The George Enescu Festival starts in Bucharest on September 2, bringing to the capital a host of classical music stars and top orchestras. The festival, which runs several events throughout the country, will be on until September 24.

The site of the festival, where the public can check the upcoming performances, is not working at the moment as it has been the target of a cyber-attack, the organizers said. However, those interested can still check the schedule of the 22-day event at Eventim.ro, where they can also see the concerts with tickets still available.

The festival opens on September 2 with George Enescu’s Oedip, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, the festival’s artistic director. Jurowski is the principal conductor and artistic adviser of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance will be accompanied by a multimedia show directed by Carmen Lidia Vidu.

Twenty one concerts taking place at Sala Palatului will be broadcast by the public television TVR: nine of them will be broadcast live on TVR 3 and online, at TVR+. Thirty-five concerts held at the Bucharest Athenaeum will also be shown by TVR, ten of them in live broadcast at TVR3 and TVR+. The public television will also show seven concerts recorded at the Auditorium Hall of the Sala Palatului.

All the concerts in the festival will benefit from live streaming at enescu.tvr.ro.

Over 3,000 artists are expected at the festival, where Indian conductor Zubin Mehta is the honorary president. They include, among others: the pianists Martha Argerich, Daniil Trifonov, and Khatia Buniatishvili; violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; the tenor Jonas Kaufmann, the mezzosoprano Magdalena Kožená, the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky; conductors Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Chailly, Michail Pletnev and Vladimir Jurowski. Top orchestras such as Orchestra Scala di Milano, Orchestra Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Münchner Philharmoniker or London Philharmonic Orchestra will also perform at the event.

A premiere of this year’s edition of the festival is a series of concerts titled the Music of the 21st Century, where important contemporary composers, such as Sir James MacMillan, Rodion Shchedrin, Jörg Widmann and Magnus Lindberg, will be present.

editor@romania-insider.com