Making the Radio Hall star shine bright

Although Oltea Parau Serban doesn’t conduct an orchestra from Wednesday to Sunday, the concert nights at Radio Hall, her wand is a pivotal one in creating some of the most interesting classical music experiences in Bucharest. BR sat down with Serban, artistic director of the Orchestras and Choirs of Radio Romania and also the Radio Romania Cultural editor-in-chief, to find out more.

By Oana Vasiliu

How have you sought to promote the Radio Orchestra since you took over Radio Hall?

I have worked for the Radio’s Orchestras and Choirs twice: first, between 2009 and 2011, and again since summer 2012. To stage a Radio Hall season means not only to build a calendar consisting of symphonic concerts and recitals, but also to coordinate the events dedicated to the Radio Children’s Choir, Big Band Radio and Radio’s Folk Orchestra. Throughout this period, some major improvements have been made: the introduction of electronic ticketing, OOH advertising, especially on the subway and in universities, and also exclusively public funding for the staging of concerts.

What projects are scheduled at Radio Hall this year?

For the final stage of the season, April and May, we have some surprises for all types of audience. Over April 8-12,we will give music lovers a festival called Antique Violins at Radio Hall, now on its second run. Over five days it will feature a 1694 Stradivarius violin played by Liviu Prunaru (who mainly works in Amsterdam), a Guarneri del Gesu violin from 1731, played by Gabriel Croitoru (settled in Romania, performing for the Radio Orchestras, plus the Cluj and Ploiesti Philharmonics), a Gagliano from 1761 for Bogdan Zvoristeanu (the concert-master of the Suisse Romande Orchestra in Geneva) and a Testore 1710 violin, played by George Cosmin Banica (who also performs in Switzerland). Another major event held at Radio Hall will be the Travelling Piano Tour, where the Romanian pianist Horia Mihail will present exclusively three of Beethoven famous sonatas – Moonlight Sonata, Pathetique and Appassionata and Concerto no. 4 in G major. On May 11, we are staging a concert in honor of the Royal House of Romania, conducted by Christian Badea. At the end of June, the Verdi Requiem with the National Radio Orchestra and Chorus, under the baton of Tiberiu Soare, will perform a spectacular concert to mark the end of the Verdi season.

How do you put together the monthly schedule of events at Radio Hall?

The entire season is scheduled at least a year ahead by establishing concerts with our own artists – singers and orchestra conductors. Our imagination is only limited by the budget, which covers almost 100 concerts a year (from September to June).

What kind of audience does Radio Hall attract? Who comes to the performances?

The audience is made up of subscribers – almost 300 people who buy subscriptions quarterly and come to all the concerts – students and people who are studying music.

Globally, classical music audiences are getting older. Is Romania facing this problem? What strategy do you have to counter it?

Generally, the world talks about the so-called “gray-haired” classical music public. Fortunately, in Romania, the audience is younger, but there is perhaps an important public of a certain age who cannot leave the house, cannot walk from the metro station or bus station to Radio Hall. There is also economic and social conditioning, which lowers the average age of the audience in Romania.

Is there a strategy to attract young audiences?

We have such a strategy and we are following it alongside our partners who organize national tournaments to promote classical music – The Travelling Piano, The Golden Flute, The Duel of the Violins, Do you like … Brahms?, George Enescu’s Violin in Villages.

At large events such as these, we have special promotions and advertising, which definitely attract young people to Radio Hall through stories and special ideas.

So far, these attempts have been extremely successful, but we find it hard to figure out if the audience is captured by these events alone or whether they come here for the season’s concerts too.

Upcoming events:

March 27: Rossini and Mozart recital, conducted by German Cristoph Adt. Pianist: Dana Borsan

March 29: Antonin Dvořák, Recviem, Op.89.Conductor: Julien Salemkour. Soloists: Sorin Munteanu, soprano, Cornelia Oncioiu, mezzo-soprano, Marius Budoiu, tenor, and Czech Marius Jan Martinik, bass

March 30: Radio Children’s Choir. Invitation to Disney World. Conductor: Vociu Popescu

April 8-12: Antique Violins festival. Violinist: Liviu Prunaru, Gabriel Croitoru, Bogdan Zvoristeanu, George Cosmin Banica

April 17: Travelling Piano Tour held by Horia Mihail

May 11: Concert dedicated to the Royal House of Romania. Conductor: Christian Badea

May 22: Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Sibelius compositions under the wand of the French conductor Amaury du Closel. Piano, Horia Maxim, and cello, Hyunah Park

June 21: The closing concert of the session – the Verdi Requiem with the National Radio Orchestra and Chorus. Conductor: Tiberiu Soare

oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro

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