Individual tickets for the 2023 edition of the George Enescu International Festival, the largest classical music event in Romania, will go on sale on February 1 at noon, the organizers announced. 

Tickets cost between RON 250 and RON 35 and can be purchased online on the Eventim website. Audiences from both Romania and abroad have access to the sales process. 

Tickets for the series of educational concerts dedicated to children and for the concert performed by the Musica Ricercata ensemble conducted by Gabriel Bebeșelea on September 10, made in partnership with the Odeon Theatre, will be sold by the theatre.

The 26th edition of the famous festival takes place between August 27 and September 24 under the slogan Generosity through Music. The 2023 edition promises to be one of the greatest so far, with more than 3,500 guest artists, 150 soloists and 40 conductors, 41 orchestras from 16 countries and no less than 9 Romanian orchestras attending the event. 

It will be a great marathon with three to four concerts a day. According to the organizers, September 10 will be the day with the most events in Bucharest alone – 7 exceptional concerts. 

Great names of classical music will return to the festival this year, such as conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, pianists Martha Argerich and Yuja Wang, cellist Gautier Capuçon, violinists Renaud Capuçon and Janine Jansen, and more. Other artists will premiere in concert, among them Alexander Krichel, Alena Baeva, Avi Avital, Aida Garifullina, Igor Levit, Kent Nagano, Hannu Lintu, Philippe Herreweghe, Augustin Hadelich, and Klaus Mäkelä. 

Also, prestigious ensembles will perform for the first time at the Enescu Festival, such as Gewandhaus Leipzig, Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Gothenborg Symphony, Collegium Vocale Gent, Berlin Academy of American Music, and Manchester Camerata. 

An absolute premiere at the 26th edition of the festival is the series of educational concerts dedicated to children, made in partnership with the Odeon Theatre. Meanwhile, 9 Romanian orchestras will reunite within a new series of concerts: the Season of Romanian Orchestras. 

The operas in concert will also bring some of the most exquisite works in their first audition in Romania: Otello by Verdi, performed by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Choir; Billy Budd by Britten with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, under the baton of conductor Hannu Lintu; or The Fairy-Queen by Purcell with Les Arts Florissants.

And, of course, George Enescu's music will be present in the 2023 edition in international interpretations. Oedipe returns to the festival program under a direction signed by Stefano Poda, performed by the Bucharest National Opera under the baton of maestro Tiberiu Soare, while Symphony No. 3 in C major will be performed by the National Orchestra of France, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru.

The program of the George Enescu Festival is available here.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Bogdan Ioan Buda)