18th “George Enescu” International Festival and Competition, Bucharest, Sept. 2007

Accession and ascension With the recent accession of Romania to the European Union, this year’s “George Enescu” International Festival and Competition – embracing over 100 events and involving over 3,000 performers – acquires a particular cultural importance. Launched in 1958, the festival continues to draw its inspiration from the eponymous composer, who died in 1955 but remains an icon for his homeland. The Artistic Director of the Festival is Ioan Hollender, born in Romania, but long resident in Austria and now Director of the Vienna State Opera. The opening gala, with the

Orchestra of the Bucharest National Opera, features a number of Romanian singers with established and growing reputations in the world’s opera houses; they include Nicoleta Ardelean, Roxana Briban (a former winner of the Enescu Competition), Doina Dimitru, Elena Mosuc, Adina Nitescu, Liliana Nikiteanu, Carmen Oprisanu and Alexandru Agache. The gala is followed by several days of concerts in Bucharest and other Romanian cities which emphasise Romanian musicians and modern Romanian music; among the performers are orchestras from Bucharest, Iasi and Cluj, the principal city of Transylvania. September 6th brings the first concert by a major visiting orchestra: l’Orchestre de Paris (Bucharest was, of course, known as the ‘Paris of the East’ between the Wars) under its music director, Christoph Eschenbach with Steven Isserlis as soloist.

A late-night series brings a focus on historically-informed performance with Europa Galante and Fabio Biondi, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Hespèrion XXI under Jordi Savall, and the Freiburger Barockorchester under Gottfried von der Goltz. Among the other groups and instrumentalists appearing are Ensemble Contemporain with Susanna Malkki, the Beaux Arts Trio, Zukerman Chamber Players, Camerata Lysy, Murray Perahia, Lebanese pianist Abdel-Rahman El Bacha (who takes on a demanding programme of Prokofiev, Ravel, Enescu and Balakirev), Viktoria Mullova and cellist Han-Na Chang. Singers in recital include Michael Schade and Camilla Tilling, while the operatic programme, presented in conjunction with the Romanian National Opera, brings: Carmen with Hadar Halevy and José Cura; La traviata with Stefania Bonfadelli, and Tosca with mezzo-turned-soprano Nadja Michael. Dance is represented with an evening of three sumptuously-scored ballets – Le Sacre du printemps, Boléro and L’Oiseau de feu, performed by the Béjart Ballet Company. New talent will be nurtured and discovered by the "George Enescu" International Competition, which offers prizes for piano, violin and composition and which gives rise to several gala concerts around Romania over the course of the festival. Press contact: PPS Promotion-Presse-Service Chris Rabe EU-Kulturzentrum D-52391 Vettweiss/Köln fon 0049-2424-940427 fax 0049-2424-940428