At a loose end? BR brings you the best of Bucharest’s cultural highlights for the weekend ahead.

CLASSICAL MUSICAL

Horia Mihail performance

Radio Hall

April 19, 19.00
Under the wand of Jin Wang, the Radio National Orchestra will perform Wolfgand Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Strauss, with the extraordinary participation of the Romanian pianist Horia Mihail, who recently ended up his nationwide tour, The Travelling Piano.
Mogosoaia Classical Fest
April 20-21, 17.00
Mogosoaia Palace
For five years now, culture fans have been making an annual pilgrimage to one of the most beautiful landmarks around Bucharest, Mogosoaia Palace, for a top-quality classical music festival that attracts artists from all over the world. This year’s event runs from April 20 to May 26.
The opening event, at 17.00 on April 20, commemorates 200 years since the birth of Giuseppe Verdi. Soprano Sorina Munteanu, tenor Hector Lopez and sopranos Veronica Anusca and Alice Lopez will play arias and duets from operas including Rigoletto, La forza del destino, Luisa Miller, Il Corsaro and Un ballo in maschera.
April 21 – Concert by the winners of the third edition of The Road to Celebrity (Eufonia Quartet, soprano Rodica Vica, cellist Mircea Marian, pianist Maria Diana Petrache).

OPERA

Rigoletto
Bucharest National Opera
April 19.00
The Bucharest National Opera (ONB) offers a new performance in the Verdi-Wagner bicentennial series: Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on Victor Hugo’s “The King Amuses Himself.” The special guests of the evening will be Romanian tenor Robert Nagy, interpreting the role of the Duke of Mantua, everthing under the wand of Adrian Morar.

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PERFORMANCE PROJECTIONS

Third Symphony Ballet live from Paris Opera Ballet
Grand Cinema Digiplex

April 18, 20.15
The famous American choreographer John Neumeier is well-known for his sensitivity in combining music and dance. In the show inspired by “The Third Symphony” by Gustav Mahler, composed as an ode to creation, the singers and chorus accompany the dancers’ elegant moves, taking the audience through an emotional journey. Conductor Simon Hewett. Choreography and sets John Neumeier

FAIR

Author – Contemporary Jewelry Fair

April 20-21, 10.00-20.00
Sala Dalles
With prices starting from EUR 8 to EUR 800, 11am architects, Agnes Keszeg, Anca Trestian & Alina Turdean, Alexe Popescu, arhiDOT design, Constantin Alupoaei, Dragoş Dogaru, Ioana Ciurea & Bogdan Gotia [Prototip Studio], Irina Alexandru, Ramona Bejan, Silva Artis, The Awesome Project and TheCraft Lab – Irina Neacşu are inviting us the 9th edition of the fair that promotes the Romanian jewelry designers.

The ONE Scissors Day
April 20, 10.00-20.00
The Ark, 150 Uranus Street
Designers Aerwear, Anastasia Beverly Hills Express Brow, Atelier de Frumos, BCBGmaxazria, BoConcept, Boots, Brands & Gangs, Depot 96, happyFriday, Kinga Varga, La Mode Toujours, Lisca, Love Love, Marionnaud, Melkior, Micrigold, Molecule-F.com (Adelina Ivan, Keszeg Agnes, Bold, Emoţii florale, Fe[male], Flore Diana, George Neagu, Ludique, Maria Marinescu, Mirela Diaconu, Murmur, Oana Vasiloiu, Raluca Mihălceanu, Sandra Galan), Musette, Nissa, Oxette, PNK Casual, Sofiaman, Stefanel, Troop and Venera Arapu are expecting fashionistas to the second edition of this fashion event.

GARDENING

April 19-21
Baneasa Shopping Center
Specialists from City Garden will share the tips and tricks of arranging the garden and will offer free sessions of gardening counseling, due to professional software. Children are invited to take the first steps into the world of gardening in a fun tree planting workshop.

EXHIBITION

Cocinando al pie de la letra/ Books and Dishes
Cervantes Institute

Until May 16
“Cocinando al pie de la letra/ Books and Dishes” is an exhibition held by poetess Yolanda Castano and photographer Andrea Costas, a photographic journey between literature, cuisine and art.

The Human Body
Antipa Museum
Until June 30
One of the most realistic exhibitions in the world, The Human Body, will stop for the first time in Bucharest, at Antipa Museum, from March 22 to June 30. The exhibition includes more than 200 pieces – human bodies which through dissection of organs and tissue offer a three dimensional perspective of the miracle of the human body.

Common Nostalgia
Pavilion Unicredit (36 C.A. Rosetti)
Until July 7
In the exhibition “Common nostalgia”, which will be open between April 4 and July 7, the artists started from the premise that the subjectifying of the loss and the objectifying of the feeling of losing something that could reduce the consistency of the nostalgic type of living, because the exhibited works assume to reach all means of the idea of nostalgia. From “love”, a feeling coming from a casual past, which becomes the subject of what can be assimilated, to the “nostalgia” of the family memories, micro cosmos, of a place with your own people. (“Ostalgia” is a sociological german term coming from “nostalgia” and “ost” which means “east”, therefore nostalgia of the East, in its geopolitical meaning.
Curator: Eugen Rădescu. Participants: Dan Raul Pintea (RO), Ștefan Sava (RO), Nicolae Constantin Tănase (RO), Swel Noury (MAR)

DISCOVER BUCHAREST

Remnants of the Great Exhibition of 1906 in Carol Park– Architectural walking tour
April 20, 11.30-13.30
Reservations: v.mandache@gmail.com / 0040 (0)728.323.272
Tour available in Romanian and English, RON 30
The tour offers a guide through identifying and examining the fascinating vestiges of the Great Exhibition of 1906 (also known as the Royal Jubilee Exhibition), held in that park, created especially for the event, when the Neo-Romanian architectural style was popularised to the wider public, contributing to the inception of its mature phase of development for the next two decades and large scale adoption throughout Romania and neighbouring regions, where the country had a direct influence, especially during the inter-war period.
Cotroceni historic quarter of Bucharest – walking tour
April 21, 11.30-14.00
Reservations: v.mandache@gmail.com / 0040 (0)728.323.272
Tour available in Romanian and English, RON 35
The tour offers a guide through one of the best quality historic architecture areas of Romania’s capital, constituted mainly from Neo-Romanian and Art Deco designs. These edifices were developed for the professional classes, especially well known medics, who built their residences in the environs of Bucharest’s Medical University, the most prestigious higher education institution in that field from these parts of Europe, located at he heart of Cotroceni quarter. The area also boasts Romania’s Presidential Palace, a former official residence of country’s royal family, which inspired a great deal the architectural styles of this city quarter.

GOING OUT

Roberto’s, Athenee Palace Hilton

You’ll step into another world when you dine at Roberto’s. Soft lighting, frescoes of Italy on the walls and terrace views make this a romantic venue for lunch or dinner. Locals and guests alike enjoy antipasti over fine Italian wines. A review of this restaurant can be read here.
Oana Vasiliu