.
Vlad Ivanov will play two roles. In the concert given by Philharmonia London on September 5, at the Grand Palace Hall, he will be narrating the Prologue to Ecce Homo (Triptychum: Magnificat; Calvarium; Stabat Mater), composed by famous tenor José Cura, who will be the evening’s conductor.
On September 23, at the Romanian Athenaeum, Vlad Ivanov will be the narrator in Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Op. 23, performed by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gabriel Bebeselea. This Peer Gynt is the result of a creative collaboration between two emblematic figures of the Norwegian cultural landscape in the second half of the 19th century: Henrik Ibsen, who created the poem, and Edvard Grieg, who composed the music. Grieg managed to construct many fragments so descriptively that they can now be listened to in their own right, as part of the two orchestral suites or in the smaller stage version for orchestra and narrator.
“I am more than honored and happy to participate in this anniversary edition of the George Enescu Festival. It’s an edition that combines all the joy and good energy of the previous editions. I am sure they will be reflected as well in the hearts of the organizers, musicians, and audience members. As for how I feel, I will tell you through a line from a character in John Osborne’s The Entertainer: Actors are themselves, people. People… people. Only they’re a lot more like you – the audience – than you are yourselves” said Vlad Ivanov.
Maia Morgenstern, one of Romania’s best-loved actresses, will be narrating Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, on Monday, September 6, at the Cotroceni National Museum, as part of the Creative Bucharest series. Arnold Schoenberg composed the melodrama Pierrot lunaire based on texts from Albert Giraud’s poems, for voice and small instrumental ensemble, showcasing the expressionist vocal style of the “Sprechstimme” (the spoken-sung voice).
Robert Powell, famous for the lead role in Franco Zeffirelli’s film Jesus of Nazareth (1977), will be the narrator in Stravinsky’s The Flood on September 1, at the Grand Palace Hall, as well as in Claude Debussy – A Passionate Life, which will be performed in both Bucharest and Sibiu. In the hybrid style that lived on in the 20th century, Stravinsky originally conceived The Flood as a television performance, comprising spoken dialogue, song, and ballet sequences.
“Organizing the 2021 Enescu Festival during a global crisis like the one we are experiencing is not only a huge responsibility, for which I congratulate the organizers, my fellow artists, and the general public, but also a feat of love – love for culture, love for music, love for people. The importance of carrying out an act of culture of such magnitude as this year’s Enescu Festival cannot be in any way overstated. I am delighted to be invited to the Festival and can think of no better place to be in September 2021 than in Bucharest, Robert Powell said.
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.
Press Info: Oana Marinescu | [email protected] | +4 0741 278 737
