Maestro Cristian Măcelaru, the artistic director of the George Enescu International Festival, has curated a series of 27 exceptional concerts at Sala Palatului in Bucharest. These performances will feature 16 prestigious orchestras from Romania and around the world in an edition marking 70 years since the passing of the great Romanian composer and musician George Enescu.

In keeping with the festival's tradition, alongside numerous works by Enescu, the program will also include celebrated compositions by Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, Wagner, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Bruckner, Dvořák, Schumann, Liszt, Grieg, Debussy, Richard Strauss, and Bartók, as well as several world premieres.

Once again, Bucharest will host some of the world's most renowned orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic, and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne.

These ensembles will perform alongside Bucharest's leading orchestras - the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Romanian Youth Orchestra, and the National Radio Orchestra - as well as the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. 

They will be conducted by some of the most acclaimed maestros of today, including Cristian Măcelaru, Paavo Järvi, Vasily Petrenko, Klaus Mäkelä, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Petr Popelka, Manfred Honeck, Christian Reif, Iván Fischer, Alain Altinoglu, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Keri-Lynn Wilson. 

Pianists Martha Argerich and Alexandra Dariescu, along with Kirill Gerstein, Rudolf Buchbinder, Alexandre Kantorow, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpčeski, and Bruce Liu, will take the stage at the Grand Hall of Sala Palatului. 

Renowned violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alexandra Conunova, Renaud Capuçon, Nemanja Radulović, and Julian Rachlin, as well as cellists Alisa Weilerstein, Gautier Capuçon, Kian Soltani, and Andrei Ioniță - winner of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition - will also perform. Yo Kitamura, winner of the cello section at the 2024 George Enescu International Competition, will also make an appearance alongside world-class vocalists, including sopranos Magdalena Kožená, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, and Jennifer Holloway, baritone Iain Paterson, and bass Andreas Bauer Kanabas.

Operas, contemporary dance shows, multimedia projections, and special performances by the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra are also part of the program.  

Subscriptions for the concert series at Sala Palatului can be purchased until February 14 at 24:00. Starting from February 15 at 12:00, individual tickets for each performance will also be available.

The George Enescu International Festival is one of the most prestigious classical music events worldwide, first organized in 1958. The 27th edition will take place between August 24 and September 21, 2025, marking 70 years since the passing of the great composer and musician George Enescu. 

This year's theme, Celebrations, will be reflected in a program featuring over 95 concerts performed by more than 4,000 of the world's most renowned artists.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: the organisers)