Getting ready for Enescu Festival 2019: the programme

The 2019 edition of George Enescu Festival will be held under the tagline “The world is harmony,” where over 2,500 of the most valuable artists of the world, coming from 50 countries, will perform 84 concerts and recitals in Bucharest for 23 days, from August 31 to September 11, 2019, and 32 of them will contain Enescu’s masterpieces.

On August 31, 2019, George Enescu International Festival will open with an extraordinary concert. The Berliner Philharmoniker, considered the best orchestra in the world at the moment, returns to the Festival, as promised at the 2015 edition. The renowned orchestra that required 15 years of negotiations to come to Bucharest will also present a composition by George Enescu and will perform with the Choir of the George Enescu Philharmonic, thus honouring one of the most valuable directions of the Festival: becoming familiar with Enescu’s work in interpretations of the highest level, and building bridges for the collaboration of prestigious foreign orchestras and Romanian orchestras and artists.

The greatest orchestras of the world return to the 2019 edition of the Festival: the London Symphony Orchestra, with the renowned pianist Denis Matsuev, Orchestre National de France – with the legendary Evgeny Kissin at the piano, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Staatskapelle Dresden – with the explosive Yuja Wang and soprano Kristine Opolais, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko at the helm, Sankt Petersburg Symphony Orchestra with pianist Nelson Freire, as well as the prestigious Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, which will close the festival in an already established series of concerts. Important ensembles like Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Europa Galante, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Vienna Radio Orchestra with pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja and Academia Bizantina will perform on the stage of 2019 Enescu Festival.

Some of the most notable Romanian presences at the 2019 edition include the trio of conductors comprising Horia Andreescu, Cristian Mandeal and Christian Badea. The most important Romanian orchestras will perform at the 2019 edition, including the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Orchestra and Romanian Youth Orchestra, and philharmonic orchestras of Iași, Sibiu, Timișoara, Cluj, Bacău and Târgu Mureș.

The famous conductor Ion Marin will go on the stage of the Enescu Festival once more, and so will pianist Alexandra Dariescu, mezzosoprano Ruxandra Donose and Alexandra Silocea, Romanian-born pianist established in Vienna who will perform under the conductor, Vladimir Jurowski. Furthermore, Gabriel Bebeșelea, Tiberiu Soare, Vlad Vizireanu and Cristian Lupeș will conduct foreign orchestras. Laureates of the 2018 edition of the George Enescu International Competition will give concerts within 2019 Enescu Festival.

Also, three operas in concert will be presented for the first time: Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten, performed by the Berlin Radio Orchestra, Schoenberg’s Moses and Aaron, performed by George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, and Britten’s Peter Grimes, presented by the National Radio Orchestra. Other absolute premieres of the Enescu Festival will be: Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher, with the Lille Philharmonic Orchestra, Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, performed by the Polish National Radio Orchestra. Furthermore, the Liege Philharmonic brings to the stage of the Festival Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, and the Basel Chamber Orchestra presents Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

The George Enescu Festival will be organized in Bucharest and in seven other cities of the country: Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș, Bacău and Târgoviște.

Concerts of the 2019 Enescu Festival will be broadcast live on the Festival website www.festivalenescu.ro and on the screens in the Festival Square (George Enescu Square).