Close to 150 concerts make up the program of this year's edition of the George Enescu Festival, the largest classical music event in the country, the organizers announced.

The festival will take place between August 24 and September 21 in Bucharest and several other cities.

Bucharest will host 95 concerts in the festival's usual venues, namely Sala Palatului, the Athenaeum, Sala Radio, and the Auditorium Hall of the National Museum of Arts of Romania (MNAR). The latter will host a series of concerts marking 70 years since the death of George Enescu.

Besides Enescu, the festival's program will also mark several other music anniversaries, among them 50 years since the death of Dmitri Shostakovich, 100 years since the birth of Pierre Boulez, 150 years since the birth of Maurice Ravel, and 100 years since the birth of conductor Marin Constantin, Cristian Măcelaru, the festival's artistic director, explained. "That's why you will see a series of concerts at Sala Radio highlighting these composers, and we will present a new series of concerts in this hall," he said.

The program also includes seven in-concert opera events, as well as two opera performances staged at the Bucharest National Opera (ONB), namely Enescu's Oedip and Ravel's The Spanish Hour.

Among the orchestras and artists who will perform at this edition of the event are Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Lahav Shani, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre National de France, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Daniel Harding conducting and mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená as soloist, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne with violinist Renaud Capuçon as conductor and soloist, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich with Paavo Järvi conducting, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Petr Popelka conducting, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alain Altinoglu, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra conducted by Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Daniele Gatti, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko conducting, Danish National Symphony Orchestra with Nicholas Collon conducting, Il Giardino Armonico, and Budapest Festival Orchestra.

The festival organizers have decided to drop the pass lottery that had been in place at previous editions. The passes go on sale on Tuesday, January 21, while the tickets will go on sale on February 15. The passes make up 25% of the total available spots, according to Cristina Uruc, the interim manager of Artexim, the festival's organizer.

The program of this year's edition is available here. Passes are on sale at Eventim.ro.

(Photo: Alex Damian, courtesy of Enescu Festival)

simona@romania-insider.com