The Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) is organizing through its branches abroad a series of events "celebrating prominent figures of Romanian arts and culture" to mark the National Day of Culture, celebrated every year in Romania and the Republic of Moldova on January 15. It coincides with the birth date of the national poet Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889).

The Bucharest National Opera Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Jinga, and the Choir of the National Opera and Maria Biesu Ballet Theatre in Chişinău, conducted by choirmaster Oleg Constantinov will deliver on on January 17 a concert titled Enescu. Rhapsody and Poems.

In Spain, Mihaela Noroc's photography exhibition Atlas of Beauty. Women of the World and Their Stories will be open in Seville from January 13 to February 27. The photographs - portraits of women from all over the world - will be exhibited at the San Pablo Civic Center. In Madrid, the Municipal Public Library Iván de Vargas will host a Romanian Culture Week between January 13 and January 20. The week begins with the opening of two exhibitions at the library – Traditional Romanian Costumes and Romania, Heritage and Authors. On January 16, the ICR Madrid Gallery will host the opening of the photo exhibition Treasures of Romania from the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage by photographer Tudorel llie will take place On January 17, the library's Multipurpose Hall will host a screening of Diana Nicolae's documentary Between Silence and Sin about poet Ana Blandiana, winner of the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature.

ICR Paris will organize a series of activities in Paris, Marseille, Annecy, and Lyon to highlight Romanian writers' works and the beauty and patrimonial value of the Béhague Palace - Embassy of Romania in France. In Marseille, the event on January 15 will include the conference entitled The dissemination of Romanian poetry in France - Eminescu, Blandiana, Blaga. At the event, writer and translators Jean-Louis Courriol and Jean Poncet will hold a series of talks at the Regional Council of Marseille. On January 20-21, two literary events take place in in Annecy and Lyon. The program includes two literary debates at the University of Savoie Mont Blanc in Annecy and at the City Hall of the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. On January 25, as part of the Nuits de la Lecture Festival, the Béhague Palace - Embassy of Romania in France will host a reading marathon.

In Venice, the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanities Research will organize, on January 15, an event at the University of Padua. The program will include the conference Mihai Eminescu's Fairy Tales and a recital of Eminescu's poetry in Italian and Romanian.

In Tokyo, saxophonist Hiroko Yamakawa with piano accompaniment by Kotaro Nagano will deliver a concert with a program covering Enescu, Nottara, and Brediceanu. The event is scheduled for January 15.

ICR Warsaw will run an online campaign presenting, through a series of videos, the main projects carried out in Poland in the first six months of the Romania-Poland Cultural Season. Three exhibitions will open in March: Romania - Poland. A century of history. Marshal Piłsudski and the Royal Family of Romania, at the Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek, near Warsaw; One Eye Laughs, Another Weeps. Art from Romania in the Ovidiu Şandor Collection at the International Center for Culture in Krakow, and Shining Histories. Gold and Silver Treasures from the Romanian Middle Ages at the National Museum in Gdańsk.

The project Interwar Bucharest. A Love Story, covering a concert of interwar music performed by baritone Cozmin Sime, accompanied by German guitarist Heiko Pape and British pianist Giula Glennon, and the exhibition Bucharest: Moving Maps, will open at the ICR headquarters in London. The concert takes place on January 15. The exhibition is open until January 20.

In Stockholm, ICR's headquarters will host on January 15 a poetry and music recital by Swedish soprano Siri Krosness, pianist Ștefan Vârtejaru and actress Luiza Stănescu.

In Istanbul, pianist Sînziana Mircea and violinist Alexandru Tomescu will deliver a classical music recital at the Süreyya Opera on January 15.

In Beijing, the public can visit the exhibition 175 Years since the Birth of Romania's National Poet, Mihai Eminescu, and attend a flute and guitar concert delivered by Ioana Bălașa and Bogdan Mihăilescu on January 15. On January 16, the flute and guitar concert will also be presented at the Young Art Gallery, Beijing Guoce International Conference and Exhibition Centre.

ICR New York supports the North American tour of the show The Retreat by and with Simona Măicănescu. The show produced by Marin Sorescu Foundation will have three performances between January 16-19: two in the United States - at The Keegan Theater in Washington, D.C., and at the Norman Manea Hall of the ICR New York - and one in Canada, in Vancouver.

In Rome, Accademia di Romania in collaboration with the L'altra Europa-Edizioni ETS Publishing House will present, on January 16, the volume Emersioni sceniche. Teatro romano contemporaneo, edited by Horia Corneliu Cicortaș and Letteria Giuffrè Pagano.

In Lisbon, ICR will award on January 16 the honorary titles "Amicus Romaniae" to the following Portuguese personalities: David Galego (Mayor of the Municipality of Redondo), Mário Antas (former director of the National Coach Museum in Lisbon), José Manuel de Vasconcelos (poet, essayist and translator, vice-president of the Portuguese Writers' Association). The event takes place at the José Saramago Foundation (Casa dos Bicos, Lisbon), and will end with a classical music recital delivered by pianist Dana Radu.

The exhibition Along the Line of Common Traditions will be open at Vianden Castle in Luxembourg between January 17 and April 6. The Brussels branch of ICR will also organize on January 19 an event at Marcel Hastir House. It will include a painting exhibition, a literary debate, an exhibition of Romanian handicrafts, and a gala concert.

In Vienna, pianist Teo Milea will deliver a concert at the Romanian Embassy on January 19. The Vienna branch of ICR also organized on January 9, two recitals given by young pianists Radu Sava Gheju and David Hodoș at the Bösendorfer Salon.

The photography exhibition The Wallachians of Moravia: A Photographic Monography, by Oradea-based photographers Constantin Demeter, Ovidiu Gabor, and Gheorghe Petrila, is scheduled to open at the Romanian Embassy in Prague on January 23. The exhibition covers portraits, traditional houses, mountain landscapes, peasant households, and traditional dress.

A gala concert with an entirely Romanian program is scheduled for January 26 in Jerusalem. The concert features Andrei Manea, Aida Pascu and Madeleine Pascu as soloists, accompanied by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of the Romanian conductor Ionuț Pascu. It will take place at the Henry Crown Symphony Hall at the Jerusalem Theater.

In Berlin, pianist Adela Liculescu will deliver a recital on January 29 at the concert hall of the Austrian Cultural Forum. ICR organizes the event in collaboration with Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin.

On January 31, the National Theater in Budapest will host the performance of Alexandra Felseghi's Category B Goddesses, directed by Andrei Măjeri. The show produced in Bucharest by CREART brings together actresses from three theaters in Romania: Elena Ivanca (Lucian Blaga National Theater in Cluj-Napoca), Ioana Dragoș Gajdó (Regina Maria Theater in Oradea) and Silvia Luca (Mihai Eminescu Theater in Botoșani).

Also in Hungary, the exhibition 35 Years and a Day. The Memory and History of the 1989 Revolution in Today's Society can be visited at the Szeged branch between January 15 and February 28.

(Photo: Rolmat | Dreamstime.com)

simona@romania-insider.com