The Romanian Radio Children’s Choir

Founded in 1945, the Romanian Radio Children’s Choir became rapidly an important ensemble in the Romanian musical landscape. Its founder – conductor Ion Vanica – and successors Elena Vicica and Eugenia Văcărescu Necula made decisive contributions to the ensemble’s artistic destiny, turning it into an essential school for the musical education of the younger generation. It was in this choir that future artists Ileana Cotrubaş, Silvia Voinea, Voicu Enăchescu, George Crăsnaru, Roxana Briban, Roxana Constantinescu and many others took the first steps in their musical careers.

The choir frequently has performed on radio, on television and in special radio recording sessions. The choir’s exceptional performing talents have been highlighted in recitals, a cappella concerts and contributions to performances of vocal-symphonic masterworks alongside the Romanian Radio National Orchestra, the Radio Chamber Orchestra, the “George Enescu” Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orchestra, under the baton of Romanian and foreign maestros including Iosif Conta, Ludovic Bacs, Horia Andreescu, Christian Badea, Jing Wang, Lawrence Foster, Wayne Marshall, and Zubin Mehta.

Taking part in more than fifty festivals, tours and international competitions in almost every country in Europe and also Japan, the United States and Canada, the young singers have won prestigious awards. In 2004 they became Cultural Ambassadors of the European Union – a title granted by the EU Federation of Choirs. In recent years, under the guidance of conductor Voicu Popescu and accompanied by pianist Camelia Chiţibea, the ensemble has been exploring new forms of expression in cultural cooperation programs, including “Songbridge” – Canada, “Brundibar” – France, “Les Instants Sacrés”- France, “Amadeus” – Romania, “Voci d’Europa” – Italy, “Adiemus” – Romania and “Glittering Water” in Romania and France. In 2007 the choir was awarded “In Memoriam Iosif Sava” Special Prize by the Romanian Cultural Radio.

The Romanian Radio Children’s Choir has remained dedicated to classic and contemporary Romanian choral music, promoting it both at home and abroad. It was thus that the idea for the “Fingerprints” project came about, presented abroad as “Romanian Roots”, a journey through Romanian choral music. The multimedia show was presented at the “World Symposium of Choral Music” held in Copenhagen, Denmark, by the International Federation of Choral Music in 2008, at the Neudrossenfeld European Days in Germany, at the “Let the Future Sing” Festival in Sweden, and at the “International Thracian Choir Festival” in Bulgaria in 2009.

The year 2010 marked the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Romanian Radio Children’s Choir, which participated in the project “From Apprenticeship to Mastery”, dedicated to students in conducting classes from the Bucharest National University of Music. In the same year, the ensemble staged Bach’s “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” with the Belgian “Il Gardelino” baroque orchestra and harpsichord player Ketil are Hausgang at the Bucharest Old Music Festival. “For the Beauty of the Earth” is the project developed in 2011 and includes, as a national and European premiere, the work “Opereta Ecologica en Quatro Actos” by Alberto Grau, which was performed during the “George Enescu” International Festival held in Bucharest, Romania.